Poly’s Girls Set 800 Relay Record

The Long Beach Poly and Long Beach Wilson girls’ track and field teams have developed quite a rivalry in the last decade while fielding some of the best teams in the nation on an annual basis.

Yet Poly senior Shalonda Solomon said that wasn’t the driving force behind the Jackrabbits’ national-record performance in the girls’ 800-meter relay in the 37th Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on Friday night.

Long Beach Wilson had posted four victories in relay events in the Texas Relays last weekend, including a 1-minute 35.22-second clocking in the 800 relay that moved the Bruins to third on the all-time national list.

But Poly crushed that mark Friday with a 1:33.87 effort that broke the previous national record of 1:34.51 set by Alief Elsik (Texas), last year.

Junior Shana Solomon, Shalonda’s sister, began the record run with a 24.2-second split on her opening 200-meter leg.

Senior Jasmine Lee, the defending state champion in the 400, followed with a 23.3 split before sophomore Shana Woods ran 23.4 on her leg and Shalonda Solomon clocked 22.9 on the anchor leg.

“I think it was motivation to keep pushing hard and just to run faster because we’re trying to be the best and trying to be No. 1,” Shalonda Solomon said when asked if Wilson’s performances in Texas gave Poly any added incentive to run well. “So we just have to run for ourselves and not for anybody else.”

Chino Don Lugo and Ventura, the winners of the boys’ and girls’ four-mile relays, respectively, had the other top performances on the first day of the two-day meet.

A Don Lugo team of seniors Ruben Ramirez, Mark Moreno and Nathan Wolack and sophomore Alfred Gonzales won the boys’ four-mile relay in a yearly nation-leading time of 17:23.67 to move to third on the all-time state list.

A Ventura quartet of senior Oriana Campbell, junior twins Jessica and Tara Bryant and sophomore Emily Spiker placed first in the girls’ four-mile relay in 20:46.50 to move to second on the yearly national list and to third on the all-time state list.

The meet continues today with open competition at 10:45 a.m.

The invitational portion starts at 4 p.m. with the boys’ discus. The first invitational running event will start at 5:40.

--John Ortega

Softball

Led by pitcher Brittany Weil, Garden Grove Pacifica will try to win its second consecutive tournament when it begins play today in the Irvine Woodbridge Classic at Col. Bill Barber Memorial Park in Irvine.

It won’t be easy for the Mariners, ranked No. 2 in the Southland by The Times. There are nine teams that have been ranked this season participating in the 32-team tournament.

There is a potential championship-caliber matchup in the second round featuring Pacifica against Valencia, ranked No. 14, and its talented left-handed pitcher, Christina Ross. That game begins at 4 p.m.

Pacifica opens against La Puente Bishop Amat, which was in The Times’ preseason top 25, and Valencia faces La Palma Kennedy.

The tournament’s other heavy hitters include No. 7 Lake Forest El Toro, which is ranked ninth in the state, No. 6 Corona and No. 17 Thousand Oaks.

-- Martin Henderson

Swimming

Goleta Dos Pueblos senior Danny Beal set meet records in the 100-yard butterfly (49.39 seconds) and the 200 freestyle (1:39.63) to lead the Chargers to the championship of the Long Beach Wilson Invitational at Belmont Plaza.

Beal, The Times’ boys’ swimmer of the year in 2003, shattered the 200 free standard of 1:42.00 set by Tim Shaw of Wilson in 1974, and set another record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.39 seconds.

Scott Swanson (4:46.01) and Joe Wood (4:48.47) of second-place Long Beach Wilson, the defending boys’ champion in the meet, each recorded Southern Section Division I preliminary qualifying times in the 500 freestyle but finished behind race winner Spencer Ramsey of Dos Pueblos, who timed 4:43.58.

Bryce Elser won the 50 free (21.21) for third-place finisher Huntington Beach, which had 44 points.

Laura Ferretti won the 100 backstroke in 1:00.49 and Amy Lim won the 50 freestyle for the only individual victories for defending girls’ meet-champion Huntington Beach Marina, which scored 106 points.

Jessica Hardy broke two meet records for Long Beach Wilson, which scored 84 points to finish third behind Dos Pueblos (102) in the girls’ meet. Hardy timed 2:04.68 in the 200 individual medley, the second event of the meet, and then followed up by clocking 1:01.62 in the 100 breaststroke to set another meet standard.

Los Alamitos’ Amanda Traylor won the 200 free in 1:54.85 and the 500 free in 5:00.71.

-- Lauren Peterson

Tennis

Sam Querrey of Thousand Oaks, the No. 5-seeded player, faces Conor Pollock of San Antonio in the Boys’ 16 singles finals at 9 a.m. today in the Easter Bowl National Championship at the Riviera Resort and Racquet Club in Palm Springs.

Querrey defeated Torrance’s Jason Jung, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, in a semifinal on Friday.

Corona del Mar’s Carsten Ball plays Treat Huey of Alexandria, Va., in the Boys’ 18 singles consolation finals at 1 p.m. today.

The top-seeded team of Jonathan Calienes of Chino Hills Ayala and Alex Krueger-Wyman of Pasadena Poly lost, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-0), to second-seeded Jamie Hunt and Pollock of San Antonio in the Boys’ 16 doubles finals.

Top-seeded Logan Hansen of Santa Monica defeated Sanaz Marand of Katy, Texas, 7-5, 6-2, in the Girls’ 16 singles finals. Hansen and partner Hilary Barte of Newhall were Girls’ 16 doubles finalists.

Celia Durkin of Woodland Hills is playing in the Girls’ 18 singles consolation finals at 11 a.m. today against top-seeded Nicole Leimbac of Colorado Springs, Colo.

-- Elia Powers