Both the boys’ and girls’ track and field teams from Long Beach Poly captured overall victory at the C.I.F. State Championships over the weekend, just the third time that a school has won simultaneous titles in the same year. Care to guess who the other two schools were to have accomplished that feat in years past?

Long Beach Poly (1997) and Long Beach Poly (1998).

For the boys, it was a come-from-behind victory sealed with the last event of the day, a season-best time of 3:12.44 in the 4×400 relay. Senior standout Shaquille Howard won the 400 with a 47.49 time.

For the girls, it was domination, a full weekend of predetermined outcomes as the star-studded Jackrabbit lineup time and time again took gold.

Not that anyone was surprised. The title is the Poly girls’ fourth consecutive State Championship, making it a clean sweep for USC-bound seniors Akawkaw Ndipagbor and Melia Cox in their decorated Jackrabbit careers. Ndipagbor won the 400 with a time of 53.38, while Cox took the 300 Hurdles with a 41.80. Both contributed to a blazing victory in the 4×100 Relay for a time of 47.70 with teammates Carisma Lyday and Traci Hicks.

It could have been even more lopsided, except that Ndipagbor was blocked by another runner during the final 4×400 relay (the runner and her Harvard-Westlake teammates finished first but were disqualified for the maneuver). Give Ndipagbor space to onfold those legs and there’s no telling how wide the victory gap would have been. It marked the first time in 59 years that a track and field program captured four consecutive State titles.

Howard and Ndipagbor each won their respective individual championships.

The longer that I cover sports of all shapes and sizes, the more I’ve come to the conclusion that the two purest forms of athletic competition are boxing and track and field. And since most any potential pro boxer seems to abandon the ring for the gridiron, that leaves T&F as the foremost indicator of physical ability. Think about it: I can run to that point faster than you can, I can jump farther than you, I can throw this spear farther than you. What could be more pure, more definitive?

If you’ll oblige me that theory, then isn’t Long Beach unquestionably producing the best athletes in the state, if not the country?

We’ve been a little spoiled in this city in past years, to the point that the 2010-11 season has been something of a disappointment without a C.I.F. champ in football, baseball, softball or basketball. By our standards, this has been a down year.

But the Long Beach Poly clean sweep is a bucket of cold ice water to the face. Wake up! Long Beach prep athletes are the best in the state, likely the nation, and it was only a matter of time before they reminded us.

If you tricked yourself into thinking that the 2010-11 season indicated a decline in local prep sports, the Jackrabbits have some jewelry to show you.