Our All-City Athletes of the Year awkward has been running for more than a decade now, more than 10% of the 120 year history of youth sports in Long Beach. In the last 13 years we’ve honored Long Beach kids who went on to be NFL Pro Bowlers, Olympians, NCAA Freshmen of the Year, NCAA champions, and first-round NBA Draft picks.
Before they were any of those things they were kids with big dreams in their hometown. This year’s trio of honorees fall into that tradition: accomplished young athletes with huge futures in front of them.
Our girls’ honorees are Long Beach Poly’s Ki’ele Ho-Ching, one of the top athletes in any sport to come out of the city in the last few decades, as well as Wilson’s Clara Adams, as high-impact a transfer as the city has ever seen. On the boys’ side, it’s Poly’s Lucas Jue, who wrapped up his historic and record-setting career in the pool this Spring.
Girls’ All-City Athlete of the Year: Ki’ele Ho-Ching, Long Beach Poly Softball/Flag Football
Long Beach Poly senior Ki’ele Ho-Ching has battled injuries the last couple of years, but still authored one of the most impressive careers of any girls’ athlete in Long Beach history. Those are tall words, but they were lived up to by Ho-Ching, a member of a dynastic Long Beach sports family whose older sister, Tiare, is at Arizona State and whose father and uncle were both legendary figures on the gridiron at Poly.
Ho-Ching won a gold medal with the USA U18 softball team last Summer, driving in a run with an RBI single in the 7-2 win over top-ranked Japan. Ho-Ching was Prep Softball’s No. 1-ranked recruit in the senior class and signed with perennial national championship-contender Oklahoma this year.
Ho-Ching is the first Moore League softball player to make a USA Softball Youth National Team, and follows in the footsteps of Long Beach native Lisa Fernandez and St. Anthony alum Tiare Jennings, who have both played with the Senior National Team. Ho-Ching also helped lead Poly to the school’s first-ever CIF-SS championship in her junior year, batting .500 on the season and hitting a homerun in the championship game.
Remarkably, Ho-Ching’s achievements extend beyond her decorated softball career. She also played flag football the last two years, leading Poly to the Moore League title, and earning Moore League Player of the Year honors her senior season. In the league title-clinching win over Cabrillo, she scored Poly’s first four touchdowns—three as a receiver and one as a QB.
Her excellence has been recognized city-wide, as Mayor Rex Ricahrdson invited her to a meeting of the Youth Sports Olympic Committee earlier this school year and the newly-launched Long Beach Coast hosted her as the first youth athlete to throw out a ceremonial first pitch recently.
As a Ho-Ching and as a Jackrabbit, it’s hard to do things that nobody has ever done before in the world of athletics, but Ki’ele Ho-Ching has managed to do it year in and year out.
Girls’ All-City Athlete of the Year: Clara Adams, Wilson Track and Field
Clara Adams transferred to Wilson from Salinas before this school year and immediately became one of the best athletes in the city, and the new banner standard for the Bruins. She lived up to all of the hype this year in her junior season—and then some, after a season that proved her perhaps the most impactful transfer in the history of high school sports in Long Beach.
Adams won individual state championships in the 200 and 400 for the Bruins, and also led their 4×400 relay which set a national record as well as won every meet top to bottom this season. She won the 400 every single time she lined up for it this year, a rare accomplishment in the ultra-competitive world of high school track and field.
Wilson had already had a successful season in the mix with some of the state’s top mid-distance talent coming into the year, but put the cherry on top when Adams decided to transfer in this year. Adams came to the Bruins from North Salinas, where she crossed the finish line in first in last year’s 400m state final before later being disqualified following a celebration on the infield.
Adams not only got her redemption by officially winning the individual state title in the 400m, but also won another title in the girls’ 200m in come-from-behind fashion with a 23.40. She later helped Wilson’s state-champion 4×400 relay to secure her third gold medal of the meet and the first team state title of her career in her first season with the Bruins.
Adams will undoubtedly be one of the state’s biggest stars (in any sport) going into 2026-27, with more records to set and more gold to win.
Boys’ All-City Athlete of the Year: Lucas Jue, Long Beach Poly Swim
Long Beach Poly senior Lucas Jue proved himself the best swimmer in the city and one of the best ever in Long Beach’s decorated aquatic history.
Jue won the CIF State championship in the 500 yard freestyle, joining the ranks of Wilson’s Samantha Hamilton (500 free) and Poly’s Colin Geer (200 IM) in claiming a rare individual swim championship. He also made it to the State finals in the 100 breaststroke, where he finished ninth in 53.06.
Jue won the 200 IM and the 500 free at the Moore League finals, setting meet records in both events and earning a standing ovation from the crowd. He broke Hank Rivers’ 200 IM record by a half-second and then smashed Olympian Tim Shaw’s record in the 500 free by nearly a full second.
Jue admitted that he’s been targeting the 500 free record since his freshman year, and that it meant a lot to him to finally get it.
Jue now holds three all-time Moore League records: two as an individual in the 200 and 500 Free and one as part of Poly’s 200 Medley Relay squad in 2023. He also holds four individual meet records at league finals (200 Free, 200 IM, 500 Free, and 100 Back) meaning he currently holds half of the Moore League’s meet records in the eight individual events.
Jue, like Ho-Ching and Adams, is just getting started. He’s off to swim at Louisville at the NCAA level where he hopes to continue piling up gold medals and records.
All-City Athlete of the Year Honorees
2014: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ariana Washington
2015: Daniel McArthur, Imani McDonald
2016: Jack Jones, Ali Morallos
2017: Sam Lewis, Ayanna Clark
2018: Tyler Schafer, Ariyonna Augustine
2019: Will Frankenfeld, Rachel Glenn
2020: Peyton Watson, Tiare Jennings
2021: Hank Rivers, Jade McDonald
2022: Gray Carson, Laura Williams & Adonia Faumuina
2023: Colin Geer, Aujane Luckey
2024: Xai Ricks & Jason Parra, Sammie Hamilton
2025: Jovani Ruff & Anthony Pack, Aaya McLyn
2026: Lucas Jue, Clara Adams & Ki’ele Ho-Ching
