Photos by Ed Piper
Photos by Ed Piper
Photos by Ed Piper
Photos by Ed Piper
The clock is ticking...
There are 20 days until the football Vikings' season opener at perennial-power Torrey Pines Fri., Aug. 22.
On day 2 of La Jolla's on-campus Team Camp, new defensive line coach Max Martinez was running his charges through drills.
His boss, Defensive Coordinator Randy Cowell, he also in his first season in Vikingville, had just installed one of the looks of the 4-4-3 defense. "Amoeba", Cowell explained, "can have six guys rushing, five guys rushing, four guys rushing"--you get the idea.
And the Vikings' six newly-named 2025 team captains, all seniors--announced at the beach bonfire the night before, Fri., Aug. 1--kept up their modeling and hard work for their teammates.
Those captains are: Carson Diehl, wide receiver/safety; Charlie Martin, middle linebacker; Huddy Smith, starting quarterback; Taylor Jeffery, linebacker/running back; Logan Clark; and Dylan Haugum, defensive end/tackle.
Monster edge rusher Dylan Haugum had two words: "California burrito."
That was in answer to the question, "What kind of burrito are you going to ask for, in winning the kajebi can-can competition from Coach (DC) Randy Cowell?"
The muscular "Haug", listed at 6'1", 220 pounds, entering his senior year in a week and half at La Jolla, outlasted 29 other linemen, backs, and safety/wide receivers (their groupings) in an elimination game that involves standing in a circle holding a tether to a teammate on each side, then yanking the short rope out of their hand or running one of them into a plastic trash barrel set in the middle.
It was all in fun, and all in team-building, as this season's edition of the football Vikings sleep on campus in the Big Gym, hiked to the cross at Mt. Soledad Friday morning, Aug. 1, for some heart-to-heart talk about commitment and sacrifice, then enjoy a bonfire at Windansea Beach in the evening when captains will be announced for the upcoming campaign.
Hands were stinging after the can-can bit, as each player held a short strand of pool-looking rope in each paw. Individuals got the hang of it after one or two early rounds of the game Cowell, former Defensive Coordinator at Valley Center for 23 years, brought from his wide experience and bag of tricks.
Haugum, Carson Diehl, Huddy Smith, Charlie Martin, and many others jumped into a game of wiffleball/spongeball baseball on the girls' softball field in the late morning (Nico Bardaro's team won on a six-run inning in the bottom of the second-to-last innning).
Then they proceeded to take a water break, then Cowell's corner as the circle game unfolded.
In the softball game, new novice (JV/freshmen combined) DC Nick Guerra tried to hit some shots at the plate off the weird spongey ball, which wouldn't fly straight if it wasn't squared off exactly right. No one hit it out over the left field fence, unlike the girls, who saw Emmy Cardenas hit one or two out during her career two years ago.
Then, the throws were also a little weird: on a perfectly fielded groundball, the ball would take off and sail over the first baseman's head. Cowell said the solution to that that he used to use was whichever got to the base first--runner or ball. It didn't matter if you caught it or not.
In the cancan, Haugum seemed agile enough to avoid or leap over the barrel in the middle, while having the strength to yank a tether out of his neighbor's hand--or in the final two, his one opponent's hand across the barrel. The game is something one hasn't seen before--very interesting.
Teammates sat in the shade of the visitors dugout, reacting to moves and eliminations--on one, a player slammed to the artificial turf as he lost his footing in trying to avoid the plastic barrel while holding onto both his leashes.
Finally, on Head Coach Tyler Roach's urging, varsity team members chose which of the two competitors to back, with the losing side having to do 20 push-ups.
The Big Gym took on a different look during the Team Camp, with air mattresses and cots lining the basketball court around the perimeter. One guy took a quick nap in the late morning.
A sideline note: New ASB President Allison Hawthorne (field hockey/lacrosse) and Senior Class President Jacey Taylor came by the softball game. They announced that Homecoming will come Friday, October 3, against Christian High, a big rivalry game.
They chatted with the football players to determine whether to have a White-Out, Red-Out, or whatever.
By Ed Piper
"I do think it's just around the corner now," said Chris Nowinski of the project to diagnose CTE in living people.
Nowinski, the former WWE wrestler who retired due to head injury, became a neuroscientist, pursuing his doctorate at Boston University after completing his undergraduate degree at Harvard.
Right now, before the ability to identify people with CTE--the black-tar-looking disease that affects the brain after repeated hits--the only way to investigate brain injury is after a football player dies.
Dads and moms, I implore you, look at this before allowing your son to continue playing football.
My mother told my brother and me when we were young, becoming interested in sports, "You will not play football. You can play anything else." And she held to it.
Thank God. I would have had a million additional injuries to the ones I suffered in baseball (ruined right arm, causing me to alter my throwing motion) and basketball (tens of sprained ankles on each leg, a bad back at age 17 after jogging with ankle weights--it turns out I have spina bifida occulta on my left side), if not for our mother's edict. (Her brother suffered injuries in ice hockey she never specified.)
Lacrosse was not available back then. Rugby was unknown in our area (Long Beach and Camarillo).
Dr. Nowinski, CEO of Concussion Legacy Foundation, once living persons can be identified for CTE: "When the numbers are revealed, I think they will shock people."
Kai Anderson, the 16-foot-plus pole vaulter, was an exciting story and personage to cover over the past year and a half.
The likeable mini-tank, a former gymnast (eight years) who could run down the approach and launch himself to dangerous heights, winning the 2024 CIF state title in the boys' pole vault, steadily inched his way up the charts.
The UCHS graduate, May 2025, who I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with during a workout a year ago--his coach, Mike Hogan, who goes by "Hogan" with the kids, supplying the context--approached the recent state competition as one of the returning favorites.
The reason I bring this up now is that Joseph Sbuttoni IV, a recent St. Augustine grad, and I chatted at the USATF All-Comers Meet July 16. "Sbutt" described the San Diego Section finals and the state meet to me:
Joseph placed sixth at Mt. Carmel High in the San Diego finals May 24, vaulting 15'2". Anderson, above him, finished second though he and junior Dylan Yarbrough of San Dieguito Academy both went 16'2". The placement was decided on number of attempts.
Then, a week later, at boiling Buchanan High School in Clovis, Sbuttoni rose to sixth among state finishers--quite an accomplishment--at 16-feet even.
Anderson, who is strong but also quick--his coach, "Hogan", said the remarkable thing about him is that he is comfortable "being upside down" as he pushes off the pole toward the bar--fell to a tie for ninth place, vaulting 15'8". Not too shabby for the conditions of extreme heat, the same for all competitors.
Out of nowhere (to a non-track person like myself), Khaliq Muhammad of Pittsburg (Bay Area, next to Walnut Creek--I used to jog near there with my ex-brother-in-law) launched to 17'10.5" to win the event. "He's a really nice guys," allowed Sbuttoni, whose gracious manner speaks well for himself.
Muhammad's margin of victory was over a foot and a half from the second, third, fourth, and fifth-place finishers' mark of 16'4". Remarkable.
Khaliq placed third in the USATF U-20 Nationals June 19 with a vault of 17'5".
Earlier, before his victory in the CIF state meet, he won the North Coast Section title with 17'1".
"Sbu" informed me that he is going to enroll at CSU San Marcos. Kyle Brown, a track coach who attended La Costa Canyon, told me at the All-Comers Meet that Anderson, my lead-in to this whole journey, is going to vault for Cal as a student-athlete in the fall.
Joseph won the Eastern League finals in the vault May 8 at 15'9".
La Jolla High's football team is experiencing its biggest turnover in personnel under head coach Tyler Roach in the last couple of years.
Besides Randy Cowell, former Valley Center long-time assistant (20 years), as the Vikings' Defensive Coordinator this season, Max Martinez will take over coaching the defensive line and special teams.
Kicking/punting coach Kevin Hurt, former star at Ole Miss who groomed kicker Evan Martin (Class of 2024), moved back to his hometown in New Jersey since last season.
Hurt's son, Kyle Hurt, was a standout pitcher at Torrey Pines High and is recovering from Tommy John surgery in the Dodgers' organization. The young Hurt has been on Los Angeles' 40-man roster while he recovers from the major arm procedure.
Before games on the sidelines, he would share with a reporter current photos of his son's World Series ring, his locker in the clubhouse, and so forth.
Kevin Hurt brought a wealth of kicking/punting knowledge, and sports competitiveness in general.
A new academic advisor will be named, according to Roach, following the retirement of Jane Medrano, an English teacher on campus who invested quite a bit into the football program. She knew individual players and their strengths and weaknesses personally from guiding them in their academic work. She will also be sorely missed.
Her son, Max Medrano, was an assistant coach at LJHS in 2017. He played football at Cathedral Catholic.
La Jolla High head football coach Tyler Roach said that next week's fall camp will take place on campus and in the Big Gym, as opposed to previous seasons when his charges made their way up to Big Bear for a long weekend and team-building.
"Our numbers are lower," said Roach at the Vikings' preseason workout Fri., July 25. "We don't have the depth. Our sophomores will have to step up."
He added, "We've had this before," and sophomores did step up to meet crucial needs.
Regarding the on-campus team camp, he said, "The concept will be the same" as in previous seasons: building team cohesiveness, increasing trust, taking the lead of student-athlete captains.
The dates for the camp are Thursday, July 31, and Friday, August 1, when program members will stay in the Big Gym overnight, while holding workouts at Edwards Stadium Thursday, Friday, and a final one Saturday, August 2.
The Vikings face major challenges in this fall's schedule, as they open up at Torrey Pines Friday, August 22. In week eight, La Jolla hosts state power Lincoln at home Friday, October 10. Both games should be eye-openers.
Roach has his hopes pinned on returning starting quarterback Hudson Smith, who started at QB for the first time last season, as well as top-prospect Carson Diehl, a senior safety who also slots in at wide receiver. Diehl had visits to San Diego State, the Air Force Academy, and (unofficially) Boise State.
Huddy will no longer have the luxury of handing off to All-Eastern League running back Aidan "Carolina" McGill, who always ground out the tough yardage. He graduated in May.
Photos by Ed Piper
Photos by Ed Piper
By Ed Piper
A lasting mental image of Payton Smith, former La Jolla High sprinter now competing for the University of Michigan: Viking soccer coach Austin Mobley inserted Smith as a designated striker early in the second half of a game her junior year in high school.
Payton received the ball beyond the midway point of the field, toward the left. She had one defender on her, plus the goalie. With her elite sprint speed, she went around the defender as if her foe were planted in cement. Now it was one-on-one with the poor goalie, waiting in the shadows. More sprinting, a quick kick, and Smith had done her assignment--score a goal.
She was removed right after the goal. It was a nice warmup and jog for her--the rest of us, mere mortals looking on. On the La Jolla sideline, her teammates were whooping it up: "Way to go, Payton." "Good job." They saw her as the friend and teammate she had been for a while.
Fast-forward two, nearly three years: The ASB president has moved on to her future and greener pastures. She is back in San Diego for the summer after a good start to her collegiate track career with the Wolverines.
Her sprints coach at Michigan, Steve Rajewsky, entering his 13th year, says, "(Payton) was a very highly-recruited high school athlete."
"She's (already) in the top four in (Wolverine) school history in the indoor and outdoor 400."
As a freshman, running on the school-record-setting 4x400 relay team--the foursome clocked 3:29 in the first round of the NCAA prelims in Eugene, Oregon this spring--and rating in the "upper echelon" of runners at UMich, in Rajewsky's words, Payton adjusted well to the move from San Diego to Ann Arbor.
She had a hiccup at the end of the winter indoor season early in 2025. "She fell," related Rajewsky. "That took a little bit of time to get back in the saddle."
Finally, recovering her confidence, "she ran 52.9 at the end of the outdoor season. That was in the ballpark of where she was running before (the fall)."
A sign of growth during Smith's freshman year at the private institution was that she was running faster times than she had in her highly successful senior year at La Jolla, when she won the state meet.
In her sprints coach's view, her adjustment to the snows of Michigan, being away from San Diego, came easier because her family had previously moved to La Jolla from Albuquerque, where her father served as a Division 3 basketball coach.
Rajewsky also knows Olivia, Payton's younger sister who followed her into the ASB presidency spot this past year, having served in her "cabinet" when the elder Smith daughter served as president.
"I wouldn't say (Payton) is quieter," said Rajewsky when told by a reporter that his only contact with her was on meet days at meet sites. There's not much time to chat when you aren't familiar with the person, and the athlete is preparing to run her events.
"(Payton) has a passion for people." "I'm excited to be part of her (journey). I'm excited for year two. You have so much more knowledge (after a year in college).
"Ignorance is bliss (the first year)."
Her major is undeclared. She is dabbling in different subjects, from "education to business to communications."
"This year she'll have to narrow it down."
