At Signal Hill’s Discovery Wells Park, built to commemorate the first oil well struck in the area, we discovered something too: Cross country is a surprisingly fun spectator sport. There’s very little demarcation between the course and the fans, so parents and coaches walked in and out of the running path, climbing all over Signal Hill in support of their favorite teams. Everyone was very supportive of each other, cheering for every school, something rarely seen in the uber-competitive Moore League, where rivalries are decades old.
The runners needed all the encouragement they could get, though, since Discovery Wells is one of the hilliest three-mile courses in the state. “At this meet, we throw times out the window,” said Poly Girls’ XC coach Nate Bershtel. “It’s all about where you place.” Runners started out with a very long uphill climb, and then wound a loop around the top of the hill three times before coming back down the same slope towards the finish line.
As expected, Poly won the boys’ and girls’ races—I say expected because Discovery Wells is about a twelve-minute’s run from Poly so they’ve trained there before, and because the Jackrabbits program is ranked in CIF Southern Section’s top ten. The girls’ race they ran away with, a full 38 points below second place Wilson (lowest score wins since they tabulate score by simply adding what place a school’s runners placed). Dynasty Gammage, the top girls’ runner in the league, broke the girls’ course record she set last year by almost a minute. “You just have to run hard, and push yourself,” she said afterward. I asked her about strategy, and she smiled and said, “I just did it.” She did indeed, along with the rest of her team—two other Poly runners broke Gammage’s prior course record, and five of the top eight finishers were Jackrabbits.
Millikan, who had finished second at the first league meet, was only two points behind to capture third, setting up a showdown between the Rams and Bruins in the third and final league meet, November 6 at Heartwell Park. When I asked Rams coach Pedro Ramirez what had led to their turnaround this year (Millikan hasn’t captured second at a league meet before this season for years), he gave the credit to his team. “It’s the runners. I have a small core group of girls who work hard and never complain. When I ask them to run eight miles, they run eight miles.”
The boys’ race was considerably more competitive, with Poly only edging Wilson by three points, 32-35. Wilson actually had the top two finishers, but Poly had five of the top ten to narrowly capture the meet victory.
To get a good sense of the fun atmosphere, check out the highlight video we put together, and expect to see more coverage of Moore League cross country after the November 6 meet, and then on into the playoffs.