By Ed Piper
"The girls' 4-by-100 relay has been putting up state times," shared Paul Byrne, La Jolla High head track coach.
That's true: the four-person team of Maddie Lyons, Cristina Alapi, Lilly Grunski, and Payton Smith ran the lap around the track in 50.25a seconds in the Vikings' meet at Mission Bay Thurs., April 29.
There are many others who stood out, but Smith, a freshman, is getting rave reviews. She's also visibly having fun with her teammates, who, including Grunski and Lyons, were joking back-and-forth with Payton at the meet about running the 100 meters against her.
It was a Smith-Lyons-Grunski finish in that race, with fast times of 12.44a, 12.76a, and 13.02a for the top three to cross the tape at the end of the Mission Bay track.
A highlight of the meet was the resident ospreys' watchful eye from the pair's light-tower nest, a thick but orderly construction that had to be rebuilt when workers wiped out the old stadium a couple of years ago to clear it for the new arena. This reporter didn't get to see it, but a Mission Bay coach working the dual meet said one or both of the osprey flew out of the nest during Thursday's matchup to hunt or check out something else nearby.
In the Mission Bay meet, the LJHS women beat the Buccaneers, as expected, 109.5 to 26.5. That wasn't close. But the Viking men narrowly lost to their Mission Bay counterpart, 70-66, in a tight finish.
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