Kelly Helps L.B. Poly to Record Night

It didn’t take long for Long Beach Poly High sprinter Kareem Kelly to set the tone at the CIF Southern Section Masters track and field meet Friday night at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Kelly, a senior who has signed a letter of intent with USC to play football, turned in a brilliant anchor leg in the boys’ 400-meter relay and the Jackrabbits were on their way.

Long Beach Poly wound up establishing a state record of 40.14 seconds in the event. The time, which surpassed a mark of 40.24 seconds that Hawthorne set in 1989, was the best time in the nation this year and fourth fastest ever.

And Kelly was just getting started.

Later in the meet, he turned in outstanding wind-aided times of 10.30 seconds in the 100 meters--defeating teammate Darrell Rideaux by one thousandth of a second--and 20.61 seconds in the 200.

“I knew I had to come out and make a statement,” Kelly said after the 200. “Everybody was talking about Mike Mitchell [of Paramount] and Warren Rogers [of Gardena Serra], but they forgot about the state champion.”

Kelly, who set a state record of 20.76 seconds in the 200 last year, came from behind to defeat Rideaux (20.73) again. Rogers was third and Mitchell fourth.

Kelly also ran the second leg for the Jackrabbits’ 1,600-meter relay team that won in 3:13.76.

That left Long Beach Poly in good position with seven qualifiers, including its two relay teams, for the state meet at Sacramento next Friday and Saturday. The Jackrabbits are two-time defending champions.

“We’re in rhythm, but we still have another week to go,” Coach Don Norford said. “We’ve got to stay focused.”

While the Long Beach Poly girls weren’t quite as impressive, they also had a memorable performance. They won the 400 relay in 46.24 seconds, fourth best of all time, and Blessing Ufodiama took the triple jump with a leap of 39-0 1/4.

Long Beach Wilson sophomore Lashinda Demus won the 300 hurdles in a hand-timed 40.4 seconds, the third fastest mark in state history.

She also ran the opening leg on Wilson’s 1,600 relay team that won in 3:37.61--the second-best national mark of all time.