Aotw
Athlete of the Week Avalon Compton Football Long Beach Poly Long Beach State Volleyball

The562.org’s Athletes of the Week

Congratulations to our Athletes of the Week and thanks to Naples Rib Company for their sponsorship.

HIGH SCHOOL

Jai Smith, Compton Football

Compton earned their first playoff spot since 2008 with a win over Cabrillo, and once again it was senior Jai Smith leading the way. Smith had 247 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the win.

Bryun Parham, Long Beach Poly Football

Standout junior linebacker Bryun Parham had a great game for Long Beach Poly last week against Lakewood, helping the Jackrabbits sew up a Moore League title. He had nine tackles, two for a loss, and a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He also had two fourth-down tackles to force turnovers on downs.

Virginia Soto, Avalon Volleyball

Avalon is the last team standing in the CIF-SS playoffs thanks to a sweep in the quarterfinals. Senior Virginia Soto once again led the way for Avalon with 10 kills, 21 assists, and eight digs in the victory.

COLLEGE

Hailey Harward, Long Beach State Volleyball

Hailey Harward tied her career-high with 27 digs in a five-set match against UC Davis to bring her week’s total to 54. In the process she became the fourth playing in school history to record 1,500 career digs.

 

Mike Guardabascio
An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 13 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous awards for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
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