The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
To be the champion, you have to beat the champions.
The Long Beach Poly wrestling team has been on the rise the last few years thanks to a senior class that’s grown together as a unit. While the girls’ team got over the hump in recent years and have won back-to-back Moore League titles – the boys team was still searching for that feeling.
That shining moment finally presented itself in the final match as the Jackrabbits trailed the Rams by five points. However, it wasn’t one of the Jackrabbits’ seasoned seniors that was up at that moment – it was sophomore Sammy Timu who needed a pin to give Poly a sure victory.
With everyone on the edge of their seats in the gym, Timu delivered a decisive pin against Millikan’s Teagan Rowsell that gave Poly six points – just enough to lift the Jackrabbits to a 35-34 win over the Rams in the Ron Palmer Pavilion.
“My team really needed this,” Timu said of what was going through his mind before his match. “There was a lot of pressure on my back and I’m just happy that I carried it through. I just want to shoutout my coach Ken (Lee) and everything that he’s taught me that I needed to learn.”
While Poly still has a match against Wilson next week, this victory positions the Jackrabbits with a chance to be Moore League undefeated champions next week.
The final match had a range of emotions throughout the team including senior Alek Carrera who was in complete euphoria after Poly finally defeated Millikan.
“It was honestly the most excited I’ve ever been,” Carrera said. “The duel came down to the last match which is horrifying when you’re watching it, but to have our heavyweight come in with the pin we needed in the last 10 seconds of his match made me feel like I was in a movie.”
The match had plenty of exciting duels including a win by Jimmy Alvarez Jr. who came up with 4-3 nail-biting victory over Lincoln Chung to put Millikan up 19-8 early in the contest after Millikan’s Anthony Avelar, Daniel Cullen and Kai Backstrom picked up wins to give the Rams an early, 16-0.
Poly’s Knox Espinoza gave the Jackrabbits their first win with a technical fall which cut Millikan’s lead to 16-5.
“I’m happy for the 4-year seniors on the team and coach Ken,” Millikan coach Blake Lovato said of Poly’s win. “He put together a good squad. I’m glad those guys actually got to do something special.”
After Millikan extended the lead to 30-17 with wins by Jason Fiala and Chris Anguiano, Poly’s Alberto Olague and Jordan Dizon answered back with two pins that cut the Rams’ lead to 30-29 with two matches left.
In the penultimate match, Poly’s Kevin Bennett lost in a major decision to Daniel Escobedo, which left the door open for the Jackrabbits as they trailed Millikan 34-29 – giving Timu the opportunity to tie or win the match.
“It’s always a blessing,” Lee said of his team’s victory. “What’s really great to see is that we have a handful of seniors that just kind of came together and put it together. I’m really proud of my team. They put up an excellent fight.”
The victory capped an evening where the Jackrabbits celebrated their senior night and the Poly girls started the duel with a 47-35 win over Millikan in another thrilling contest between two of the cities best teams.
After dropping their first contest with a bye, Riley Pestanas and Nicole Comia picked up wins by pin and technical fall to give the Jackrabbits an 11-6 lead. Jaelen Escala won by pin in the first 13 seconds of her match.
The two teams went back and forth and after Meg Chelsea Pulido picked up a technical fall over her opponent to tie the match at 17 – the Rams pushed their match streak to four wins thanks to a forfeit and pins by Isabella Martinez and Kayde Preciado to give Millikan a 35-17 lead.
Looking to get back into the match, Devynn Kripp came up with a pin victory that proved to be a turning point for Poly as they cut Millikan’s lead to 35-23.
“I was pretty scared,” Kripp said. “I believe I wrestled her before and she beat me. I was very nervous but I think that helped me grow.”
Eva Ardron then won her match by pin to cut the deficit to 35-29 and that was enough as the Rams had to forfeit the final three matches due to various reasons.
“It’s something really special to see,” Lee said about his senior class. “Especially because, you know with all these girls that we have, especially our senior class, none of them really had wrestling experience prior to coming to high school.”
Poly will look for the Moore League sweep when they head to Wilson next week. For Millikan, it was a tough one after taking lead early on.
“I think we preformed very well I thought they were mentally prepared,” Millikan girls’ wrestling coach Daniel Lopez said. “They were physically prepared. You know one injury in the 120s and then another one and then the Kripp loss really swayed things. Unfortunately I don’t have the upper weights so my hands were a little tied.”
Millikan and Poly will be back in action at the Five Counties Meet this weekend and will be back in league action when they face Jordan and Cabrillo/Compton next week.
