Long Beach City College’s track and field team took home several titles while competing in the South Coast Conference Championship Prelims this past weekend at East Los Angeles College.
Freshman Azjani McGill won first place when competing in the men’s long jump and in the 200-meter race, while also taking second place in the 100-meter race.
“Winning the long jump, it felt good just because I have done long jump in high school, was kind of okay at it, but of course, I wanted to do better,” McGill said. “Coming here (LBCC) and working with Coach Carroll, who is an expert at long jump, makes me very happy that I won the SCC Championship for it.”
McGill began his athletic career playing baseball and basketball and eventually decided to run track in middle school. McGill started feeling like he no longer wanted to run anymore and came to a realization during his high school years that he was actually good at running track.
In high school, McGill earned all-league honors, qualified for the CIF state championships, was a Central Coast Section finalist as a sophomore and junior and was titled Team Captain as a senior. He was a four-year-letterwinner in the track and field program who also holds school records in the 100 meter (10.79), 200 meter (21.40), and 4×100 meter (41.91).
Due to the pandemic, McGill’s final season was cut short during his senior year in high school so taking home a title for this current season brings everything back full circle.
McGill has a lot of things to be proud of, but what he takes the most pride in is being able to get through hard times. When his season was taken away, he found himself at a loss for motivation because he was under the impression that he was not going to run track any longer nor be able to get back into it.
With his dedication, persistence, and full support from his loved ones, McGill was able to bounce back and go harder.
“He (McGill) is a very coachable athlete. Anything that comes from the coaching staff, he buys in. There is no ‘I’ in his attitude. He accepts what the coaches say and executes, which is a big key in his success and development,” said Marcus Carroll, the director of cross country and track and field at LBCC.
When McGill isn’t on the field, he is working on his goal to obtain his degree in engineering with thoughts of focusing in communications once he transfers to a 4-year university.
At the moment that it is all said and done, McGill aspires to run for Team USA, return back to Los Angeles from Paris in 2030 and represent Team USA again in the future.
McGill will be competing in the SoCal Trials meet at Moorpark College on May 6.