diff --git a/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs b/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
index aaed1fc74f..e1efcf5836 100644
--- a/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
+++ b/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
@@ -503,60 +503,69 @@ pub unsafe extern "system" fn Java_org_apache_comet_Native_executePlan(
                 pull_input_batches(exec_context)?;
             }
 
-            loop {
-                // Polling the stream.
-                let next_item = exec_context.stream.as_mut().unwrap().next();
-                let poll_output = get_runtime().block_on(async { poll!(next_item) });
-
-                // update metrics at interval
-                if let Some(interval) = exec_context.metrics_update_interval {
-                    let now = Instant::now();
-                    if now - exec_context.metrics_last_update_time >= interval {
-                        update_metrics(&mut env, exec_context)?;
-                        exec_context.metrics_last_update_time = now;
+            // Enter the runtime once for the entire polling loop to avoid repeated
+            // Runtime::enter() overhead
+            get_runtime().block_on(async {
+                loop {
+                    // Polling the stream.
+                    let next_item = exec_context.stream.as_mut().unwrap().next();
+                    let poll_output = poll!(next_item);
+
+                    // update metrics at interval
+                    if let Some(interval) = exec_context.metrics_update_interval {
+                        let now = Instant::now();
+                        if now - exec_context.metrics_last_update_time >= interval {
+                            update_metrics(&mut env, exec_context)?;
+                            exec_context.metrics_last_update_time = now;
+                        }
                     }
-                }
 
-                match poll_output {
-                    Poll::Ready(Some(output)) => {
-                        // prepare output for FFI transfer
-                        return prepare_output(
-                            &mut env,
-                            array_addrs,
-                            schema_addrs,
-                            output?,
-                            exec_context.debug_native,
-                        );
-                    }
-                    Poll::Ready(None) => {
-                        // Reaches EOF of output.
-                        if exec_context.explain_native {
-                            if let Some(plan) = &exec_context.root_op {
-                                let formatted_plan_str = DisplayableExecutionPlan::with_metrics(
-                                    plan.native_plan.as_ref(),
-                                )
-                                .indent(true);
-                                info!(
-                                    "Comet native query plan with metrics (Plan #{} Stage {} Partition {}):\
-                                \n plan creation took {:?}:\
-                                \n{formatted_plan_str:}",
-                                    plan.plan_id, stage_id, partition, exec_context.plan_creation_time
-                                );
+                    match poll_output {
+                        Poll::Ready(Some(output)) => {
+                            // prepare output for FFI transfer
+                            return prepare_output(
+                                &mut env,
+                                array_addrs,
+                                schema_addrs,
+                                output?,
+                                exec_context.debug_native,
+                            );
+                        }
+                        Poll::Ready(None) => {
+                            // Reaches EOF of output.
+                            if exec_context.explain_native {
+                                if let Some(plan) = &exec_context.root_op {
+                                    let formatted_plan_str = DisplayableExecutionPlan::with_metrics(
+                                        plan.native_plan.as_ref(),
+                                    )
+                                    .indent(true);
+                                    info!(
+                                        "Comet native query plan with metrics (Plan #{} Stage {} Partition {}):\
+                                    \n plan creation took {:?}:\
+                                    \n{formatted_plan_str:}",
+                                        plan.plan_id, stage_id, partition, exec_context.plan_creation_time
+                                    );
+                                }
                             }
+                            return Ok(-1);
+                        }
+                        // A poll pending means there are more than one blocking operators,
+                        // we don't need go back-forth between JVM/Native. Just keeping polling.
+                        Poll::Pending => {
+                            // TODO: Investigate if JNI calls are safe without block_in_place.
+                            // block_in_place prevents Tokio from migrating this task to another thread,
+                            // which is necessary because JNI env is thread-local. If we can guarantee
+                            // thread safety another way, we could remove this wrapper for better perf.
+                            tokio::task::block_in_place(|| {
+                                pull_input_batches(exec_context)
+                            })?;
+
+                            // Output not ready yet
+                            continue;
                         }
-                        return Ok(-1);
-                    }
-                    // A poll pending means there are more than one blocking operators,
-                    // we don't need go back-forth between JVM/Native. Just keeping polling.
-                    Poll::Pending => {
-                        // Pull input batches
-                        pull_input_batches(exec_context)?;
-
-                        // Output not ready yet
-                        continue;
                     }
                 }
-            }
+            })
         })
     })
 }