Track and field: The 400 is flavored with a little Coco

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I have seen the future of track and field, and it’s nicknamed ‘Coco.’ That’s what everyone calls Akawkaw Ndipagbor, a freshman at Long Beach Poly who ran a 54.82 in the girls’ 400. She is the state leader already at 53.43, and she looked remarkably strong and fluid with her run Saturday at Trabuco Hills in the Southern Section-Toyota Divison I preliminaries.

I’m guessing Coco has plenty left in the tank. She ran a 53.73 last year as an eighth-grader.

She’s awesome.

Poly had the top two qualifiers. Jasmine Joseph was second at 55.52. They were the only two under 56 seconds.

-- Martin Henderson