Long Beach Wilson’s Audrey Buckley finishes in first place in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz finishes first in the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Wilson’s Audrey Buckley finishes in first place in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz opens up a big lead and goes on to win the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Top two finishers Audrey Buckley, left, and Avery Errecart from Wilson High run side-by-side in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz has an early lead and goes on to win the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson runners gather before starting the final and going on to win the Moore League girls team cross country title on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan runners start the race in the Moore League cross country meet Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson seniors Audrey Buckley, left, and Avery Errecart finished first and second, respectively, in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Top two finishers Audrey Buckley, left, and Avery Errecart from Wilson High run side-by-side in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Wilson senior Audrey Buckley competes in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz finished first in the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz finished first in the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan senior Hector Diaz leads in the boys Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners compete in the Moore League girls team cross country finals on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
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Long Beach Wilson’s Audrey Buckley finishes in first place in the girls Moore League cross country final on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, at Heartwell Park in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
LONG BEACH — Millikan senior Hector Diaz and Wilson senior Audrey Buckley used similar wire-to-wire styles before pulling away late to win individual titles Wednesday in the Moore League Cross Country Finals at Heartwell Park.
Diaz won his first Moore League title with a time of 15 minutes, 20.6 seconds on a flat 3-mile course. He finished Mile 1 in 4:55 and Mile 2 in 10:10.
Diaz previously won the league’s first two cluster meets.
“I got kind of nervous, not going to lie, because I heard some guys were kind of near me,” Diaz said. “So I tried to push it more. Don’t know if I actually did or not, but I tried, and it turned out good.”
Long Beach Poly sophomore Sawyer Chesnin finished second in 15:30.1. Wilson sophomore David Nader finished third (15:41.6) and Lakewood junior Matthew Rangel finished fourth (15:47.8).
Millikan’s depth showed up as it secured the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth positions to win the team title with 27 points. It is Millikan’s fourth consecutive league title.
“It means a lot,” Millikan coach Pedro Ramirez said of winning the Moore League title. “Four in a row, haven’t done that before. But I’m especially happy for Hector because he’s been like our top runner in the past, and not everything has gone right. But he put everything together (Wednesday) and had a good race.”
Millikan senior Brandon Hinojosa-Garcia was fifth (15:52.1), Ricardo Linarez-Gutierrez was sixth (15:55), senior Jack Walsh was seventh (15:58.3) and sophomore Sebastian McKiernan was eighth (16:00.8).
Wilson finished second in the boys race with 50 points and Poly was third (59 points).
On the girls side, Buckley won her first Moore League individual title with a time of 17:26.9, a record for Wilson on the Heartwell Park course.
“It means so much,” Buckley said. “The past four years I’ve spent training for this and doing all the work to get here. So it really means a lot that I was able to execute it. Obviously, I was kind of nervous going into this.”
Buckley, who previously won the league’s first two cluster meets, led early and came through Mile 1 in 5:44 and Mile 2 in 11:38.
“What she’s doing is she’s just trying to outwork everyone,” said Wilson coach CJ Brewer when asked about his team’s No. 1 runner. “And when she says she wants to earn it, she’s working really hard to do that.”
Wilson senior Avery Errecart finished second (17:41.5), which also bettered Wilson’s course record.
The Millikan girls made it a race by finishing third, fourth and fifth. Senior Jocelyn Jimenez led the Rams in 18:06.3.
Wilson claimed its second straight league title with a low score of 25 points. Sophomore Ella George finished sixth (18:33.1), senior Isabelle Gabisan finished seventh (18:39.2) and senior Leticia Tovar placed ninth (18:55).
Millikan’s girls finished second with 36 points. Poly, led by junior Sienna Young’s eighth-place result, finished third with 59 points.
The first three teams in the boys and girls races qualified for the CIF-SS Division 1 cross country prelims at Mt. San Antonio College on Friday, Nov. 13.
Millikan’s boys are ranked No. 12 in Division 1. Wilson’s girls are ranked No. 9.
“I’m super excited,” Buckley said. “I think everyone is feeling confident. I think we know what we can do and what we deserve. I think the goal is obviously state, and everyone knows what it takes to get there from last year, and so I’m really excited to see what we can do.”