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PHILADELPHIA – Doug Soles remembers the 2011 Long Beach Poly CA boys 4x800 relay team. He was coaching at Great Oak CA at the time.

 

“That was their 400-meter cast-off group,” Soles said. “They had so many good, talented kids back then; they moved those guys over to 800 and they ended up becoming the best all-time.”

 

Fourteen years ago this week, Long Beach Poly broke the high school national record in the 4x800 relay in an astonishing 7 minutes, 28.75 seconds at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Greensboro, N.C.

 

Ever since, no school had clome close. Until Friday night at Franklin Field.

 

Jonah Tang, Micah Tang, Tayshaun Ogomo and Jackson Spencer of Herriman UT teamed up to break Long Beach Poly’s record, running 7:26.12 en route to winning a 4x800 relay national title at New Balance Nationals Outdoor.

 

It’s the second national record Soles’ has coached. The first came at Great Oak in 2016 when his 4xMile team ran 16:58.83, which still ranks No. 5 all-time.

 

“I’ve been chasing that record for 20 years it feels like,” Soles said. “Trying to figure out how to create it. That’s the one I’ve wanted more than anything. (Greak Oak) broke the 4x1600 record in 2016, but this is the one I’ve had my eye on.”

 

Jonah began with a 1:54.74 split on the opening leg; Micah followed with a 1:52.52 on second; Ogomo ran the fastest split on third in 1:48.94; and Spencer anchored in 1:49.94 to bring Herriman to the national record.

 

“Around 200-300 meters out, the announcer said we were on national record pace, so I said, ‘Alright, I can get this national record,’,” Spencer said. “I needed to throw down this last 200; I started locking up and I said, ‘No, push through it,’ and I was able to get it.”

 

Less than 24 hours after finishing second to Oregon Distance Project (Crater OR) in the 4xMile relay, Ogomo expressed that the group was disappointed in the outcome and wanted to make up for it the next day.

 

“I knew we could have done better; I could have done better,” Ogomo said. “I came here today and said, ‘I’m not letting these guys down again; I’ve done it too many times,’.”

 

The build up for this race began back in February after this same group ran 7:43.84 at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. That effort was ran at 4,500 feet and on a wooden track. The altitude conversion calculated 7:37 at sea level.

 

“We ran the math on it early this year and felt like we had a team that could do it,” Soles said. “We knew Jackson Spencer could go out there and break 1:50; we knew Tayshaun could break 1:50…The Tang twins are such special kids. If they could average 1:53, we think we could do it.”

 

The first attempt at breaking Long Beach Poly’s record was at Mt. SAC Relays in April. Unfortunately, Jonah took a fall midway through his leg, causing Herriman to fall short of the record. Coincidentally, Great Oak, Soles’ former school, won that race.

 

“I think the biggest thing was they knew they were capable of it,” Soles said. “They knew they had missed their chance to do it, and those chances don’t come around often. Three of those guys are seniors; we either do it now or not at all.”

 

The three seniors – Jonah, Micah and Ogomo – figured New Balance Nationals Outdoor was their final chance, which it was.

 

“If we get this (4x800) record tomorrow, we can forget about the 4xMile,” Jonah said. “This was the race we wanted to come here for and break the record.”

 

Rock RC, who Soles credited for pushing his team to the national record, finished second in 7:32.44 for No. 12 all-time. Both teams obliterated the meet record of 7:36.36 by Westfield Track Club in 2024.

 

Three other teams also ran under the meet record: IMG Elite FL (7:35.00, third), Warthan Track Club (7:35.37, fourth) and Union Catholic NJ (7:35.44, fifth).

 

In the girls 4x800 relay, IMG Elite completed the indoor and outdoor sweep, running 8:51.45 to win by eight seconds over SHORE in 8:59.64. IMG Elite ran a national record 8:46.04 at New Balance Nationals Indoor in March.

 

Archbishop Carroll DC and Rumson Fair Haven NJ were the only other teams to run meet records in their respective relays.

 

The Archbishop Carroll boys 4x200 relay clocked 1:23.64 to beat Bullis MD after Jake Odey-Jordan ran down Cameron Homer on the anchor.

 

Rumson Fair Haven’s girls sprint medley relay, anchored by Clemmie Lilley in 2:03.49, broke Motor City Track Club MI’s record of 3:54.95 by four seconds in 3:50.10.

 

North Track NJ won the overall title in the boys sprint medley relay, running 3:23.33 in the 10th and final section.

 

Bullis collected its first win of the weekend in the girls 4x200, running 1:33.84 to beat Union Catholic in 1:35.89, a New Jersey state record.

 

 

Hanne Thomsen’s penultimate high school race was a meet record effort in the girls 2-mile. She ran 9:55.48 to lower Logan St. John Kletter’s time of 9:58.44.

 

Thomsen (Montgomery CA) created separation from both Elin Latta (South Texas Heat Homeschool) and Chloe Huyler (Lakeridge OR) over the last two laps, including a 69.69 second last quarter mile, to pull of the national title. Latta and Huyler were the only other girls to break 10 minutes, running 9:59.12 and 9:59.18 for second and third, respectively.

 

Aiden Monistere (Parkview Baptist LA) turned a slow first-half of the boys 2-mile into a sprint finish between him and Foot Locker champion Tamrat Gavenas (Andover Phillips MA), winning by a margin of 8:52.31 to 8:53.71. The race opened in 4:32 for the first mile, then closed in 4:19.90.

 

In the only sprint finals of the day, Zamarii Sanders (American Heritage FL) and Sianni Wynn (Pennsauken NJ) won their respective national titles convincingly.

 

Sanders repeated as the boys 100 champion in 10.35, pulling away from Ja’Neil Harris (T.W. Andrews NC) and Odey-Jordan.

 

Wynn dethroned Lisa Raye (West Warwick RI) of another girls 100 title, running 11.29 to Raye’s 11.38.

 

Camryn Thomas (Toms River North NJ) won the boys 400 hurdles out of lane nine in the sixth and final section, running a personal best 51.66.

 

Winston Schroder scored a freshman class record 7,092 points to win the boys decathlon by 125 points; Yuliya Maslouskaya maintained her lead on the second day of the girls heptathlon, scoring 5,582 points. Both represent IMG Elite.

 

Peter Donini (Delbarton NJ) and J’Nia Simpson (Tampa Catholic NJ) each won their respective shot put titles with their best throws arriving in round six. Donini captured the boys title with a mark of 66 feet, 5.75 inches; Simpson won on the girls side, throwing 47-10.75.

 

Hannah Nuhfer (Delsea Regional NJ) claimed the girls discus title, throwing a meet record 178-9 a day after weather delays pushed the competition from Thursday.