Fighting Knights Relays are hitting stride 4 years in

“We don’t want it to be huge,” Lucey said. “One of the great selling points of it is it’s done at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”

All told, 665 athletes ranging from the varsity to junior-varsity levels competed in the meet. Over 1,000 people packed into Mazzoncini Stadium, including coaches, event volunteers and spectators.

“It was great weather and great competition,” Lucey said.

A relays meet is unique in that it emphasizes the fundamentals of team competition. Only four events are categorized as individual events — the mile, the 100 meters, and the girls’ 100 hurdles and boys’ 110 hurdles. The remainder of the track events are relay races. The full slate of field events are awarded by virtue of paired teammates in each discipline.

“To me as a coach, there is something to be said for doing something with your teammates ... and that’s what we wanted to do,” Lucey said.

Lucey said 23 meet records were broken Saturday.

Carlmont set the girls’ distance medley relay meet record, with Daniela Cuadros, Anita Metzler, Sarita Josephson and Katelyn Elliott running a time of 12 minutes, 56.07 seconds. Carlmont had one of its meet records eclipsed, as Sacred Heart Cathedral broke the boys’ 4x100 relay record previously set by the Scots last year. SHC’s Jasaun Mabrey, O’Bryan Flanigan, Keyon Tanksley and Harrison Van set the new mark of 43.07.

The boys’ shot put competition showcased the unique nature of the field relays. While Hillsdale senior Gavin Blos recorded the best throw of the day at 48 feet, 7 1/2 inches, it was San Mateo that captured first place. Mateo’s brother tandem of Yianni Fitzgerald and Emmanuel Fitzgerald took first place with a combined 94-8 3/4, better than the second-place total by Blos and Johnathan Soudah of 88-7 3/4. The junior Yianni Fitzgerald topped out at 48-2 1/4, while senior Emmanuel Fitzgerald registered a 46-6 1/2.

The meet also features specialty relays, ones not held at official CCS meets, such as the DMR, the sprint medley relay and the 4x200 relay.

“Give everybody a chance to try these relays and see what they’re like,” Lucey said. “And the biggest part, they learn to work with teammates and how you do these exchanges.”

Hillsdale first held the Fighting Knights Relays in 2022, in the wake of other schools disbanding their relays meets. Serra and San Mateo each used to hold similar relays meets. Last season, the only other such meet was the Firebird Relays held at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale.

“Back in the day the PAL would start their season with the PAL Relays,” Lucey said. “And once I was in the community and was thinking about it, people were like: ‘We really miss that meet.’”

This year, three different leagues were represented at the meet — the Peninsula Athletic League, West Catholic Athletic League and the Bay Area Conference.

“It’s a great mix of schools that come to this meet,” Lucey said.

Terry Bernal is a Daily Journal staff writer. His views are his own. Contact by phone at (650) 344-5200 x109 or via email at terry@smdailyjournal.com.