LJ track: Payton's 400m mark 'third-best all-time'

LJHS sprinter Payton Smith (middle) on the first

turn of her 400-meter heat at the CIF San Diego Section

meet May 13 at Canyon Hills High.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Steve Brand, who has covered high school track and field in San Diego since moving down from the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the 1970's, wrote this week that Payton Smith of La Jolla had run the third-best time in the 400 meters in San Diego Section of all time: 53.86.

Brand's article, in the San Diego Union-Tribune, followed the junior sprinter's performance at the CIF State meet Sat., May 27, in Clovis, California.

Paul Byrne, long-time head coach of the Vikings track team, said Tues., May 30 that he couldn't find such a record anywhere that he has checked.

Instead, he sent a snippet of the top 15 400-meter sprinters this year: there, in no. 15, is Payton Smith, 17 years old, with a time of 53.86 seconds.

Number one, from Texas, stands Lauren Lewis, a senior, with a top time of 51.45.

Byrne's comment: "#15 in nation...how's that for perspective;)" (via text).