Category: Sports

  • Beach Volleyball Update: They’re Killing It!

    This past week Long Beach Poly high school competed in its first Beach Volleyball Tournament and League Games. They first competed at Santa Monica Beach on Saturday March 16th against Santa Monica and Notre Dame. The three teams competed to win their match then the school that wins two out of the three matches takes the whole game. These three matches were close games with long rallies.
    Long Beach Poly lost to Santa Monica High School 2-1 and beat Notre Dame 2-1. “Playing these developed Beach volleyball programs was a cool experience for our first year” according to Senior Beach Volleyball player Sofia Skukan.
    On Tuesday March 26th, the Beach Volleyball team played their first league games against St. Joseph and Laguna Beach at the Huntington Beach courts. They played St. Joseph first and only four of our beach players could make it so whichever school won both game took the match. Long Beach Poly beat St. Joseph 2-0 and then played the strong Laguna Beach team.
    The Lady Jackrabbits lost 3-0 sets to the D1 college committed Laguna Beach players. “Competing with some of the top girls was so motivating because most of us haven’t played much beach volleyball in our lives,” said Junior Beach Volleyball player Ellie Requejo. The Poly girls are expected to play against Los Alamitos and St. Anthony’s teams in scrimmages next week.

  • Cross Country Gets a New Coach

    Coach Nate or Mr. Bershtel, was the previous girls cross country. Behind the scene is a father and husband who appreciates his family. He has recently given up his job as coach for the girls cross country and long distance track due to him choosing to be more family involved and increase his time investing in teaching.
    He is currently teaching a Pre-Calculus class and also taught other math subjects, such as, Algebra 2 and Intermediate Math. He has made an impact both in the classroom, and on the field.
    Many of his students and athletes appreciated him for his dedication and efforts he put into his job. One of his athletes, Ashley a senior who ran for him her 9th grade year to her 11th grade year said, “Coach Nate was a passionate and great coach and it is sad to see his leave the cross country family.” Her and many others felt this way because he was an amazing coach and teacher here at Long Beach Poly.
    In addition, he coached an alumni, Brenda, who acknowledged, “Coach Nate always pushed me and encouraged me to run…if it weren’t for him I would not be running today.”
    Coach Nate will now be replaced with Coach Gabrielle Bournes. She received her confirmation two weeks ago from the head of girls sports administration, Crystal Irving. Coach Gabby has been working with Long Beach Poly as an assistant coach for the mid-distance team for Track and Field.
    Coach Nate’s decision to resign as a coach was good because he wants to be a great father to his kids and invest more time in his family.
    He personally said, “ He does wish the program good luck and want the Poly cross country to continue the tradition and go far. This year the cross country team was able to compete in the season with an assistant coach from track and field and dominated in Moore League.

  • Girls Lacrosse Coming Up

    On Thursday, March 14, Poly’s girls lacrosse team had an away game and went up against one of its biggest challengers, Millikan High School.
    The Jackrabbits brought home a big win and demolished the rams in the process. In this latest game leaving the score at 17-1. This win brings their win-loss record up to 1-2. With this game being their first win of the season everyone was excited.
    Senior Malina Mao-Long from the varsity team said that after the game was over “we all ran up and gave our goalie a big hug. The entire team was so excited for the win. Especially me because I’m a senior.”
    Malina said that she was really proud of this game because there was a lot of great teamwork between all the players: “The first person that scored in that game was our captain Giselle. I didn’t have the ball a lot this game but I did help my teammates get the ball.”
    The girls lacrosse team has an upcoming game against Los Altos on March 21.

  • BACK-TO-BACK FOR POLY LDT AT REDONDO

    From March 9-8 2019, Poly boys and girls Long Distance Track competed at the Redondo Nike Relays at Redondo High School. A total of 24 runners participated in the long distance events which entered high schools state wide ranging from Great Oak to private schools such as Chadwick High School. Three events took place for long distance track across the varsity and Fros/Soph levels, the distance medley race, 4x800m, and 3200m run. Triumphant event, Poly Long Distance Track win back-to-back events both days.
    Starting with boys varsity, out of the 8 runners entered into the 3200m (2 miles), William Frankenfeld and Ronan McMahon-Staggs place both in the top 10 with William coming in, in first and Ronan swooping in at 6th. Both premier runners set a personal record with William at 9:12 and Ronan at 9:18. All 8 runners averaged a spontaneous time of 11:18.
    Girls varsity on the other hand too had a show out as 2 varsity LDT runners, Ailene Rios and Olivia Boyce ran the 3200m as well. Ailene placed 14th running and 12:15 and Olivia Boyce placing 33rd running a 13:00. Although there where only two varsity poly girls running in the 3200m, they pushed through coming out on top. This was the only events girls LDT track ran at this event, so major kudos to the two runners!
    Boys Frosh/Soph also too had a good turnout as 7 runners where entered with 3 of them racing a sub-11 minute 3200m. Jay Jumar with 10:55, Bryan Gutierrez with 11:00, and Nathan Jimenez racing 11:06. All 7 runners who raced the 3200m Fros/Soph made a personal record with all times averaging out to be 11:01.
    As the 3200s ended, the rush fo the 4x800s began and DMR began. Varsity boys, ran 4x800s with a total time of 8:42 placing 16th overall. Fros/Soph replicated the performance running a total time of 9:33 placing 17th overall. The Distance Medley races where replicated the same as both levels placed 20th, varsity running 11:32 and fros/soph running 12:31.
    Although the second day the tides changed as LDT’s premiere runner William Frankenfeld ran the 1600m (1 mile), in 4:22, this according to LDT coaching staff made the cut for Arcadia Invitational. This invitational invites the best of the best of each Track and Field event from across the state.
    As LDT’s premiere runner William Frankenfeld ran the 1600m (1 mile), in 4:22, this according to LDT coaching staff made the cut for Arcadia Invitational. This invitational invites the best of the best of each Track and Field event from across the state.
    With the Redondo Relays coming to an end, this marks the start of the Moore League season which starts at the Compton/Jordan meet on March 13th.

  • Things The Trackrabbits Did: That!

    At the Annual Trackrabbit Track Meet on Saturday, February 23rd, Poly hosted a huge track meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Long Beach City College.
    Poly’s annual Trackrabbit invitational brought out about 15-20 high schools from LA County to kick off the Track season. Schools such as Redondo Union and Citrus Valley came out to participate in this event.
    The head of girls athletics, and head of track and field, Ms.Irving, gathered many volunteers to help make this track meet possible. The long distance, short distance, and fields really showed out throughout the meet.
    According to Ab Tudayan, the long distance team, Long Distance Track Take Dubs at this annual event.
    Long Distance Track (LDT) is composed to several people from the tree of running. Majority of runners come from cross country season with a few runners from mid-distance track joining the party.
    Three events took place at the Track Rabbit Invitational which are the 4x1600m relays (1 mile), 4x800m relays (2 laps), and Distance medley relay races (DMR). Distance Medley Races are each runner in the relay run different distances, in order it is the 1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m.
    With dominating track runners from Wilson, Redondo Union, Milikan, Lakewood, Warren, and Citrus Valley High School, how did previous Poly boys and girls cross country runners fair in their new environment?
    Starting off with the 4x1600m relays, Poly LDT varsity dominated in both girls and boys varsity taking first place in that category.The girls came in striking with there varsity 4×1600 with runners Sydney Carlson, Olivia Boyce, Laura Yontz, and Ailene Rios. They finished with an overall time of 23:40:68, an average of a 6:15 1600 meter run per runner.
    The boys too replicated the girls success with runners Alex Matos, Danny Bautista, Aldo Kiev, and William Frankenfeld taking first in 4×1600 relays. The boys ran in a total time of 18:30:50 with an average of a 4:57 1600m. Boys dominated the field by gapping the following team Warren High School by 20 seconds. Both boys and girls runners received an blue Nike backpack for their performances.
    Aldo Kiev one of the 4×1600 varsity boys runners voiced that it was, “an exhilarating start,” to the season and that, “(the invitational) reminded what runners across all levels should expect in future races.”
    Ailene Rios the varsity 4x1600m runners states it was a, “phenomenal start,” to the season and is, “up and ready,” for the future races and events this semester. A good attitude to begin the new LDT season.
    Although Poly’s LDT did not place 3rd or higher in any other events through all levels, it is a mere rough start to the season and expect them to be striking back March 1st at the Griffin Relay races.
    As for the short distance, the varsity the star relay teams on both girls and boys won their sprint medley event. For the boys, :Kenyon Reed (senior), Anthony Johnson (junior), and Kejuan and Keon Markham (seniors), ran a 1:31:00. Their competitors had no chance against this dream team. The twins, Keon and Kejuan, remarked, “Hard work beats talent,” as they encourage the lower division athletes and future track runners.
    As far as varsity sprints team for girls, they won first place in their 4 x 200m relay and placed second, losing to the Wilson Bruins, in the sprint medley. This team consisted of Saundria Martin (senior), Zanae Wood (freshman), Qween Okoh (senior), and Kenya Payne (senior).
    The girls took another victory on varsity in the 4 x 400m with Saminah Haddad, Kenya Payne, Kennedy Butler, and Saundria Martin. Kenya Payne quotes, “hard work pays off and that’s all we do,” after the meet.

  • Kenya Payne

    Kenya Payne, a senior, on the varsity sprints team, recently committed to the University of Southern California (USC). She has showed her dedication in track all four years of high school and plans to forward those dreams in her college athletic career.
    She has said that she will pursue a career in “medical industry.” As far as her last high school season at Poly, she wants to “ return to CIF and win state.” With this attitude, greatness is destined in her future. Kenya has received multiple awards for the 400m and 4 x 100m relays and she aspires to achieve a “41 second PR [Personal Record]” before graduating high school.
    Not only has Kanye excelled in track, she is doing very well academically. She has committed to pursue her dreams in the medical field as a nurse.
    She is currently in the medical program her at Poly. She is in the MEDS academy and has received multiple awards for honor roll. She is a smart young individual that says, “I am ready for college…for the experience and for the freedom.”
    This girl is one of the fastest runners in her Division along with many other runners at Long Beach Poly. She has won 2nd place in her 400m last year in CIF and at Moore League Finals. This year she wants to keep her titles and advance to state championships with her team with all of the support from the coaches, staff, and fellow athletes here at Poly.

  • Lady Jackrabbits Jump All The way To CIF

    The Lady Jackrabbit basketball team made it to the second round of CIF against Martin Luther King High School. Unfortunately, the girls lost by three points to King. The game took place away at the Riverside location.
    The Jackrabbits fought hard until the very end. They maintained their defense and tried to succeed as much as possible offensively. Deja Williams made most of the points as the team continued, Kalaya Buggs, showed out, moving the ball to find openings in MLK’s defense.
    The lose was the unfortunate fate of the game, although they were fighting hard for a win. One of the players commented, “our mindsets were the problem for the game.” She felt as though the team weren’t at there best, but they had the potential of winning the game.
    They will continue to the third round of CIF against Chaminade on Tuesday, February 26th. If the girls win this round they will be the runner-ups of CIF for their division.

  • Miles Hines

    Senior basketball player Miles Hines has been playing basketball practically his whole life, encouraged by his family, but eventually growing his own love for the sport that continues to this day. “I’ve been playing for about 12 years.” said Hines

    Miles is family encourages his athletic ability and he will likely continue to play after graduation, although he is unsure of where he will be this fall. “I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll probably still play.”

    Hines has put a lot of hard work into basketball and loves many aspects of the sport “ I really enjoy playing and working with my teammates. Practice can be tiring. That would be my least favorite.”

    No matter where he ends up in life, Miles can always count on his love of basketball to be there with him, “ I’ve been doing this for most of my life.”

    He thanks his family, who have been his strength throughout his life both on and off the court. “My family really supports me. They put me on this.”

  • The Rivalry Continues: Soccer Edition

    It’s that time of year again, where the Wilson and Poly girls soccer teams play in a rivalry game that has lasted decades. On Tuesday, December 18, the Jackrabbits girls varsity played the Bruins in what was the game that set the stage for the rest of the season.

    Last year, Poly lost to Wilson 0-2. But with a new coach this year and many returning players, it felt like a new energy was given to the team.

    “I didn’t sleep last night,” First year coach Anthony Perez said before the game. “I was so excited.” The Poly girls got out onto the field brimming with confidence, desire for this huge win the first thing in their minds.

    Poly started off strong, scoring in the first 4 minutes off a low cross by sophomore Kelsey Adams to Skylar Herrera who nailed it into the net. However, Poly couldn’t remain in the lead, and Wilson scored twice before half time was up.

    “We need to work as a team, don’t be afraid to play physical, and play with all your heart, ok? We can do this,” Junior Morgan King said in the team huddle at half time, while Poly was still behind.

    They went back out onto the field for the second half with high tension, the teams getting more and more physical as the game progressed. There were five yellow cards given out in the final 20 minutes, but Poly held their own. Despite being behind on the scoreboard, Poly was playing equally, if not better than Wilson.

    But in the final 8 minutes of the game, Poly got a corner kick. It was a perfect ball that arced across the crossbar, right to the head of Junior Aniah Cutler who drove the ball right into the goal. This goal was energizing for the team, as Poly finally had a bigger chance to comeback and beat Wilson once and for all.

    With 40 seconds left in the game, Poly got a free kick. Taken by Senior Ella Hiveley, it rebounded and was found at the feet of Sarah Santos, who was able to aim at the open space in the goal left by the goalie, and shoot. And the ball went it.

    With 25 seconds left to spare, Poly was able to pull off a win in what possibly was the biggest game of the season.

    The entire team, bench, and stands went crazy, enthused that Poly was able to pull off a win with almost no time left. “I knew we were going to win no matter what,” Cutler said after the game.

    With this huge win under their belt, Poly continues to be undefeated in both league and non-league play.

    On Tuesday, January 8 at Poly, the Jackrabbits and  the Millikan Rams girls soccer played against each other. Last year, Millikan beat Poly 3-1, but equipped with a new coach and some very strong returning players, Poly was hoping to pull off a win this year.

    This game started off strong for Millikan, scoring in the first eight minutes off of a cross by Emily Tamayo. Karli Slater headed the ball towards the far post where Samy Sierra headed it into the goal that Poly goalkeeper Kira Ybarra missed.

    Poly was able to rebound with a drving kick straight into the net by Senior Skylar Herrera in the 20th minute. But the Rams responded to the Jackrabbit goal with a cross by Sunha Park led by a shot into the goal by Oliva Tostado, putting Millikan in the lead.

    They also played Cabrillo Thursday December 20, winning 4-0.

  • Hot H2O

    The oldest rivalry in Long Beach came back to life for one more game, as the Long Beach Poly Girls Water Polo team counted down to their last practice before they faced the game that matters the most to them: Wilson.

    The game started at 6:19 pm December 19, with the sprint won by Wilson High School. Poly’s head coach Brandon D’sa used Kate Sarantos, Tara Johnson, Alana Snyder, Maddie Marshall, Paulina Martinez and Josie Hahn as his starting line up. Within the first two minutes of the game Wilson scored 2 goals, ending the first quarter with 3 goals and four attempted goals by Poly.

    After a heated two minutes of yelling and emotional speeches from both teams, the second quarter began with the sprint won by Wilson. Poly had Tara Johnson, Aristiana Modica, Josie Hahn, Kate Sarantos, and Paulina Martinez in this quarter. With 4:35 left on the clock Wilson scored another goal making the score now 4-0. Aristiana Modica got ejected allowing Wilson to be a “man up.” Wilson scored yet another goal, the score now 5-0. After their first timeout a Wilson player got ejected, giving Josie Hahn, Poly’s girl, an opportunity to score. During the third quarter, Wilson high school scored two more goals, which make it 7-1.

    The last quarter arrived and the sprint was won once again by Wilson. Off of the sprint Wilson scored another goal, the score being 8-1. Off of the line, another of Wilson’s players were ejected for grabbing resulting in Poly scoring again, making it 8-2. The goal was made by Josie Hahn from the five meter line. After the goal was made, Poly’s number 12, Tara Johnson was ejected, resulting in another goal, the score now 9-2 at 3:19. After a minute of seeing who has the ball, Maddie Marshall stole the ball passing it to Emily Rockenbach who scored, the score was leveled out to 9-3. Wilson scored another goal the score rising to 10-3. After that goal Poly’s 4-5 side player Kate Sarantos scored another goal with 1:09 left on the clock. However, one more goal was taken by Wilson, the score final score turning out to be 10-4.

    Jennifer Sarantos, Kate Sarantos’ mom said, “We’ll get them next year, and the year after that and so on and so forth, you just gotta keep believing and it will happen.”

  • Girls Jacks Do the Tango with the Lancers

    On Thursday, January 10th, beginning at 3:30 PM in the big gym, our wrestling meet against Lakewood was considered to be an eventful one. As each girl went up to wrestle their opponents, they were determined to finish their matches, and rack up a win. Only three girls were a part of the Lakewood wrestling team, while Poly had 11 girls on ready to get in the ring.

    Sophomore, Mishelli Morales was first up in the matches, weighing in around the 137’s.  Fixed in pushing her way out of a pin. Morales describes how she felt as not “really confident” and would want to have done “a rematch” in order to successfully win her match. Morales felt as if there could have been improvement, as she “panicked” and would have been “more aggressive” if given the chance.

    Freshman, Julissa Lara was quick on her feet and bringing action into her match, weighing in at 135 while the opponent weighed at 150. Lara successfully was able to get out of a pin. As for her thought processes during the match, she was “feeling scared” especially since she was bumped up in weight class.

    Poly lost both matches.There was a third opponent who did not wrestle, due to no one being of her weight class, but Poly won the match due to default as the team had more girls present.

  • Volleyball Goes To The Beach for some Fun in The Sun

    In the spring semester, Poly High School will start its first ever Beach Volleyball Program. This sport will compete within the Sunset League in Huntington Beach. Tryouts are open to the entire school and the top ten girls will compete with the top level of Beach Volleyball for high school.

    Long Beach Unified School District doesn’t have Beach Volleyball as a sport but the athletic and high-performance volleyball players at Poly have been invited to compete in Division 1.

    The club president, Grace Abdoo, has stepped up and organized this new sport to increase its popularity. Currently they are raising money to enter the League and buy new equipment and jerseys. Games and tournaments will be Saturday mornings during the months of February, March, and April.

    Stay turned to hear the first Beach Volleyball results in Long Beach Poly’s history.