LJ xc: Fisk for real

By Ed Piper

Kyra Fisk, the 10th-grade runner for the La Jolla cross country team, is having a little fun, apparently, in changing the spelling of her first name to "Kirra" in the latest results from the Dana Hills Invitational in Orange County Sat., Sept. 25.

The "new" Fisk did just the same as the "old" Fisk, finishing in the upper reaches of competitors at Dana Hills by clocking a 17:31.2 time over three miles in the Division 1 Invitational race. That placed her 12th among 214 runners, most with much more race experience than the lead Viking roadster.

Her previous great finish was a third place at the Mt. Carmel/ASICS Invitational--but this one for Division 2, not as elite as the D1 race she just ran in--the previous weekend at Morley Field.

Let's just say it: Kyra Fisk's times just won't allow her to go unnoticed anymore. She continues to post times that portend better and better things for the future.

"It looks like she'll break the two-mile and mile records for La Jolla High," says Roger Karnopp, long-time running coach who retired last spring after a varied and distinguished career that included coaching at Cal State San Marcos, La Jolla High, and elsewhere.

Karnopp compares Fisk's times to those of Nihal Kayali, an outstanding girls runner he coached during his long span at La Jolla High. In the equivalent of the two-mile, which roughly equates to the present metric 3200 meters, Kaylai broke 10 minutes.

Track coaches speak familiarly of times like 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and so worth. It's the world they live in, the tools they work with. It's amazing to an outsider (like me) at how quickly they convert a registered time into what importance it has in a runner's development.

"In the 1600 (the equivalent of the mile)," says Karnopp in a conversation we had leading up to the Dana Hills Invitational, "Kaylai broke five minutes." That's the good, rarefied air he's talking about for Fisk.

Regarding the third-place team finish for the La Jolla High girls two weeks ago at Morley Field for the Mt. Carmel/ASICS race, Karnopp says, "They'll definitely qualify for state (competition)."