The Hillsdale relays comes at right time

Hillsdale head track coach Chris Chaika said the original plan was to host the event during the 2020 season, but we all know what happened. COVID was barely beaten back in time for a truncated 2021 campaign as well.

Now, the meet is coming at a time when most of the other local early-season meets have not returned from their COVID hiatus and the Fighting Knights Relays has been a boon to the local track and field community. About half of the teams from the Peninsula Athletic League, along with teams from San Francisco and the private-school leagues in San Mateo County, are scheduled to compete, with 15 teams being represented.

“Aragon would typically host (an invitational). Serra would host, San Mateo would host, all in March or April,” said Chris Lucey, Hillsdale head cross country coach, assistant track coach and meet director. “There is a void (of early-season meets). It kind of came together at the very last minute.”

He said that the Central Coast Section had a December deadline to apply for a spring meet and they got their ducks in a row just in the nick of time.

The format of the relays, however, is not your typical track meet. All the events are relayed-based races — including the field events of shot put, long jump and high jump. While most are familiar with the 4x100 or 4x400 relays, you may not be as familiar with the 4x800 or the distance and sprint medley relays. Those events are not contested in California high schools, but are in other states.

Only the third week into the 2022 season, the focus of the Fighting Knights Relays is getting entire teams involved — varsity and frosh-soph, boys and girls — as well as to get some times posted in competitive situations, times that can used as a benchmark going forward in the season.

But most importantly, the event is designed to help build team chemistry.

“Many of the freshmen and sophomores haven’t had any sort of season in two years,” Lucey said. “(So this is a) team-building type of atmosphere. … It’s an early-season introduction, to take some pressure off the individual, look at the team and go have some fun.”

So what is a shot put relay, you may ask? Actually, it’s quite simply: a two-member team from each school simply combines the distance of their throws — or height of their jumps. Each team is allotted two, two-person teams into the field relays.

“We didn’t want the field events to feel left out from the team competition,” Lucey said.

The field events begin at 1 p.m. and the running events at 2 p.m., with the event wrapping up under the lights at Hillsdale at 7 p.m. Fans are invited to attend and tickets can be purchased at https://gofan.co/app/events/503951?schoolId=CA22932.

And yes, the snack bar will be open.

“It seems this (event) is fitting into (the schedule) nicely,” Lucey said.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.