The fiercest competitor at the Moore League’s second meet of the season, at Signal Hill’s Discovery Well Park, may not have been wearing a jersey: the flu sidelined competitors on at least three teams, including defending league champ Dynasty Gammage for Poly, as well as the Rabbits’ Rachel Pavey, who finished in second behind Gammage at El Dorado.
Despite the rain, the course ran fast thanks to Signal Hill Petroleum Company smoothing the dirt out for the runners—the third and fifth fastest girls’ times were run at Discovery Well on Thursday. The third-fastest ever was run by Millikan’s Paisley Pettway, who won the first league meet of her career, in the second-to-last league meet of her senior season.
The girls’ varsity race figured to feature a four-way battle between Gammage, Wilson’s Haley Kirk, Lakewood’s Kirstyn Nold, and Pettway. The four runners got out in front of the pack early, and by the time they’d finished their first lap around the hill, it was obvious Gammage was laboring at the back of the lead back—illness forced her to step off around the midway point. Kirk held the lead after the first lap, just barely edging out Pettway—but by the time the runners made their second loop, Pettway had opened a lead she never relinquished, and she was backed up by Kirk, then Nold, and then Tia Leake and Elliott Gentile of Poly.
That’s how they came down the home stretch, too, with an exuberant Millikan camp screaming to cheer Pettway on. “It’s just great to see one of our girls out front,” said Millikan coach Pedro Ramirez.
“It’s my last year, so I wanted to do something great for Millikan,” said Pettway afterward—she finished at 19:48, with Kirk’s second-place 19:57 good enough to earn her a spot in the course’s all-time top five as well.
While Pettway took the individual title, the Wilson Bruins took the girls’ team win, thanks to Kirk, and the strong sixth-through-ninth finish of Julia Welsch, Alexandra Grageda, Emily Welsch, and Christina Kirchhoff.
After two league meets, the girls’ varsity standings are currently:
1: Poly (11-1) and Wilson (11-1)
3: Lakewood (7-5) and Millikan (7-5)
5: Cabrillo (4-8)
6: Compton (2-10)
7: Jordan (0-12)
The tie for first and third means that it all comes down to Heartwell Park, where the league finals will be held on November 5th.
On the boys’ side, it was once again a great team battle between Poly and Wilson—after one lap, Wilson had three of the top four runners, but, as was the case at El Dorado earlier this year, the positions changed drastically by the close of the race, with Poly claiming four of the top six spots, good enough to earn them the varsity win.
Andrew Godsil for Wilson was the fastest finisher, with 16:25—he ran a punishing race on the hill, gaining first place on an upslope and finishing a comfortable seven seconds ahead of Poly’s Sean Price, who came in second, followed by teammate Ruben Baerga. The win for Poly puts the boys’ varsity standings at:
1: Poly (12-0)
2: Wilson (10-2)
3: Lakewood (8-4)
4: Millikan (6-6)
5: Cabrillo (4-8)
6: Compton (2-10)
7: Jordan (0-12)
Because the league finals are weighted at 50% of the total team standings, however, there could still be movement in the standings, so be sure to make it out to Heartwell on November 5th—or of course just check back at LBPostSports.com for a highlight video and full coverage!