The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
Wednesday was a good day for the Wilson Bruins, who swept the two varsity races at the El Dorado Park Moore League Cluster Meet.
Seniors Tommy Pincherli and Nadia Mejia won the boys’ and girls’ races, respectively, with the Bruins also producing the Top 5 finishers in the girls’ race to cruise to a dominant team victory.
Pincherli dropped his time by 13 seconds from last year’s fourth-place finish to win the first Moore League gold of his career, posting a time of 15:09.12.
Meanwhile, Mejia set the El Dorado course record for the second time in her career, becoming the first girl in league history to run under 17 minutes on the course. Her time of 16:58.16 broke the previous course record by more than 20 seconds.
CLICK HERE for the complete results via MileSplit
Boys’ Varsity
Despite Pincherli’s win for Wilson, the Millikan Rams showed off their depth to win their fourth consecutive race as a group at El Dorado. Millikan took the next three spots in the race and had four of the top six, five of the top eight, and six of the top 10 finishers.
Aiden Ransom took silver in 15:21.23, followed closely by Jack Walsh in 15:22.04 and Hector Diaz in 15:24.57 to place fourth. Aaron Castro had a sixth place finish for Millikan in 15:40.01, Ricardo Linarez-Gutierrez ran a PR of 15:45.61 to finish eighth and Bryce Cobabe closed strong to get a Top 10 finish in 16:14.81.
“We fly up to Portland tomorrow and race Friday, so we have three races in seven days. So I told the guys, ‘I don’t like to do this, but we’re gonna have to go conservative today,’” said Millikan head coach Pedro Ramirez of his team’s performance on Wednesday. “So they played it conservative and did just enough to win. And so they look good for not going 100 percent.”
Archie Byrom was the top finisher for Long Beach Poly, running a time of 15:38.94 to place fifth. Lakewood’s Matthew Rangel placed seventh with a time of 15:43.40.
For the first half of the race, it was Pincherli leading the way with Byrom and Ransom running with him. His opening mile of 4:55 put him right on schedule, and as the race wore on he made sure to build his lead out of respect for Ransom’s kick to close the race. Pincherli was eventually able to pull away down the back stretch to secure a 12-second margin of victory.
“It really means a lot to me thinking about my four years at this course, and all my mentors, like my upperclassmen that I’ve had, I just can’t thank them enough,” said Pincherli on what it meant to win. “(Wilson Coach CJ Brewer) has been right there with me all four years, and I’m just so happy that I was able to really pull it off today. This has been my dream for a while to be able to win one of these, so I’m just really happy.”
Pincherli became the first Wilson boy to win at El Dorado since 2016, when Arturo Gonzalez won the race.
“Just like Arturo in 2016, Tommy put in a ton of work, and he did everything that you need to do to get to that result,” said Brewer of Pincherli’s performance. “That’s why it’s not a surprise that he did it. He and Nadia, they both put in the work, and when it was time to win, they did that … That was something we had talked about going into today, is your work that you put in should be your confidence. And they both ran with a lot of confidence, because they put in that work.”
Erik Fuentes was the top finisher for Jordan with a time of 18:01.99, Giovani Sosa led the way for Compton in 18:40.16 and Jose Miramontez paced Cabrillo with a time of 18:44.11.
Girls’ Varsity
The final race of the day was all Wilson, as Mejia led the way to a clean sweep for the Bruins. Wilson runners made up the entire Top 5, earning a perfect score of 15 for the first time since the cluster format was instituted back in 2002, according to head coach CJ Brewer.
Not only that, Mejia established a new school record on any course with her sub-17-minute time, going beyond just a course record. Needless to say, Brewer was pleased with how the race went for his team.
“Her teammates feed off that energy, and she really motivates them to follow in her path. And they were right there lockstep with her,” Brewer said. “Nadia was at the first mile in 5:18, which is just blazing, and you could see her determination from the start. We were talking to her about being efficient in the middle when she went out that fast, and she was; it’s really hard to do what she did all alone. And it’s that willpower, just like Tommy, they really push themselves all alone and I’m really excited to see both Tommy and Nadia just want it more than anyone. You can see it in their performance.”
Mejia said she felt ok before the race, but her fast start let her know she had the potential to have a record-setting day on the course. Her focus was on regaining her course record, and she also hoped to break 17 minutes, giving a lean at the line just to be sure.
“The first mile was very surprising. I heard 5:18 and I was like ‘Wow, ok we’re going in for it,’” Mejia said of her race. “The second mile I felt myself going slower, and anytime I felt a step getting slower, I tried to shoot forward and see if I could hold on or not. That was kind of the rhythm all throughout the race, but I just heard teammates names everywhere, so it felt really comfortable. It felt like practice, nothing too strange, but it felt really good.”
The Bruins were able to win last year’s team competition via tiebreaker against Long Beach Poly, running without Mejia who was sitting out after her transfer from Millikan. She said she’s happy to be running the full season this year, and is very comfortable with her new team.
Wilson’s A-Team followed right behind Mejia, with Audrey Buckley (2nd, 17:41.78), Ashlei Aguayo (3rd, 18:08.84) and Avery Errecart (4th, 18:12) rounding out the top four. Riley Jones ran an 18:17.78 to take fifth place.
Poly sophomore Sienna Young ran an 18:24.71 to finish in sixth while Millikan’s Amberly McDowell placed seventh in a time of 18:29.44. Delilah Beristain was Lakewood’s top finisher with a time of 20:26.38,
The next Moore League meet will be on Oct. 14 at Discovery Well Park in Signal Hill.
