Millikan's Parra, Poly's Peck tops at league meet

LONG BEACH » Millikan senior Jason Parra did not go all out but still won the Moore League cross country meet by 33 seconds Tuesday at Discovery Well Park.

Parra's winning time was 16 minutes and 31 seconds on an extremely hilly, 3-mile, gravel course, which was nearly 3 minutes off his personal best of 13:56. However, that relatively pedestrian time was by design.

“The strategy for me was to feel the race out. I have a big race coming up in New York, so I just wanted to get a good workout in here,” said Parra, who is the favorite to win his fourth straight individual Moore League title on Nov. 1. “It was more of a tempo and I just kind of picked it up towards the end so I made sure I secured the win.”

Lakewood junior Gabriel Rojas was second in 17:04. Wilson senior Kyle Holland was third in 17:14.

“In my head, I didn't want anyone getting too close, so I kind of pushed it a little more than tempo towards the end,” Parra explained. “I just felt good.”

Led by Parra's first-place finish, the Millikan boys cross country team won the cluster meet with 32 points. The Rams' top five runners were Parra, junior Eric Plascencia, sophomore Aiden Ransom, junior Maximiliano Ramirez and senior Emmett Wechsler.

“We talked about how it doesn't matter who is second for us, third for us, fourth for us, we just need to come in a pack and come in front of Wilson's number four, that was the assignment (Tuesday). They did that so we won there,” said Millikan boys cross country coach Pedro Ramirez.

Ramirez explained that his team was holding back before its flight to run in a high school race at the Manhattan College XC Invitational in New York on Saturday.

“The guys were not doing a tempo (run) but they were not going 100%,” Ramirez continued. “Part of it was just the course, we didn't want any twisted ankles and any falls.”

Parra said he and his team want redemption in New York after his disappointing 15th-place finish overall and the team's 21st-place finish at the Clovis XC Invitational on Saturday.

“I think if we do well, we're going to get a lot more recognition and I feel like all of the guys have been training hard,” Parra said. “We had a little wake-up call at Clovis, so we're trying to get back into it, and if we can show everyone we're the team that we thought we were going into the season then good things will come.”

Wilson, led by Holland, finished second with 45 points. Long Beach Poly, which was led by junior Luke Deeble's ninth-place finish, was third with 75 points. Lakewood, which was led by Rojas, finished fourth with 90 points.

Long Beach Poly sophomore Avery Peck won the girls 3-mile race in 19 minutes and 16 seconds, which was redemption for her after she was disappointed with her third-place finish at the Moore League's first meet on Sept. 26.

“I'm really proud that I was able to do that because I had a lot more fun (Tuesday),” Peck said. “I hadn't been really enjoying racing early in the season and so I just wanted to have fun (Tuesday) and go out and do my best for my team and be happy.”