By Mike Guardabascio, Tyler Hendrickson
It’s been a historic run for the Long Beach track and field world, where the city routinely has multiple programs at or near the top of the list of California’s best. Consider last year, where Long Beach Poly’s boys won the CIF State championship, and Wilson took third at the state meet. This golden age looks poised to extend into 2025 with some blazing times from the city’s best, as well as young talent at several schools.
Some key dates: the Arcadia Invitational will be April 11-12; Moore League Finals will be May 1; the CIF-SS finals will be held on May 17 at Moorpark High School; Masters will be 5/24 at Moorpark; and the CIF State meet is scheduled for May 30-31 in Clovis.
Long Beach Poly
Long Beach Poly is seeking a third straight CIF-SS and second consecutive CIF State title this year, and they’re putting up some eye-popping times already. The team is without Xai Ricks, who is now at Georgia after being one of the top high school runners in America last season; they’re also without sprinter Ben Harris, who transferred to Servite.
None of that seemed to much matter to the Poly 4×100, which put up an eye-popping time of 40.70 at the Redondo Nike Track Festival. The quartet of Julius Johnson, Malachi Dawson, Jaylen McNeil, and Donte Wright opened up with the state’s fastest time by a quarter of a second.
“Their confidence after that time went up, they’re realizing how good they are,” said Poly coach Crystal Irving. “We set 14 meet records at our first two meets. I don’t know that they realized how good they were, even though as coaches we know they were. I’ve just seen the workload and the competitiveness in practice.”
That quartet has also all run sub-11 seconds in the 100, along with Jarrius Hill, Noah Smith, and Dylin Bruce. It’s an unusually fast start, even at a school known for them. Eight sprinters have gone 11.07 or faster to start the year, headlined by a 10.5 from Johnson and a 10.7 by Dawson in his return to competition after missing much of last year with injury.
The 200 is just as fast, with Johnson at 21.51, Smith at 21.7, Hill at 22.06, and Wright at 22.11. Poly has six runners at 22.11 or better in the 200.
Smith will headline a talented group in the 400, having broken Ricks’ meet record at Redondo with a 47.29; he’s since run a 46.55 in Arizona which currently No. 2 in the state and No. 6 in the nation. Johnson, Hill, Darieon Shufford, and Gus Armstrong have all put up great 400 times, and Armstrong’s 1:54.33 is No. 5 in the state in the 800. Poly’s 4×4 also ran the state’s top mark of 3:14.88 at Redondo.
“It’s a special group, and our job is to keep them healthy and mentally focused, keep their nutrition right,” said Irving. “They’re all PRing so far, they’re all looking really good.”
Junior Lynnox Newton is off to a great start as the league’s top hurdler thus far, with 14.20 in the 110 hurdles (No. 5 in the state) and 39.46 in the 300 hurdles.
Armon Bly is another young hurdler, and that pair will be joined by Kasim Shepherd.
Poly also has a number of field athletes who will compete in the postseason. Jaden Akins is the leader thus far in the throws, aided by Jephte Tchami, and Grason Luke. Irving praised throws coaches Daniel Singh and Cheri Singh for the work they’re doing with a new group of Rabbits throwers.
In the jumps, Johnson is looking good with a 6-2 mark in the high jump, with Roan Alexander leading the league in the pole vault thus far. The long jumpers are Shepherd and Jonathan Weston, both of whom have good marks already this year.
“We’re really big on recovery, and the team concept,” said Irving. “It takes an entire team, it takes everyone, every point, to win together.”
Wilson
The Wilson boys’ track program has had to share the spotlight in recent seasons, but their success should not be overlooked. The Bruins have had one of the top programs in the state the past five years while putting up national level times in the mile relay.
That stretch includes a pair of CIF-SS championships (2021, 2024), along with a runner-up plaque in 2022. The Bruins have been going stride for stride with their rivals from Long Beach Poly, culminating in a shared CIF-SS championship last spring, and are trying to keep pace with the Wilson girls’ program, winners of consecutive state titles.
In any other sport–or in any other city–the Wilson boys would be the most successful program in town. The 2025 squad appears poised to keep that success going, with an exciting crop of talent for co-head coaches Neil Nelson and Shannon Fisher to work with.
“The boys, they’re not as deep as the girls’, but Fisher and our coaching staff is really into the mental aspect of getting them prepared and ready,” said Nelson. “So this year we’re trying to keep them focused. All the obstacles are gonna be there to stop us from doing what we’re supposed to do, but we have to recognize those obstacles, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Wilson will once again thrive in the middle distances, led in part by junior Wyland Obando, the reigning CIF-SS 800m champion in Division 1 who took silver at the CIF State meet as a sophomore, running a 1:50.26 in that final race.
“He should run faster than he did last year, but I think it’s going to be a very hot 800 season,” Fisher said of Obando and his pursuit of a state title. “So you’re gonna have to run probably sub 150 to win this year.”
The Bruins lost JT Kraemer off their state champion 4×400 relay, but will have the other three legs back, inducing Obando, junior JaeRon Harris and sophomore Kaedyn Burroughs. The Bruins opened their 4×4 season with an impressive showing at the Simplot Games in Idaho, running indoors on boards and putting down a time of 3:19.48.
That time is more than two seconds faster than their season-opening time a year ago, made even more impressive given that Harris wasn’t running this time. Seniors Charles Chapman and Jai Petri were the new legs for Wilson’s 4×400 and made an early statement for what they can do to help the team this season.
“We ran 3:21 there last year with JT and that group, and finished the year out at 3:12. Now we opened this year at 3:19,” Nelson explained. “We ran with some new guys, and they ran the fastest time we’ve ever run as a school there, so that was amazing. We didn’t see it coming, but we were very happy.”
Burroughs finished 6th in the 400 at the state meet as a freshman, after taking 3rd in CIF. He was joined by Harris in that CIF final as he placed 8th. Harris may also factor into the hurdles this season as the Bruins look to replace a pair of CIF finalists from a season ago.
In addition to Chapman and Petri, Walter Tindal is another senior who’s ready for his shot to run at the varsity level in the 400. Other key newcomers include junior transfer Mark Ricks, who is expected to make an impact in the sprints, plus sophomore ZaKye Surles in the hurdles.
The Bruins are also hopeful to compete well in the 4×800 relay, ideally without leaning too heavily on Obando in that event. Senior Tommy Pincherli should also be a contributor as a distance runner after his Top 5 finish at the cross country league finals; he had the league’s best time in the two-mile early on this track season.
“We’re going to continue to do what we’re doing, continue to create that atmosphere and the culture and really focus on health,” Nelson said. ”I think that’s one of our main things.”
Wilson will hope to develop depth within the boys’ team as the season goes along, with plenty of high-profile meets on the schedule. The 4×400 is once again the event to watch, and the Bruins expect to have a solid group of athletes competing for league, CIF, and state titles.
Millikan
The Millikan track and field team has grown in number and in skill since coach Dee King took over. She said she’s pleased to see that the growth is continuing–from 25 kids in the program when she took over to nearly 200 this year.
“We’re growing, it’s amazing to see the school rally around the fact that the program is growing tremendously,” she said. “We’re covered in pretty much every event except triple jump and pole vault. Kids are buying in, that’s really exciting. They’re taking hold of our team motto, which is ‘One family.’”
The Rams made the CIF in the 4×100 last year, and will be bolstered this season with football Moore League Player of the Year Anthony League’s decision to not graduate early, and instead compete in his senior year. He’ll run the 100, 200, and on both relays. The Cal signee will lead a talented group of Rams that includes Damien Ballesteros and freshman Edison Cinco, both in the sprints.
Odell Sims Jr. is another football standout who will run, along with Ethan Raphiel and Daniel Flores, who will run the 400. King like freshman high jumper Kaiyo Berhanu, throwers Cesar Gomez and Ryan Carter, and the Rams will get a boost from Max Ramirez and Bryce Cobabe in the distance events.
Lakewood
There’s a new head coach in charge at Lakewood, where Daniel Sorenson is taking over a young but talented roster on the boys’ side.
Senior Keyvel Sowell will be a leader in the 400m and is working on his hurdle technique as well for the Lancers. Fellow senior Gabriel Rojas is the leader in the distance races, hoping to build off a strong cross country season that saw him finish fourth at league finals. He should be a factor in both the 1600 and 3200 this spring.
Sophomores Kameron Chatman and Lance Hemphill are both making progress in the 200 and 400, with sophomore Luis Silva and junior Andre Clayton coming over from the football field to run the sprints. In the field events, 10th grader Larazo Johnson should contribute in the shot put and discus.
Jordan
Jordan is in rebuild mode after the departure of coach Sharaud Moore, who took the job at Loyola High. Moore’s Panthers won the Moore League title in 2022 (the school’s first in 13 years) and the CIF-SS title that year as well, the school’s first since 2001. This year well-respected youth coach Scoey Peters has taken the reigns with the Panthers.
“We’re thin and looking for consistency right now,” he said. Peters has had a successful run coaching at Cabrillo previously.
Contributors this year will include Myron Valentine, Sama’jay Jackson, Malachi Burdette, and Armani Johnson.
Cabrillo
Cabrillo’s had some standouts already in this young season. Their 4×100 of Marcelo Ramos, Paul Brown, Armon Lumpkin, and Solomon Davis has gone 45.99 at the Colt Classic, currently the third-best time in the Moore League. Davis, a jumper, has gone 20-03 this year, the league’s fourth-best mark, and he’s also run a 22.9 in the 200, good enough for the league’s ninth-best mark.
“We’re looking to capitalize on our previous season where we had athletes reach CIF prelims and CIF Finals,” said Jaguars coach Kennard Hamilton.
Anthony Miller will be another contributor.
Compton
Compton will be led by senior sprinter Lenier Pitts, Jr. who is coming off a solid season. He was a Moore League finalist in both the 100m and 200m sprints, finishing 7th and 5th, respectively, in those events. He reached the CIF prelims in the 200 as a junior, and will look to push it even further this season while improving on his PR of 22.05.
Classmate Kamron Estes is a 200/400 runner for Compton, and head coach Derrick Anderson said he’s “worked his tail off to get faster” during the offseason. He’s looking to drop his 400 time and make it to CIF in that event, targeting the qualifying time of 51.2.
St. AnthonyAt St. Anthony, youngsters will need to lead the way for an inexperienced group of Saints. Junior Andres Mendoza and sophomore Joshua Ogbebor are expected to be the top performers in the sprints.
