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Track and field: Long Beach Poly’s Akawkaw Ndipagbor has fastest girls’ 400

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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The public-address announcer told the crowd at Clovis Buchanan High that Long Beach Poly had so many participants and supporters involved in the state track meet that the Jackrabbits chartered a bus to make the drive from Southern California.

At this rate, the Jackrabbits could be returning with a busload of trophies.

Akawkaw Ndipagbor became the latest Poly athlete to turn in the best time in an event during the preliminary heats Friday, winning the girls’ 400 in 54.28 seconds. Teammate Azia Walker also qualified for Saturday’s championship by finishing in 56.28.

The other qualifiers from Southern California were Woodbridge’s Gabrielle Scott (54.76), Etiwanda’s Vanessa Jones (54.92), Newbury Park’s Morgan Thompson (55.56) and Gardena Serra’s Chimere Ezumah (55.74).

--Ben Bolch in Clovis

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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