LJ track & SDHS @ Canyon Hills - tri-meet 4/13

Junior Daphne Mayer leads

the 1600 meters by plenty in

tri-meet with SDHS

and Canyon Hills. She won

in 5:38.04.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

On a day when the stars didn't shine--and the temperature on the infield grew increasingly chilly, even bone-chilling--Daphne Mayer of La Jolla, long a second fiddle to junior classmate Kirra Fisk, blew away the assembled field of 1600-meter runners from San Diego High and Canyon Hills High to win in 5:38.04 Thurs., April 13.

The stars included those that didn't twinkle in the clouding, overcast skies above the bright green turf at the former Junipero Serra High in Tierrasanta.

But we're referring more to Fisk and Viking sprinter Payton Smith, and their assorted distance and sprint relay partners, all of whom were laying back (or not even attending) at the Eastern League tri-meet.

An observer was disappointed to learn that the top runners were keying for their travel to Walnut two days later for the 63rd Mt. SAC Relays, a major meet that we're happy to have at near-full strength after COVID in 2020.

"I'm not running today," said Smith when asked if it was okay to take photos of her chatting with some teammates on the infield turf. She had her sweatshirt hoodie tightly pulled around her head to keep the cold at bay (and probably some sports photographers with tiny cameras on the football field).

Freshman Hannah Aalaei runs

second only to Mayer

in the 1600 meters. Her time

was 5:46.78.

Smith is scheduled to run the 200- and 400-meters at Mt. SAC, following an outstanding double in those events at another top meet at Arcadia last Sat., April 8. Fisk, likewise, is scheduled to run her specialty, the 1600. Both are also running in related relays with their fellow Vikings.

Meanwhile, in the here-and-now, Mayer's younger teammate, ninth-grader Hannah Aalaei, kept up her find showings this season by placing second in the 1600. Her time was 5:46.78. Imagine her growth in the next two years if she stays with it, to be at the level Daphne is right now as a junior.

The LJHS girls dominated the tri-meet, beating San Diego High 90-46. Canyon Hills, now called the Rattlers, narrowly lost to the Caver girls, 68.5-57.5.