Long Beach Racers, after a fantastic season of racing in the SCORE International Off Road Racing series, take the Stock Mini class Championship with their 2012 Toyota TX Baja Series Tacoma. 

Jessica Hardy, not too far off her Olympic gold medals this past summer, has scored yet another gold for Long Beach with the U.S. women team’s 400 meter freestyle at the 2012 FINA Swimming World Championships held in Instanbul this past weekend.

A season that will be remembered for a remarkable turnaround after a 1-3 pre-season ended for the Poly Jackrabbits Friday night with a tough 21-20 loss to the Granite Bay Grizzlies in the C.I.F. Division One State Championship game. 

As tempting as it is to crank out one of those “What do coaches want for Christmas” columns, the moms and dads of Beach basketball are far too serious these days to play that game so we will just quickly unload our sleigh full of wit and wisdom.

“Like a proud parent,” says Poly defensive coordinator Jeff Turley, when asked to describe how he feels about his young and talented team that has rebounded from a 1-3 pre-season to win ten straight games and wind up in this Friday night’s C.I.F. Division One State Championship game against the Granite Bay Grizzlies.

Expanding on the exhibition it holds every year during the world-famous Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Downtown-based Formula DRIFT—the first professional drifting series outside of Japan—will in 2013 host the weekend’s first-ever night races.

Thanks to a dominating defensive performance and clutch play from its multi-talented offense, Poly defeated the Clovis North Broncos last night at Vet’s Stadium, 28-7, and will play the Granite Bay Grizzlies next weekend for the state championship.

Long Beach Poly, which fielded its first football team in 1908, plays tonight at Vet’s Stadium against the Broncos of Clovis North, a central valley school that this year fielded just its 4th senior class.