The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
The Moore League cross country season came to an exciting end on Wednesday evening at Heartwell Park, as the Millikan boys and the Wilson girls claimed the team championships.
The Rams claimed their third consecutive league title on the boys’ side, a feat the program hasn’t accomplished since 1977-79. Junior Jack Walsh was the individual champion, leading a group of four Rams in the top seven finishers.
In the girls’ varsity race, senior Nadia Mejia won gold for the second time in her career (and first for Wilson) as the Bruins had four of the top five and five of the top seven.
Boys’ Varsity
In an exciting race, Walsh waited for the right time to make his move and was able to hold off the pack over the final mile-and-a-half. He was able to hold off Wilson’s Tommy Pincherli and Poly’s Archie Byrom for victory, finishing in a time of 15:19.26.
“It was honestly one of the best feelings in the world,” said Walsh of crossing the finish line first. “I’ve had kind of a rocky season, my times haven’t necessarily been what I wanted, but I put a lot of work in all summer and the entirety of the season. And this was my goal. It’s been the goal from the start. I wasn’t necessarily predicted to win, I know a lot of people expected other people–even on my own team–to win, but I really wanted it. And I think that allowed me to win.”
Walsh’s win makes it six consecutive years that a Millikan boy has won gold at league finals, following in the footsteps of Jason Parra (2020-23) and Jack Brown (2024), and establishing a new standard for the program.
“I’m very proud, very happy,” said Millikan head coach Pedro Ramirez of his team’s performance. “All the work we put in, it’s nice to win, it feels good to know that we’ve had some payoff. And I’m just very proud of the team, boys and girls. They work hard and they deserve this.”
Two Rams other than Walsh set the pace early on, as Hector Diaz and Ricardo Linarez-Gutierrez got out to a fast pace over the first half of the three-mile race. Pincherli led the chase pack in third place, and put down a PR of 15:28 but was unable to track down Walsh after he jumped to the front at the halfway point.
“I knew I didn’t want to go out too hard. That’s definitely something that hasn’t worked for me before,” Walsh explained. “And I knew that my teammates were going to go hard, but I made it a main goal to keep it conservative. So I stayed with my teammate, Aiden (Ransom) and Tommy for most of it, and then in past time trials, I made a move halfway at 1.5 so at the second time we go over the bridge, I made a move, and I made it again today, and that’s what worked out for me.”
Poly’s Byrom took third place in 15:30, followed by Ransom (15:38) and Diaz (15:44) to round out the Top 5. Wilson’s Matthew Searles was sixth in 15:58, followed by Millikan’s Aaron Castro in seventh place with a time of 16:01.
A pair of Jackrabbits would follow with Julian Wherry (8th, 16:03) and Miles Yim (9th, 16:04) up next. Lakewood’s Matthew Rangel ran a 16:05 to round out the Top 10.
Cabrillo’s top finisher was Fidel Perez in 17:55, one spot ahead of Jordan’s top runner, Erick Fuentes in 18:04. Giovani Sosa was Compton’s top finisher in a time of 18:34.
Girls’ Varsity
Mejia completed a season sweep of the Moore League races with a victory for the Bruins. After winning this race as a sophomore at Millikan, she followed up with her second career win and first for her new school.
“When you’ve gone through all of the adverse things that she’s had with injuries and with transfers, it wasn’t an easy thing that she did, and that’s why I’m proud of her,” said Wilson head coach CJ Brewer of Mejia’s win. “Navigating all the hurdles that came her way, for her to be successful, versus someone that just did it easily, and it was not easy for Nadia. I’m proud of her because of her overcoming all the obstacles that she did to become a Moore League champion.”
Mejia was not at 100 percent for this race after rolling her ankle during the Signal Hill meet, but said there was nothing that was going to stop her from ending her league career with a bang.
“I was feeling it here and there, so if it’s gonna hurt, I might as well let it hurt as much as I can and finish with everything I have, especially because it’s my last race,” said Mejia of her ankle. “So at the corner of the pond, right when you’re gonna go down the last straightaway, I looked up and I rolled it, and I said, ‘Oh, shoot’ and started sprinting, because it hurt really bad and I might as well sprint the pain away or something.”
As she sprinted her way to the finish line, teammate Audrey Buckley was behind her to take second, where she’d been positioned for the entire race, clocking an 18:08.
When Brewer handed the Moore League trophy to Mejia, she was overcome with emotion before celebrating with her teammates, as Wilson brought home the league title for the first time since 2018.
“There’s a lot of emotion because of all the hard work that they put in,” Brewer said. “And people don’t realize the 1,000 miles that they put in to make today happen. They put in about 500 miles in the summer, about 500 miles in the season, and so if you were to run 1,000 miles, you’d want to cash it in for something. And that’s why they’re emotional, because this is what they’ve been working for.”
Millikan freshman Amberly McDowell put on a great performance to place third, finishing in 18:12, ahead of two more Wilson Bruins. Ashlei Aguayo was fourth in 18:18 and Avery Errecart rounded out the Top 5 in 18:33.
Long Beach Poly sophomore Sienna Young was sixth in a time of 18:44, followed by Wilson’s Riley Jones (7th, 18:45), Poly’s Avery Peck (8th, 18:48) and Wilson’s Ella George (9th, 18:57) going sub-19.
Millikan’s Jocelyn Jimenez finished in 19:00 flat to round out the Top 10, but the Rams just missed out on CIF qualification as they took third place as a team behind Wilson and Poly.
Speaking of the CIF meet, that’s next up on the schedule, with teams converging on Mt. SAC for prelims on Nov. 15 and the CIF-SS Finals on Nov. 22.
Wilson has reason to feel confident going into the next stage of the season, currently ranked No. 7 in Division 1 in the latest PrepCalTrack rankings.
“We’re really looking forward to it, especially after today,” said Mejia of the CIF meet. “I feel like every race, we have a lot of confidence in each other. We’re really happy to be running with each other, competing with each other, training with each other, and accomplishing what we just did, with each other. We are all really connected. So I feel it’s more like sisterhood and family with this team.”
