There’s Still No Overlooking Untested Poly

Coach Don Norford of Long Beach Poly High claims he’s serious when he says the Jackrabbit girls’ track and field team should not be favored to win the state championships this season.

He explains that the graduation of Candace Baucham, Na’Onka Mixon and Jamie Kolar last June has left defending state champion Poly with some huge holes to fill in the long jump, triple jump and pole vault.

And that a team such as Riverside North could present problems for the Jackrabbits because the Huskies are strong in the field events as well as in the sprints, hurdles and relays.

Nonetheless, Poly is regarded by most as the team to beat in the state championships because of the Jackrabbits’ superb talent in the sprints, hurdles and relays.

“They definitely deserve to be the favorites,” said Coach Dan Fitzpatrick of Cerritos Gahr.

“Our goal is to win state this year, but [Poly] has to be the favorite.”

Poly, which is shooting for its seventh state championship in the last 11 years, was expected to have the Nos. 3, 5 and 8 returning 100-meter sprinters in the state this season, the Nos. 3 and 5 returners in the 200, the No. 3 returner in the 100 high hurdles and the No. 2 returner in the 300 low hurdles.

The Jackrabbits became even stronger, however, with the transfers of juniors Dominique Dorsey from Inglewood and Shauntae McKinney from Westchester.

Dorsey is the sixth-fastest returning 200 sprinter in the state with a time of 24.29 seconds, and McKinney is the seventh-fastest returner in the 400 at 54.89 and a two-time City Section champion in the 800.

Sophomore Shalonda Solomon and senior Tunisia Johnson are expected to be the leaders on a team of standouts for Poly.

Solomon placed second in the 100 and third in the 200 in the state championships last season and has career bests of 11.57 in the 100 and 23.65 in the 200.

In addition, she ran on a 1,600 relay team that finished second in the state championships in a season-best 3 minutes 39.75 seconds and on a 400 relay team that was ranked second in the nation with a best of 45.57 before being disqualified for passing the baton out of its zone in the Southern Section Division I preliminaries.

Johnson placed second in the 300 low hurdles and sixth in the high hurdles in the state championships and has bests of 42.32 in the low hurdles and 14.11 in the highs.

Nonetheless, Norford says that Riverside North and Oakland Bishop O’Dowd should be considered as tri-favorites for the state title with Poly.

“[North] is much more experienced than we are, especially in the field events,” Norford said.

“I have some talented people in the jumps, but they’re young. They’re not battle-tested. You get them up in front of a big crowd in a big meet and you never know how they’re going to perform.”