Poly Wins Fourth Title in a Row

It began with a runaway victory in the 400-meter relay and ended with an impressive win in the 1,600 relay.

And in between those first-place finishes, Long Beach Poly performed superbly in the Division I girls’ competition of the Southern Section track and field championships Saturday at Cerritos College.

Led by sophomore Shana Woods, who totaled 24 1/2 points, and senior Shalonda Solomon, who accounted for 22 1/2, Poly scored 117 points to finish 47 ahead of second-place Long Beach Wilson and win its fourth consecutive team title.

The defending state champion Jackrabbits suffered a blow when senior Dashanta Harris did not score in the 100-meter high hurdles after she false-started, but still produced top-four finishes in 10 of 16 events in which the top six finishers in each event were awarded points on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis.

“We came out here to try to run [personal records] and just run as fast as we could,” Solomon said. “Almost all the girls made it through so we’re still in there [in regards to winning the state championships], so I think we’re going to do real great.”

Solomon, the No. 2-ranked sprinter in the nation last year, won her fourth consecutive Division I titles in the 100 and 200 with wind-aided times of 11.35 seconds and 22.94, respectively, and anchored the Jackrabbits to a winning time of 45.11 in the 400 relay.

Woods won her second consecutive title in the long jump with a wind-aided jump of 20 feet 6 1/4 inches, placed third in the 100 in a wind-aided 11.63 and finished third in the 300 low hurdles in 42.31. She also ran a 53.8-second split on the second leg of the 1,600 relay to help Poly to a winning time of 3:40.39 while running without Solomon, who usually runs the anchor leg but was resting.

Ebony Collins of Long Beach Wilson set a national freshman and age-15 record of 40.81 seconds to win the 300 low hurdles after finishing second in the 100 in a wind-aided 11.49 and second in the 100 high hurdles in a hand-timed 14.0.

Collins’ time in the 300 hurdles, which broke the previous record of 40.99 set by Char Foster of Clearwater (Fla.) Central Catholic in 1995, moved her into a tie for fifth on the all-time national list.

Other schools to win team championships were Riverside North, which won its second consecutive Division II title, Pasadena Muir, which won its second consecutive Division III title, and Gardena Serra and Orange Lutheran, which tied for the Division IV championship.