The562\u2019s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no high school track and field program in America that can boast the history that Long Beach Poly can. The Jackrabbits have closets full of Penn Relays wheels and CIF State and CIF Southern Section championship plaques, along with national records and hundreds of Division 1 athletes. The Jackrabbits are the three-time defending CIF-SS Division 1 boys\u2019 track and field champions, and the girls\u2019 won in 2024 and took runner-up to Wilson in the CIF-SS and CIF State meets last year, despite a year of setbacks and tough circumstances.<\/p>\n
This year the Jackrabbits have plenty of to be excited about, as always\u2013including one of the best freshman athletes in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall I feel we\u2019re in a steady, slow start,\u201d said longtime Poly coach Crystal Irving. \u201cMost of the years when Long Beach Poly has those starts, it ends up amazing and impactful in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jackrabbits will be without several top-tier football sprinters who either sustained injuries or who are embarking on recruiting trips through the heart of the track season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some vets and some new babies,\u201d said Irving. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see some new presence this year, guys breaking out. We never feel pressure to repeat\u2013I tell them it doesn\u2019t matter what we did last year, you have to do the work this year. They all understand that and everyone\u2019s working to be the best version of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Girls\u2019 Track and Field<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Poly girls\u2019 track and field team may have seen Wilson claim the last three state titles, but it\u2019s not like the Jackrabbits have been sitting on their hands. Poly was the runner-up at the CIF State and Southern Section meets on the girls\u2019 side last year, and have added one of the nation\u2019s top freshmen this year in Laila Kirk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got new events and new athletes, I\u2019m really excited about the possibilities for our team,\u201d said Irving.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not customary to open a Poly track preview talking about a freshman, but then in the history of high school track and field in California, there haven\u2019t been a lot of freshmen like Kirk, a Poly legacy whose mom ran at the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s a fun fact about Laila,\u201d said Irving. \u201cWhen I first started coaching here we had a woman named Angelita Green who set the school record in the 800 with a 2:09\u2013that\u2019s Laila\u2019s mother. Laila, as an 8th grader, ran a 2:07.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father, Lamarr Kirk, was a standout runner himself at Dorsey and Washington State, and is now coaching the Jackrabbits\u2019 distance runners; older brother Lamarr Kirk Jr. was a champion at Poly recently who\u2019s now running at Cal. Laila, though, has a unique resume, with several USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic championships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her best event is the 800, where she\u2019s so good that she has already had her own Nike billboards that have popped up around Southern California. Irving says that Kirk is capable of running the 400, 800 and mile which means she\u2019ll be a valuable piece to figure out each year for team scoring for the Jackrabbits in the postseason meets.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s setting the tone and she doesn\u2019t back down from competition,\u201d said Irving.<\/p>\n
The Jackrabbits, of course, feature talent up and down the meet schedule. In the sprints, Aniyah Brooks and Brooklyn Lee will be the show-stoppers with both committed to Division colleges (UNLV and Sacramento State); Faith Magee is another senior stalwart for the Jackrabbits along with Aliyah Stokes and newcomer sophomore A\u2019nylah Turner.<\/p>\n
In the quarter mile, Stokes leads a talented crew that includes junior Aurya Beatty, Kirk, and Ariana Thomas. Irving likes her 4\u00d7100 and 4\u00d7400 with the depth of talent the Jackrabbits boast this year.<\/p>\n
In the half-mile and up the Jackrabbits have Kirk but also plenty of other young talent including sophomore Sienna Young, sophomore Saniah Hooks, and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another big name for the Jackrabbits this year will be hurdler Kadence Bain, a junior who burst onto the scene last year and has made big gains. Bain is currently No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section in the 100 hurdles and No. 2 in the 300 hurdles. She\u2019s joined by senior Natalya Walker.<\/p>\n
In the jumps, the Jackrabbits have three sophomores high jumping in Cynthia Mercado, Cybele Zeigler and Lailay Clayborne, all of whom have potential. Junior Kylee Jordan Clark has gone almost 10 feet in the pole vault, and Zayla Ridley has led the way in the long and triple jumps thus far.<\/p>\n
Poly\u2019s throws program continues to grow each year and this season the girls are led by senior Jayla Biggers and sophomore Kennedy McCall, with freshman Giana Johnson looking to score as well.<\/p>\n
Boys\u2019 Track and Field<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Poly boys are the three-time defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champions and are looking for the second boys\u2019 Division 1 four-peat in history (the Jackrabbits won every year from 2001-2007). They\u2019ll rely on some new talent as well as dealing with some ups and downs with football players shuttling in and out dealing with All-American recruiting schedules.<\/p>\n
The Jackrabbits have no shortage of options in the sprints, however, with the top five marks in the city in the 100 so far this season and nine of the top ten.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior Malachi Dawson leads the way for Poly in the 100 and 200.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat young man is going to be amazing this year in those events, his training is going very well and we\u2019re excited about what he\u2019s going to do,\u201d said Irving.<\/p>\n
Other 100\/200 standouts include Donte Wright, who will be in and out with football recruiting, as well as Jaylen \u201cJay Bird\u201d McNeil, Jaydin Lawrence, and Steven \u201cBuddah\u201d Hunter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Poly has middle distance specialists in recent USC signee Noah Smith and Darieon Shufford, and freshman Isaiah Jones is making noise in the 400 already.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat baby just ran 48.5, his best prior to that was 50.9,\u201d said Irving. \u201cHe has entered the chat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contributors in the 800 alongside Shufford are Miles Yim and Paul Weaver. Archie Byrom, Noah Chun and freshman Sawyer Chesnin will contribute for the Jackrabbits in the distance races.<\/p>\n
In the hurdles, this is the senior year for Lynnox Newton, who has made big strides each year. He\u2019s currently No. 3 in the Southern Section in the 110 hurdles and No. 10 in the 300 hurdles. He won\u2019t be the only hurdler for the Jackrabbits this year as he\u2019s joined by senior Armon Bly and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the long jump, Jaydin Lawrence and Khalen Shepherd are tops in the city right now, with Armon Bly not far behind; Shepherd and Jeremiah Moore lead the way in the triple jump as of now. Drew Bethea and Ben Montooth are the Jackrabbits\u2019 pole vaulters, both of whom have cleared 10 feet. Bethea is new to the event and is currently sitting with a PR of 11 feet.<\/p>\n
In the throws, senior Jephte Tchami is stepping into the limelight. He recently broke a 60-year old Poly school record in the discus, going 175-10 at Redondo, good for the No. 3 mark in the CIF-SS this year; he\u2019s also the city\u2019s top shot putter right now with a best mark of 54-9, more than six feet past the next closest competitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good group and we\u2019re really excited for the season,\u201d said Irving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes. There\u2019s no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-226109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}