{"id":328458,"date":"2026-05-22T22:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328458\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:28:08","slug":"long-beach-poly-sends-28-student-athletes-to-college-at-annual-signing-day-celebration-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328458\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Poly Sends 28 Student-Athletes to College at Annual Signing Day Celebration \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits\u00a0Wendell \u201cWoWo\u201d Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.<\/a><\/p>\n

More than two dozen athletes were recognized inside the Long Beach Poly Auditorium, at the school\u2019s annual Signing Day celebration for student-athletes headed to four-year colleges.<\/p>\n

Friends and family for 28 Jackrabbits in the Class of 2026 were on hand to cheer them on as they donned their future school colors and took part in the Signing Day ceremony. The athletes were spread across nine different sports, led by 11 representatives from the school\u2019s track & field program.<\/p>\n

A group of 16 Spring signees joined 12 student-athletes who\u2019d already committed during previous signing periods to complete the Class of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make this day for (the athletes) and our parents, acknowledging all of the hard work and dedication that they have committed to throughout the 13 years that they may have played their sport,\u201d said Long Beach Poly athletic director Rob Shock as he addressed the crowd. \u201cWe want to make sure we honor them, so today is about them and you. So be loud, be proud, cheer for every one of these athletes, because you know what, they\u2019re going to college, ladies and gentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah MJ Smith is one of the 11 members of the track team that earned a college scholarship this year, and he\u2019s staying local, headed up the freeway to USC to continue his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince seven years old, this is the one school I\u2019ve always wanted to go to,\u201d Smith said of becoming a Trojan. \u201cIt\u2019s been a weird feeling just seeing it all come to fruition like this, but words can\u2019t describe how grateful I am. I\u2019m grateful to God, grateful to my family, everybody that\u2019s helped put me here. I\u2019m literally living out my dream, so I\u2019m just ready to work, and I\u2019m ready to earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Class of 2026 also has a pair of Ivy League athletes, with boys\u2019 basketball player Jonas Oware heading to Yale, and girls\u2019 rugby player Lolua Tauanu\u2019u signing with Harvard. While the Jackrabbits don\u2019t have a rugby team, Tauanu\u2019u said she still felt very connected to the rest of the athletes on stage and is a proud Poly legacy with a large group of supporters in the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all surreal, being able to go to Harvard. You know, there\u2019s so many opportunities that rugby can bring you, and I\u2019m a prime example of that,\u201d said Tauanu\u2019u, who competes for Belmont Shore Rugby Club. \u201cTo be a part of this Signing Day is also very special. To be with my friends at the school that my parents went to, my aunts and uncles went to, I\u2019m glad to leave that legacy behind, and it\u2019s all fun. I\u2019m very honored to be here from Long Beach Poly, and grateful for the experience that I got to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of star-power in the signing class, with athletes headed to some of the top collegiate programs in the nation\u2013especially in the diamond sports. Tate Hammond is headed to UCLA, where the Bruins are ranked No. 1 in the country, and on the softball diamond, Ki\u2019ele Ho-Ching signed with perennial powerhouse Oklahoma, and she\u2019s been ranked as the top recruit in the nation in her class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing at Poly, being able to play softball and flag football, and just be surrounded by so many like-minded athletes has been a blessing,\u201d said Ho-Ching. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of people that can say that they love their high school team, that they love all their staff members, their coaches, the players. There\u2019s always some drama, but I feel like at Poly I\u2019ve never had that, it\u2019s always been a family, and I\u2019m just so excited. I\u2019m very blessed with this team, but it\u2019s definitely bittersweet. I\u2019m definitely gonna come back and visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

State champion swimmer Lucas Jue leaves behind a bevy of school and Moore League records for the Jackrabbits, and is officially signed with Louisville. He\u2019s one of six athletes who signed with \u201cPower 4\u201d schools, joining Smith, Hammond, Ho-Ching, softball player Emoni Lam Sam (Cal) and track & field jumper Khalen Shepherd (Arizona).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that I do want to tell you, and it\u2019s very important for you guys to understand, is please complete your degree,\u201d said Shock to the Class of 2026. \u201cYour education is forever. Sports are temporary. So make sure we take care of that degree \u2026 And please make sure you pay it forward. There are many underclassmen out here hoping to be in the same position as you one day, so please come back, tell them what the experience is like for you in college, and it will help them with their decisions moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complete List of Signees in the Class of 2026:<\/p>\n

Armon Bly \u2013 UC San Diego, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Aniyah Brooks \u2013 UNLV, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Malachi Dawson \u2013 Utah Tech, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Savion Day \u2013 Chicago State, Football<\/p>\n

Lauren Foster Elisara \u2013 Quincy University, Volleyball<\/p>\n

Tate Hammond \u2013 UCLA, Baseball<\/p>\n

Jaden Hernandez \u2013 Colorado State, Football<\/p>\n

Ki\u2019ele Ho-Ching \u2013 Oklahoma, Softball<\/p>\n

Deuce Jefferson \u2013 Navy, Football<\/p>\n

Luca Jue \u2013 Louisville, Swimming<\/p>\n

Ryan King \u2013 Cal State Bakersfield, Baseball<\/p>\n

Emoni Lam Sam \u2013 Cal, Softball<\/p>\n

Persjah Lam Sam \u2013 Cal State San Bernardino, Softball<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Lee \u2013 Sacramento State, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Abryannah Mama \u2013 Cal Poly Pomona, Volleyball<\/p>\n

Jaylen McNeil \u2013 Fresno State, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Janelle Morris \u2013 Southern University, Softball<\/p>\n

Lynnox Newton \u2013 Utah Tech, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Jonas Oware \u2013 Yale, Basketball<\/p>\n

Avery Peck \u2013 Williams College, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Anthony Rodriguez \u2013 UC Davis, Football<\/p>\n

Khalen Shepherd \u2013 Arizona, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Noah MJ Smith \u2013 USC, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Aliyah Stokes \u2013 Sacramento State, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Lolua Tauanu\u2019u \u2013 Harvard, Rugby<\/p>\n

Arianna Thomas \u2013 Howard, Track & Field<\/p>\n

Berlynn Te\u2019Rinah Solia-Tago \u2013 Millikin University, Wrestling<\/p>\n

Alayna Veavealagi \u2013 Mississippi Valley State, Softball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits\u00a0Wendell \u201cWoWo\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-328458","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\/328458","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=328458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}