LJ track: 'Diane' shows a little humor

Janice Wiser (second from left in top row) accepts

her awards along with others at an AAU meet

in Washington, D.C., her home area circa 1972.

(Tracy Sundlun collection)

By Ed Piper

Janice Diane Wiser showed a little humor in filling out a questionnaire for her AAU coach, Tracy Sundlun. "I had each athlete fill one of these out," he remembered Mon., July 7, in a conversation at his home with a reporter.

Under a question, "What type of training have you had in the past (describe)?", the then-17-year-old typed, "Brutal, Abused, Man Handled" (cq) (all in capitals, as the whole form was, questions and answers).

"I'd already coached Janice a while," said Sundlun, now living in Santee. "I see some humor in that."

Then, under the next and final question on the questionnaire, "Any comments, problems, desires, other school activities, etc., which would aid me in coaching you?", the teen typed, "Yea, I want to have a baby (smile)."

Wiser listed her height as 5'7". She wrote her street shoe size as "8 - 8 1/2", spike as "7 1/2". She expressed an interest in trying "high jump, discus,...", in addition to running the sprints and relays.

Janice's response this week, Mon., July 7: "...I thought to myself, 'Why should I complete this form?'", she said about being asked to complete the form. "So I wrote silly responses."

LJ track: Sundlun tells stories

Tracy Sundlun, who coached Janice Wiser in 1974

when she won both sprints in the CIF State Meet

in Bakersfield, looks at photos of Janice (left in the

photo he's holding) and others. He was the coach

of the La Jolla Track Club, an AAU entity.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Tracy Sundlun went into a reverie about his days traveling through the Pacific Northwest with retired NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, the formation of the SLO Track Club and La Jolla Track Club--and much, much more.

How did we get here? We wouldn't have had La Jolla senior Janice Wiser, who seemingly popped out of nowhere (she came from Washington, D.C.), dominating the sprints at the 1974 CIF San Diego Section meet, and a week later the CIF State Meet in Bakersfield.

Wiser finished the state meet second in the team standings as a one-girl team from LJHS. (The Vikings, under Coach Chuck Boyer, didn't yet have a girls team. Janice had to work out with the boys.)

"It wasn't that I selected the girls in the state meet," recalled Sundlun, a wunderkind among coaches, a savant who began coaching before he matriculated in college at Georgetown.

"(From the La Jolla Track Club, an AAU club) we had the athletes enter for their high schools. It wasn't about being greedy. We didn't think of the state title."

Janice won the 100 and 220. Another girl ran the 440, which Wiser also had trained in. "If I hadn't spread the chance to run in the state meet around, she would have won the state meet," he said, smiling.

But Sundlun's involvement went way beyond coaching Janice Wiser. Wiser went off to run at SDSU right after her one year at La Jolla High, and Tracy continued his activities with the La Jolla Track Club.

Janice Wiser (2, second from left) ran the 220-yard

as La Jolla Track Club broke the U.S. record

for the sprint medley at the San Diego Indoor Games

at SD Sports Arena Feb. 17, 1974. Kathy Lawson

(4, center) points upward after running a 110

right after Janice's opening sprint. Far right is

Patty Van Wolvelaere, who held off Mary Decker

in the 440 at the finish.

(from Tracy Sundlun's collection)

"In 1974, after Janice moved on, Wilt became the club sponsor. We changed the name to Wilt's Wonder Women. Essentially, Chamberlain funded the program. He signed over the check he received from Sports Illustrated for announcing his retirement from basketball (through an exclusive in the magazine)."

Sundlun, of average height, must have been quite a sight alongside the former NBA center, who measured 7'1" and weighed 275 in his playing days. That later went up to 350 pounds as he played professional volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association.

Wilt also dabbled in track, in which, Sundlun maintains, he competed in multiple events besides the triple jump. His athleticism enabled him to score 100 points in an NBA game, the only player to do that. During halftime, it was reported, he would amaze teammates by eating entire meals, including several fruit pies to top it off, before heading back out to play the second half.

The track coach, Sundlun, said on their motorhoming trip through the Pacific Northwest in 1973, everyone knew and was drawn to the magnetic personality of Chamberlain. "I'm completely lost (driving the motorhome) in the hinterlands. Wilt is asleep in the back of the motorhome. We come to a (draw)bridge that is up because a boat is passing through. There's a knock on the door. 'Is Wilt Chamberlain here?' I said, 'Do I look like Wilt?' How they knew Wilt was in the motorhome..."

Sundlun helped introduce the track world to chiro-

practic at a clinic at Mira Costa College in early 1974

with these elite athletes. Dr. Leroy Perry held down shot

put world-recordholder Al Feuerbach's (far right, standing)

arm. He couldn't lift it. Then Perry "fixed" his arm, and

Al could lift it. 500 attendees watched in awe.

(Tracy Sundlun)

LJ track: Payton progressing

By Ed Piper

From all appearances, Payton Smith--the California state champ in the 400 meters in 2024 from La Jolla High School--is progressing well in her college career at the University of Michigan.

Records show that Smith, who also served as ASB president during her senior year for the Vikings a year ago, competed well in both the indoor winter season, and the outdoor spring season for the nationally-recognized Wolverines in the last few months.

Smith, whose younger sister Olivia also ran sprints for LJHS, was named an Honorable Mention All-American as a college freshman this spring for her performance on the UM 4x400 relay team. (The team placed 19th in 3:33.75 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 11-14.) If she continues on this upward path, her relay participation this season will end up being a minor footnote in her career.

Payton also ran in the 400-meter, 200-meter, 4x400-meter relay, 4x100-meter relay in the spring.

Payton Smith, from the

UM website.

In the indoor season, she won the 400 at the Michigan Invitational Feb. 8, the fourth-best mark in program history. Similarly, outdoors, the elder Smith ran a career-best 52.94 in the 400, the number-four mark in UM's history, for 17th place at the Tiger Paw Invitational Feb. 14-15.

Olivia Smith, who served in ASB government under her sister, was then elected ASB president for 2024-2025 at La Jolla High. The two are the first and only African-Americans to serve as student body presidents at the seaside public-school campus. The school was founded in 1922.

On meet days, at meets, Olivia was the much more outgoing of the two sisters with this reporter. She smiled and greeted me, as warmups on the infield at Edwards Stadium began. I think Payton had a little more media attention her senior year, and probably dealt with that by being a little more reserved.

By the way, Payton was named to the All-Academic League all four years of her high school career for the Vikings.

Olivia Smith (standing) helps her sister, Payton

(lying on infield), stretch before their heats

against OLP in an LJ-Saints-OLP tri-meet

at Edwards Stadium March 27, 2024.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

LJ track: Sundlun knew he had a "great talent"

By Ed Piper

When AAU track coach Tracy Sundlun first spied young Janice Wiser, a sprinter, he knew he saw something special.

"A guy in a mixed race tried to muscle her. She was running in a relay," recalled Sundlun in an interview Wed., July 2. "She just walloped him, and sent him into the infield."

The almost-as-young Tracy, only four years older than the 16-year-old Wiser, recognized her as unusual. "You didn't fall down like Mary Decker (a distance runner in the Olympics years later)," I told her later.

A chain of events was unleashed: The Washington, D.C. coach recruited Janice, a sophomore in high school in Maryland; successfully spoke to her parents about moving to the West Coast to run for an AAU  team in San Luis Obispo; and the move was made, followed a year later by a relocation to La Jolla, where Janice won both sprints in the CIF State Meet in Spring 1974.

Sundlun, many years later living in San Diego, says modestly of his young runner's accomplishments: "Great athletes make great coaches."

Janice Wiser Pope, now happily married for 49 years and living in Spring Valley with her husband Robert, remembers Tracy as a "great coach", but her recollection of that moment in that AAU relay 53 years ago, is quite different.

"Tracy uses colorful language," she said when told of Sundlun's description of the incident.

"I, honest to God, didn't do anything to be aggressive," she protested. "I was focused on staying in my lane and handing the baton off."

"We bumped each other, and he fell off the track."

She recalled, "I felt the contact, but I don't remember the contact (specifically)."

 "It was a girl-boy thing, you know," she said. Girl runners were not allowed to run in high school yet, and she was competing in AAU independent of any interscholastic competition. "My  coach at the time was generous and let me run in the relay."

After the move to the West Coast and her insertion in the CIF San Diego Section meet representing La Jolla High in Spring 1974, Wiser said she didn't have to deal with any of the noise that opposing coaches were making, that she was a "ringer" who didn't even compete with a girls track team at La Jolla High under Coach Chuck Boyer (Boyer had her practice with the boys).

"Coach Boyer and Tracy handled all of that (the noise)," she said.

On Sundlun talking to her parents and asking them to allow her to move 3,000 miles away before her junior year in high school without family, trusting him, Janice says now, "I was amazed that my parents said yes."

Also, "I was scared." This was a big change in her life, a big move, centered around running for an AAU club in San Luis Obispo.

LJ track: Comparing runners from different eras

Janice Wiser, a senior in 1974, won both sprints

at the state meet. She held the LJHS record

for the 400 meters for 50 years.

By Ed Piper

Janice Wiser, whom I have written multiple pieces on lately, certainly was a trailblazer.

Payton Smith and her sister Olivia have been LJHS trailblazers, as well.

When I mentioned their names to Janice in our conversation at the end of June, she had not heard of them. "I didn't follow track over the years," was how Wiser, friendly and affable, put it. She was too busy "doing it" to be a spectator in her running years, then didn't suddenly convert to being a fan after her running days were over.

The three present a startling contrast: Janice, the state 100- and 220-meter champion in 1974, "knowing almost no one in La Jolla", by her own admission, having moved from the East Coast.

Payton and Olivia, on the other hand, having attended LJHS all four years, each serving as ASB president their respective senior years--the first African-Americans to serve in that office in Vikingland--parlayed their popularity and teammate status among their peers into a place in student government.

Payton finished in first place in the 400 meters in the state meet in 2024. Her time was 53.39, erasing Wiser's 50-year-old school record of 53.53.

Payton served as ASB president in 2023-2024; Olivia was elected for the just-completed 2024-2025 school year. Payton, a state-ranking speedster, is now running for the women's program at the University of Michigan.

Olivia stated to me this past year, "We have several girls of color serving in student government." She began to name them and their functions in her "cabinet". That, apparently, is a more recent phenomenon. All kudos to all of them.

Janice, who moved to California from high school

in Maryland, comes off the blocks in one of

her races. She ran the 100-yard, 220-yard,

and 440-yard races normally. The metric

distances were introduced in 1979.

There's something about the "drafting" phenomenon, where the lead runner or bicycler takes the brunt of the oncoming wind, and allows those following behind to glide with less resistance.

I remember when a Black man who had grown up in the South related to me years ago what that had been like. He said he had to step off the sidewalk onto the street to allow a white man to pass. If you didn't, you caught hell. That would only be the tip of the iceberg, as far as conditions in racism.

This isn't to cast aspersions on Janice. The three ran in very different eras: Wiser, an AAU runner without an LJHS girls track team to run for, ran in the first year that CIF held a state meet for girls' events.

Remember, Title IX, mandating equal access and opportunity for girls as well as boys for any program receiving federal funding, had just come into being in 1972. Ann Meyers Drysdale, the sister of Dave Meyers, a UCLA basketball player who teamed with then-Lew Alcindor/later-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was an early Title IX scholarship recipient in basketball at the same school.

Imagine being the guinea pig to enter the state meet in that time--amid the hoots of "ringer" sung out by opposing coaches and athletes. Janice had to run amid all the noise.

Payton, then Olivia, went where no one else had gone--into the head office of student government.

All of it takes courage.

The Smiths have been very gracious to me, and everyone else where I've witnessed them act and perform. Janice, no less in her interaction with me.

Janice Wiser (second from left) meets Wilt

Chamberlain, 7'1", 275 pounds, the former

NBA great. Wilt, as an underclassman at Kansas,

came within inches of the triple jump record

in his brief track career. At far right is Janice's

AAU coach, Tracy Sundlun.

LJ track: Wiser enjoyed stability after LJHS

By Ed Piper

Janice Wiser, the only San Diego female athlete to win both sprints--the 100- and 220-yard dashes, in her case--in the CIF State Meet, attended four schools in four years during her dominance in her sport.

That must have required incredible resilience and dexterity, as her coach, Tracy Sundlun, certainly got the best out of the young runner. She ran the 400 meters later in the summer of 1974 in 53.53 seconds, after her dual victories in the CIF meet, still the second-fastest time ever by a San Diego prep runner.

But the toll had to be great. Wiser had to move from one coast to the other, attending Northwestern High in Hyattsville, Maryland her sophomore year, then moving to San Luis Obispo across the country for her junior year at SLO High, and finally La Jolla High her senior year, when she unleashed her twin wins in Bakersfield without the support of a Vikings girls track team around her.

Janice went on the next year to begin four years running for San Diego State and Coach Mary Alice Hill.

"I didn't have time for extracurricular activities," recalled Wiser in 2020 to a reporter. She was more than occupied with school and AAU club track under Sundlun during her senior year as a Viking.

"I didn't know a lot of people in La Jolla," the former runner told this reporter in an interview Fri., June 27. That was the nature of the beast, as Sundlun, who Janice said "was a great coach" (he also still lives in the San Diego area), convinced her parents to let her go to San Luis Obispo when he took a job at Cal Poly SLO. She lived with a family there while attending high school and running.

Then that quickly turned around to be a move on to La Jolla and her year at LJHS. She graduated from La Jolla High, though the school didn't yet have a girls track team. She worked out with the boys team under Coach Chuck Boyer. Her personal coach, Sundlun, set up a few meets during the spring track season. That led up to winning the San Diego Section meet in three events: the 100, 220, and 440 (all at the yard distances--school track had not yet converted over to the meter distances).

Yet, obviously enjoying the excitement of the success she experienced in running for La Jolla, then SDSU, Wiser landed on her feet and went on to live out a stable, secure existence in San Diego. Just talk with her. She will share that joy. It's not puffed up; it's not about her; but she definitely enjoys talking about her running and her former coach, Sundlun.

She and her future husband, Robert Pope, met in 1973. He was enrolled at UCSD. She had recently enrolled at La Jolla High. "She was 17, I was 18," he stated Thurs., June 26, in an interview prior to Janice's talk with this reporter. They have now been married 49 years, and have two grown children and four grandchildren, whom they adore and whose activities they follow closely: Anthony, 19; Tommy; Robby; and Maya.

LJ track: Wiser: 'I fouled out of every (basketball) game'

Janice Wiser, LJ track phenom in 1974,

in her red Viking running wear.

(Yearbook photo)

By Ed Piper

You've heard about Janice Wiser Pope's exploits as a one-person girls track team for La Jolla High in 1974--she is the only female athlete to win both the 100 and 200 (or equivalents) at the CIF State Meet in the history of the California event.

But there's a funny story about her, unrelated to running track.

Let her tell the story.

"I love basketball," said Pope in an interview Sat., June 28. "I fouled out of every game!"

In her aggressiveness and trying to get the ball, Janice would "try to get on top" of the ball in the hands of the player she was defending. 

"I wanted to stay in (the game), but I never did."

Confessions of a great athlete--though on the running oval, not on the basketball court.

Wiser Pope, who later married her husband, Robert Pope, thus the name addition/change, went on to run for four years at San Diego State and excel in the sprints.

Another thing she has excelled in: Robert and she have been married now for 49 years. Now, that's dedication. "She was 17, I was 18," her husband noted for the time they met, he a student at UCSD, she still in high school in her one year as a Viking.

She worked at the switchboard in the high school office as an elective. "It was just like you see in the movies," she said. "I had to plug the wire in to the correct connection." She learned it pretty well--there are a lot of students this former teacher of high school students wouldn't let work the telephones.

She must have exhibited good people skills, as she continues to employ now. Her manner during the interview was friendly, open, willing to engage, and informative, as she mined memories from 51 years ago--obviously a wonderful time for her, recollecting the coaching she received from coach Tracy Sundlun, her AAU coach who brought her from Northwestern High in Hyattsville, Maryland, to San Luis Obispo High while he coached at Cal Poly SLO, then La Jolla, where he coached at the La Jolla Track Club.

The rest is history.

LJ track: Janice Wiser update

It has been 51 years since Janice Wiser, a student at La Jolla High who worked in the front office while still going to school, suddenly "became" the girls track team at LJHS and nearly won the state title in Spring 1974.

Wiser, who continues to live in San Diego and has been married all these years since, decided to run for the Vikings--when they didn't yet have an actual girls track squad--and won both the 100- and 200-yard dashes at the CIF state meet.

She could have won the state team championship for La Jolla High if she had run the quarter-mile the next day. But she declined, and the rest is history.

"Janice ran the 100 and 220 just to work out," said her husband, Robert Pope, contacted Thurs., June 26. "The race she was really good at was the 400."

Her workouts and competing were all for her AAU team, until the invitation to run for her school came up.

Janice Wiser is the reason CIF made a rule that a track and field athlete has to compete in a minimum number of meets for their school during the regular season, to qualify for postseason competition.

The fact Wiser could step in and instantly win those races at that high a level of competition, at the end of the Spring season, shows how dominant she was in her sport.

Back then, clocked times were hand-held. Times were not electronically tracked. That preceded the "modern era" when, even at the high school level, those things are taken for granted.

You had dirt tracks, not an all-weather surface. The shoes were "crummy" compared to the high-tech "kicks" athletes wear now.

Robert, her husband, was not a track athlete. "I was at UCSD" when he met his future wife. "She was 17. I was 18."

Pope graduated from Thomas Jefferson High in L.A. He was a baseball player. A trio of athletes came out of his alma mater to play in the pros: David and Michael Edwards, one of whom played for the Padres, and another baseball player.

Robert graduated from high school in the class of 1972. Janice graduated in 1974.

LJ FB: Pomare looking good

Rising soph Kaden Pomare (88)

before the first game at USD

Team Camp Sat., June 21.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"(Kaden Pomare) is going to be playing on both sides of the ball," said Viking head coach Tyler Roach during a morning workout Wed., June 25.

Pomare, a 6'2" rising sophomore, maybe running 175 pounds, looked good during the USD Team Camp Sat., June 21, where La Jolla went 2-3 in 7-v-7 games against teams from San Diego, greater L.A., and elsewhere.

The curly-haired Kaden, who sports a riot of hair flying out in all directions, had a pass reception on La Jolla's first possession, on quarterback Hudson Smith's first play from scrimmage, in a 24-6 win over Pinnacle (Phoenix). The throw was to the left-middle.

Pomare (a teammate pronounces it "poh-MAR-uh") then grabbed another Smith aerial for a touchdown three plays later, the Vikings' first score to tie the 20-minute game 6-6.

It was La Jolla's first TD of the morning, coming in the second contest at 10:42 a.m. The initial game of the day ended in a 13-4 loss to Charter Oak (Covina).

Roach's offense subsequently scored again on TD passes to junior Nico Bardaro, senior Lukas Grismer, and junior Aiden Hogan.

Roach, in the conversation Wednesday, acknowledged Pomare has size. His lean frame will likely fill out as he does weight training and his body matures.

"He just turned 15," the head coach noted.

Pomare (right) prepares to go out for a pass,

with Viking QB Hudson Smith in the background.

Kaden took a pass for a TD on La Jolla's

way to a 24-6 victory over Pinnacle (Phoenix)

in the second game of the day at USD.

LJ FB: 'Whitt' new with CB's

Damarious "Whitt" Whitten,

new cornerbacks coach for the

Vikings. He snagged 9 picks

and was named Marine Corps

"Defensive Player of the Year"

in his playing days.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"Defensive Player of the Year" at cornerback in the Marine Corps, and someone who played at Steeler great Ben Roethlisberger's high school alma mater--those are things to get people's attention.

Damarious "Coach Whitt" Whitten steps in as new staff for the Viking corners. The courteous mentor with braids, on the sidelines for La Jolla's games at the USD Camp 7-v-7 games Sat., June 21, allowed as how he starred at Findlay (Ohio) High, where QB Roethlisberger spun a few passes years ago.

He also played at Old Redford High in Detroit, Michigan, during his prep days.

Damarious recorded nine interceptions from the cornerback position to garner the Marine Corps award. A reporter noted that that was same number of picks current Viking senior Carson Diehl led the county with during his sophomore year in 2023. "That's the real challenge, is when you're known and they're coming at you," commented the assistant coach.

The Viking staff will have other changes in 2025, as Randy Cowell will occupy the Defensive Coordinator spot opposite Head Coach Tyler Roach's direction of the offense.

Associate Head Coach Scott "Juice" Hughley, a big favorite with players during his five years coaching at La Jolla, has moved over to Del Norte's football program, where he also works during the day as a campus supervisor.

LJ FB: USD Camp game story

The Vikings' most recent offseason competition

took place June 21 at the USD Camp, the campus

on a hill in San Diego, (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"Not our best showing," commented La Jolla head coach Tyler Roach. "We were just a little off all day."

Roach was reacting to his team's 2-3 showing in the USD Camp 7-v-7 tournament Sat., June 21. The Vikings, with senior quarterback Hudson Smith targeting receivers Nico Bardaro, Aiden Farrell, Logan Clark, Emerson Rota, and others, lost their first game at 9:30 a.m. to Charter Oak (Covina), 13-4, without scoring a touchdown.

After the 20-minute timed game, La Jolla had a short rest on a warm morning until 10:33, when the Vikings' scheduled game kicked off with their opponent, Pinnacle (Phoenix), again getting the ball on offense first.

This time, Smith and crew got off to a better start, tying the contest 6-6 on their first possession with a TD reception by Kaden Pomare. The extra point attempt failed.

The La Jolla defense, featuring middle linebacker Charlie Martin, cornerback Lukas Grismer, and linebacker Joseph Crudo, among others, stopped the Pioneers on their next possession, with three "time"'s being called--the equivalent of a sack, without tackling in 7-v-7.

Then Huddy found Bardaro in open area where Nico had room to run for touchdown number two, 12-6, before the extra point pass in the middle of the field to the same receiver was off.

After Martin's pick, La Jolla came back with a Smith-Grismer connection toward the left sideline on the first down played, 18-6. Smith's throw in the center to Rota on the extra point failed.

Roach's offense, with a "bigger" QB, as La Jolla's program described the senior earlier this offseason, had more points up its sleeve with Hudson's TD completion to Aiden Hogan. The final was 24-6.

La Jolla went 1-2 the rest of the day.

LJ FB: More photos - Charter Oak game 6/21

Photos by Ed Piper

Nico Bardaro takes in a Hudson Smith

pass in the middle under close coverage.

Corner Aiden Farrell (behind) makes the stop

on a Charter Oak receiver on first-and-goal.

Hudson Smith, with a year of seasoning as

the starting QB, cocks to fire.

On the fifth pass of the game, Charter Oak scores

a TD as coverage gets leaky. CO won the 20-minute

game, 13-6.

LJ FB 4, Charter Oak (Covina) 13 - USD Camp 6/21

Photos by Ed Piper

Tight end Nico Bardaro takes a completion

for first down with less than five minutes

left in the 20-minute game, down 13-4.

Senior Lukas Grismer (R) defends on a pass attempt

near the goal line. Ball is knocked away.

Grismer (6), a cornerback, completes the stop

on a ball that seemed to be in the Charger receiver's

grasp for a moment on a good, physical play.

Soph cornerback Aiden Farrell (L) positions himself

to cover his man on Charter Oak split wide to the left.

Coach Tyler Roach tries to light a fire under his

players after the loss in the 9:30 a.m. contest.

Junior Joseph Crudo (rear left), a linebacker,

lines up with fellow senior Drake Weise (21)

and Aiden Farrell (white cap) before a play

midway through the LJ-Charter Oak encounter.

Vikings take a break on the USD lower field sidelines

after the game. JV coach Chris Macy (R) sits on a

bucket.

From left, freshman assistant Ben Martin (also head

track coach) and varsity assistant Chris Velez, in his

sixth year with LJ, watch the scrimmage.

Vike head coach Tyler Roach (R) takes a break

after the first game with Marshall (L), his 10-year-old

son who just celebrated his birthday June 18.

Junior tight end Nico Bardaro, split left, barks out

some communication as the Vike offense sets up.

LJ FB: USD Camp 7-v-7 - Vikings 24, Pinnacle (Phoenix) 6 - 6/21

Photos by Ed Piper

Receiver Kaden Pomare (foreground)

prepares to go out as QB Hudson Smith

looks his way.

Senior quarterback Hudson Smith (1)

lets loose with a long pass against Pinnacle.

Vike head coach Tyler Roach (L) advises

receiver Emerson Rota (4) as QB Hudson

Smith (1) listens at the end of the second game.

Logan Clark (5) defends as a Monarch

makes a flying catch.

Vikings huddle before the second game, with

Hudson Smith (center rear, hand up) leading

the close. Linebacker Charlie Smith is far right.

LJ FB: Campus osprey puts on show as Vikes work out below 6/20

Photos by Ed Piper

The LJHS campus osprey, Onid, swoops over the football field

while Viking hopefuls work out below Fri. morning, June 20.

Onid the osprey carries a fish in his talons

as he transports it across Edwards Stadium

from the east side to the nest atop a light

stanchion on the west side of the field.

Zach "Snacks" Gergurich (far right) rises from

a prone position to sprint 50 yards downfield

as part of the workout under coach Ben Martin.

Fellow junior Emerson Rota (red shirt) and

senior teammate Dane Tyvoll (next to him)

wait in their group to do the drill.

Football assistant and head track coach Ben Martin

(on the bullhorn) runs the practice. At far left

are QB Hudson Smith (white T-shirt)

and middle linebacker Charlie Martin.

Two team members arrive on their e-bikes

before the 7 a.m. workout.

LJ FB: 2nd in bracket at SDSU Camp

The campus osprey (upper left) keeps an eye out

next to the nest atop the central light standard

during weight-training Wed. morning, June 18.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla went 5-2 and took second in its bracket at the SDSU Camp in 7-v-7 games June 7-8, according to new DC Randy Cowell.

The Vikings came up against Centennial (Peoria, AZ) in the final, losing that contest on the campus at San Diego State. Cowell is installing new defensive patterns in his role as Defensive Coordinator.

This weekend, June 21-22, the Coach Tyler Roach-led offensive players will go to the USD Camp locally.

Middle linebacker Charlie Martin, sporting a visible 2-to-3-inch vertical scar on the outside of his right wrist from surgery earlier this year, said, "It's getting better. I still can't lift (weights)," as he ramps up with his teammates for the Aug. 22 season opener at Torrey Pines High.

Cowell, the DC, coached at Valley Center for 20 years. He then was an assistant at Escondido Charter most recently.

Roach begins his ninth season at the helm. He served as a defensive assistant at La Jolla prior to that time.

LJ FB: Bear crawls up Rushville St. 6/18

Photos by Ed Piper

Jon Lemery (far left) runs a workout that includes

bear crawls up Rushville St. next to the stadium

at 7:30 in the morning. Lemery is strength

and conditioning coach.

Lunges preceded the bear crawls, both after

a neighborhood run at 7 a.m.

Rising junior Nico Bardaro (C), "Snacks" (R).

Then, backward bear crawls - grueling.

Rising junior Zach "Snacks" Gergurich (R)

has his belt adjusted during morning weight-

lifting.