At this year’s CIF-SS prelims held at Trabuco Hills High and Carpinteria High, many Long Beach Poly qualifiers were represented. A total of 45 Long Beach entries will be moving onto the CIF-SS track and field finals, with 22 jackrabbits representing Poly.
Armon Bly, 8th place qualifier of the boys’ 300 hurdles with a time of 38.93 commends his team for their performance in CIF prelims, stating that his main goal was to qualify and that he feels confident for what is to come in finals.
“It being my first year of qualifying, I feel really excited,” said Bly, “I’ve really just trusted my coaches all season to kind of set me up for it and I feel like they have.”
Through the ups and downs of track, many of the male athletes have attested to their religious faith being a huge factor in their prosperity and growth throughout the season.
Noah Smith, who qualified for second place in the boys’ 400 with a time of 47.55 as well as the boys’ 4×4 said, “I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be where I am without God, and I feel like every time I step on the track He’s helping to carry me through it.” Noah said, if things go well, this will be his fourth CIF win with the team.
“I actually pray to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because without Him I wouldn’t be here today, you know,” said Jephte Techami who placed sixth in boys’ shot put. He shared that personally he lacks confidence at these meets, and feels that he shouldn’t be nervous, but heavily relies on his faith to feel secure.
Another extremely successful member of the team who runs the 400, 200, 100, 4×1, and the 4×4, Jaylen McNeil, agrees that he too relies heavily on his faith in God to help him through his races. “God’s power you know,” said Jaylen, “He got me there and I’m blessed.” Though Jaylen feels that his performance in the prelims could’ve been better, he said that overall his best is all he can do and he can make it as far as he can through God saying “God’s strength that He gives me, I just want to do my best. That’s really all I do, I rely on Him and I feel like when I give it to Him, I can do whatever I need, you know. The Lord is my shepherd is what I say, if I don’t have Him, it’s nothing.”
