The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial
The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by an anonymous donation, in appreciation of Coach Ron Allice.
Long Beach Poly’s track and field team has a long and deep history at the Penn Relays, which at 129 years old is one of the sport’s most treasured events. In the 30-year history of the Penn Relays’ Wall of Fame, only three high school relays and athletes have been honored, but the Trackrabbits will add another pair at this year’s Penn Relays, as sprinter Shalonda Solomon is being inducted as an individual, and the record-setting 2003 Poly girls’ 4×400 is also going in as a group.
“It’s an honor like no other, your name etched into history and on the wall of one of the most epic stadiums in the world,” reads the Penn Relays Wall of Fame press release.
Poly has a regional fan base in Philadelphia, where local track fans spent a decade cheering on Poly’s individuals and relays, the only Americans capable of beating the Jamaican powerhouses. Drug stores sold generic green and gold beanies and merchandise and thousands of track fans who’d never been to California or Long Beach became diehard Poly fans for an afternoon.
The Jackrabbits, as a result of their success, have a dozen Penn Relays Wheels, the unique trophy given out to championship relays for winning either national or international titles. Individuals on championship teams collect the famed Penn Relays championship watches.
Solomon ran at Penn with Poly in 2003 and 2004, and was a sprint relays champ both with Poly and at South Carolina, winning seven watches in total. She helped Poly’s 4×100 team win in 2003 and the 4×400 win in 03 and 04, setting a then-record anchor split of 51.6 seconds in 2003. She also won titles with South Carolina in three trips to the Penn Relays at the NCAA level.
Solomon won’t go onto the Wall of Fame alone–she’ll be joined in a separate entry by her 2003 4×400 teammates Shantae McKinney, Jasmine Lee, and Shana Woods. Their quartet won the high school girls’ 4×400 championship in 3:35.55, still the second-fastest prep time in Penn Relays history. Their mark at that time set a new national record, which they held for exactly one year until Poly broke it again in 2004.
Click here for more info about the Penn Relays Wall of Fame; this year’s Penn Relays will be April 25-27.
