Out of 569 high schools in the CIF Southern Section, Long Beach Poly’s girls’ program finished second by two points in the standings for this year’s CIF-SS Commissioner Cup, awarded annually to the top program in the section. The Jackrabbits girls compiled 25 points in the championship race and finished second to Santa Margarita, which had 27 points.
The Jackrabbits won CIF-SS championships in softball, girls’ volleyball, beach volleyball as well as boys’ track and field last year. It was Poly’s first four CIF-SS title year since 2001-2002 and third-ever four championship year. Additionally, the Jackrabbits were runners-up in girls’ soccer and track and field, as well as semifinals in flag football and water polo, which also contributed to their Commissioner’s Cup performance.
It’s hard to overstate the significance of the finish. It’s been a decade since a public school won either the boys’ or girls’ Commissioner’s Cup in the CIF-SS, and Poly’s 25-point performance would have been enough to win it in the majority of those years. Santa Margarita, the team that edged Poly by two points this year, is charging $22,500 for tuition this year according to its website. Long Beach Poly, like all schools in the LBUSD, is free to attend.
The Jackrabbits have long been one of the few public schools that can compete at the level of the elite private schools. Poly’s boys have won the Commissioner’s Cup three times and the girls have won it once–the only school in Long Beach to have ever won it, and one of just a handful of public schools to have done so.
“We’re very proud of our girls for representing Long Beach Poly and our city so well,” said longtime Poly girls’ athletic director and track and field coach Crystal Irving. “In addition to winning championships on the field, our athletes have embodied the Poly motto of ‘Home of Scholars and Champions’ this year as well.”
In addition to the championships Poly won on the field, the school also had four CIF-SS Academic Championship teams this year, with Poly boys’ and girls’ cross country (unweighted 3.95 and 3.957 GPAs) and boys’ and girls’ wrestling (3.765 and 3.821) all posting the highest team GPAs in the Southern Section.
Poly’s on and off field success has been historic for a long time, earning them recognitions from ESPN and Sports Illustrated as the top high school sports program in the nation, as well as Cal-Hi Sports’ School of the Century Award.
Only three years in the last 30 years have the Jackrabbits failed to win at least one team CIF-SS championship; the four they won this year brought the school to 134 total titles, the most in CIF-SS history. Santa Margarita, this year’s Commissioner’s Cup winner and the all-time leader in Commissioner’s Cups, has won 79 team CIF-SS titles in their school’s history. The Jackrabbits also had 34 student-athletes sign college scholarships last year to schools including USC, Georgetown, LSU, Harvard, Michigan, Cal, and Washington State.
The CIF-SS Commissioner Cup has been running for 32 years. This year Santa Margarita won with 27 points on the girls’ side while Mater Dei won with 17 points on the boys’ side.
Winners are determined by a point system which gives five points for a CIF-SS title, three for a runner-up, and two points for advancing to the semifinals.
