HomeSportsSan Marino Defeats Long Beach Poly to Win CIF Division 1 Championship

San Marino Defeats Long Beach Poly to Win CIF Division 1 Championship

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!: San Marino High School’s badminton team defeated Long Beach Poly last Saturday to win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship. PICTURED above, left to right, are TOP ROW: Aiden Ye, Kevin Lan, A.J. Wong, Leo Chen, Andy Liu, Matthew Chen, Ben Guo and Joshua Chen. FRONT ROW: Emily Thai, Meghan Wong, Megan Lan, Charisse Chow, Joanna Chou, Rachel Li and Ellie Su. It is the first championship in the eight years SMHS has fielded the sport.

In 2005, no less an authority than Sports Illustrated declared Long Beach Poly High School “the sports school of the century,” given its success in, well, every single athletic pursuit it attempts.

Which makes the above headline somewhat historic, as the Jackrabbits have been successful in the burgeoning sport of badminton. But that didn’t stop San Marino, who mustered all its resources last Saturday to defeat Poly by a final score of 14-7 to claim the CIF Division 1 championship, the first in the Titans’ eight seasons fielding the sport.

Not bad for a team that didn’t win its own league, as San Marino finished third behind Arcadia and South Pasadena in the Almont League before embarking on the title run

To make it all even more remarkable, San Marino collected most of the victories without the presence of…a coach. That’s correct.

The San Marino High School badminton program honored its six seniors at the team’s final home match. PICTURED above, left to right, are TOP ROW: Max Lu, Joshua Chen and Joshua Rose. FRONT ROW: Ellie Su, Charisse Chow and Emily Thai.

Unforeseen schedule conflicts resulted in the regular coach taking a hiatus while assistants Kyle Emerick and Warren Chow stepped into the breach to lead the squad into the playoffs. Even veteran Jon Imamura, who coached the badminton team in its initial seasons, was summoned back into action by Athletic Director David Irie and the rest, as they say, is history.

Truly.

“I was most impressed that in some really adverse conditions, the team really pulled it together,” said Imamura, the man known throughout the community as simply “Mr. I.” “They really pulled it together, basically without a coach. The leaders of the team really stepped up and took charge of everything, from filling out the lineup to offering constant support and reinforcement. I credit them completely for their success. They are really super kids.”

Imamura singled out Megan Lan and A.J. Wong as the key leaders who put the team on their collective shoulders during crunch time. He was most impressed with San Marino’s unlikely playoff victory over Loma Linda.

“Loma Linda was shocked,” Imamura said. “It was their first loss of the season and the players didn’t move after the match. They couldn’t believe it.”

They do now, and SMHS has its 76th CIF championship.

Team members include Emily Thai, Meghan Wong, Megan Lan, Charisse Chow, Joanna Chou, Rachel Li, Ellie Su, Aiden Ye, Kevin Lan, A.J. Wong, Leo Chen, Andy Liu, Matthew Chen, Ben Guo and Joshua Chen.

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