Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Maria Onore Bryant, were among the 9 passengers that perished in a helicopter accident in Calabasas Hills on the morning of Sunday, January 26.
Kobe and his daughter were on their way to play and coach in a youth basketball game at the Mamba Tournament, which was cancelled due to the news that both Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s helicopter crashed on the hillside.
It was a tragic day for many Lakers fans in LA who worshiped and idolized the basketball giant who played all 20 seasons of his (soon to be Hall of Fame) career with the Los Angeles Lakers. The most important thing Kobe gave to this community was his passion and love for the sports world.
He was a role model for many young fans, and his death affected the community as a whole. The people in LA supported and came together as a family to grieve together on the tragic day and the weeks after.
Many fans gathered around the Staples Center to mourn the loss of their hero. The best part of Los Angeles is that mostly everyone is concerned with the sports world, but the Los Angeles Lakers is the mecca that started it all, and Kobe Bryant was a part of that legacy. As an LA resident and long-time Lakers fan, it deeply saddens me and our city as a whole to lose someone so significant whom we watched growing up.
Many of his NBA companions and fellow players all mourned after hearing the news on the Sunday of the helicopter crash. The players were forced to play due to the NBA’s inability to cancel the games scheduled. Teams took 24 second and 8 second backcourt violations in honor of their fallen hero, brother, friend, and mentor’s number he wore when he dominated the basketball court.
His daughter Gianna was also an aspiring basketball player who hoped to play for UCONN and go into the WNBA. The UCONN Huskies took their condolences to Twitter. “Kobe and Gianna meant a lot to our program.
Our thoughts are with the Bryant family,” the team posted. “Mamba Mentality will live on forever, but they are deeply missed.”
Many people have been inspired by the “Mamba Mentality,” including Poly senior Aurelius Cummings, who said, “Kobe was inspiring and wanted people to be the best that they can be.”
We all mourn the loss of Kobe and Gianna as they are a big part of our community and to the world of basketball. We hope to keep all the victims in this tragedy in our prayers.
Category: Sports
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Kobe and Gianna
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Girls Volleyball Spikes Success
One of the many sports active this season at Long Beach Poly High is girls Volleyball, coached by Leland McGrath. Tryouts and training for Frosh Soph, Junior Varsity, and Varsity teams were held earlier this summer. The girls volleyball teams have matches held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with tournaments also taking place on some Saturdays. Junior Varsity and Frosh Soph games start at 3:00pm while Varsity begins at 4:15pm.
On Sept. 21-22, the teams competed in the Durango Volleyball Tournament in Las Vegas, NV.
After a few tough matches against Wilson and Millikan the Jackrabbits started getting the outcomes they’ve been hoping for in their matches, including a 25 – 16, 25 – 13, 25 – 10 sweep against the St. Joseph Jesters.
Thanks to a lineup change made by Coach McGrath and a change in the girls’ energy the Jackrabbits got what they were striving for. McGrath put sophomore Adonia Faumuina as one of the setters in the team’s two-setter system.
Halfway through the Moore League girls’ volleyball season, Long Beach Poly swept Lakewood on Sept. 25, forcing a first-place tie between the Jackrabbits and Lancers. Poly was also fierce in a road sweep of the Lancers, winning 25-21, 25-10, 25-15.
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Softball Gets Lessons with Living Legend
Softball began their season with their new coach, Elizabeth Martin-Sanchez, who took over as head coach for the girls. She brought the girls home with many victories and even to the first round of CIF. This was actually the first in years that the girls made it this far. Losing to Grace Brethren, the softball girls kept their heads up and encouraged good vibes for the years to come. Starlynn Ramirez said, “Even though we lost I am glad to have done something that hasn’t be done in a very long time.” All of the team and Coach Sanchez believe that they have done they’re beat and considers the team as family.
Sanchez introduces a softball clinic that allows young softball players to connect with a softball World and Olympic champion, Crystl Bustos, with this program this summer at Poly. This gives the girls an opportunity to see how dreams can be achieved and they could end up like Bustos when it comes to terms with softball. Sanchez has given out flyers that enlists that Bus- tos will be here on August 12th. The program, though, is from August 10-14. The clinic will help softball players condition and practice for their upcoming seasons. This program is free as long as the right documents are turned in and are filled out correctly.
Crystl Bustos is known for being 3 time gold medalist for the USA olympic team in Beijing. She has become a great role model for the soft- ball community. She is originally from Southern California; she lived in San Clarita. Started her softball career in the little league in Canyon Country. When she moved on to higher education she attended Palm Beach Community and that began her fame as a softball player. She played in the Beijing Games in 2008 taking silver and won a gold medal in three international league games. The girls this summer have an opportunity to look up for their future.
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Max Irwin
Max Irwin, a junior attending Polytechnic high school, is one of the best players of the Varsity Boys Golf team. Irwin joined golf because it has always been a part of his life, his grandpa and his grandpa’s brothers had played, so it was only a matter of time before Irwin felt the need to join in on the action as well.
He enjoys playing the skillful sport because it’s, “fun to be outside and socialize”. Although, Irwin does not believe that he has been doing too well this season so far and it frustrates him.
Despite this, Irwin believes that he should keep a good mind-set and practice more to improve. Irwin is greatly supported by both of his parents and grandparents so he feels ready and willing to play in college as well.
He plans to major in financial management or investment management. Although golf is considered a individual sport, Irwin enjoys the time he spends with his teammates and would like to shout out his teammate Tyler Nicol for doing really good in this season so far. -
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.
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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.
