Out of 556 total high schools in the CIF-SS, Long Beach Poly boys’ and girls’ cross country, Poly boys’ and girls’ wrestling, and Wilson girls’ water polo posted the highest cumulative unweighted team GPAs in the large school division for their respective sports. This success, both in each team’s sport and in the classroom, earn the No. 9 spot for our Top 10 High School Sports Moments of the Year.
The CIF Southern Section is one of the most competitive in the state. It contains more than double the amount of schools than any other section in the state, with the second largest being the Sac-Joaquin Section, which encompasses 198 schools. This makes it highly competitive both on the field, and off.
Schools with an enrollment of 1,500 or above are deemed to be large schools. For each CIF sanctioned sport, a small school and large school are commemorated as academic team champions for the school year at an Angels’ baseball game.
CIF celebrated these academic championships with a ceremony at Angel Stadium in April. Two representatives from each team held a banner with their title and waved up to the crowd from the field as each name was announced.
Long Beach Poly boys’ and girls’ cross country had unweighted GPAs of 3.950 and 3.957, respectively, Poly boys’ and girls’ wrestling posted GPAs of 3.765 and 3.821, respectively, and Wilson girls’ water polo possessed a GPA of 3.936.
Poly’s boys’ wrestling, girls’ swim and dive, boys’ water polo, and girls’ golf were also recognized at last year’s edition of the event, making it the third year in a row that four or more Long Beach teams have won the award.
