Girls’ Player of the Week : Kerr Keeps Proving She Can Outrun Them All

As a fifth-grader at Harbor View Elementary School, d’Layne Kerr spent many of her lunch and recess hours on the run.

That is, while most of her peers sought pleasure in hopscotch, handball and food fights, Kerr took on all challengers in one-on-one sprint races across the school playground.

“Actually, I had a loud-mouth friend who constantly pitted me against the boys in my class,” said Kerr, a senior at Corona del Mar High School.

“She used to get in big arguments with them, saying, ‘Oh, d’Layne can beat you!’ So then I’d have to go out during lunch and prove it.”

Kerr, The Times’ player of the week, supplied more proof of her abilities at last Saturday’s Southern Section 3-A track and field championships at Cerritos College.

Kerr won the 400 meters in 57.04 seconds. She won the 200 meters in 24.71. She anchored the Sea Kings’ 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays, the latter to a school record time of 3:51.49.

Each of Kerr’s performances was a lifetime best.

Corona del Mar won the girls’ 3-A title with 56 points--with 32 attributed to Kerr. Pomona was second with 38, and Esperanza was third (36).

This season, Kerr was undefeated in Sea View League competition. At the Orange Relays in March, Kerr was named the athlete of the meet for the second consecutive year.

But the Southern Section meet, Kerr said, was by far the most rewarding.

“Saturday was the highlight, so far,” Kerr said. “Winning a team championship (for track and field), that was something unheard of at our school. It was really, really exciting, but it’s not over yet. Not by a long shot.”

Indeed, Kerr will face tougher competition Friday night at the Southern Section Masters meet at Cerritos College. The top nine competitors, regardless of division, advance to the Masters meet from last Saturday’s Southern Section championships.

Though Kerr was the fifth-fastest qualifier in the 400, and the sixth-fastest in the 200, she thinks she can improve in the Masters meet.

“It’s all attitude,” she said. “You’ve just got to go in there with a really aggressive attitude. Go in feeling you can do it.”

Kerr, who will study sports psychology and run at Stanford next year, illustrated this point Saturday in her anchor leg in the 1,600-meter relay--the meet’s final event.

Before the race, Kerr learned that Corona del Mar was far enough ahead of Pomona and Esperanza that it would win the 3-A title no matter how she and the relay team performed.

Having already run three races on that hot afternoon, Kerr might have been inclined to take it easy. Instead, her performance brought many in the crowd of 5,450 to their feet.

When Kerr got the baton from Laurie Sawin, the Sea Kings were in second place, about 50 meters behind Pomona.

But Kerr, who until Saturday had never run faster than 57 seconds in an open 400, ran a 55.2-second, all-out pursuit of Pomona anchor Shanequa Campbell. Kerr crossed the finish line behind Campbell, but only by .25 seconds.

Said Kerr: “I just kept thinking, ‘I have to get her. It’s CIF. I have to get her!’

“It didn’t matter that we’d already won (the meet). You still want that win, no matter what.”

TOP PERFORMERS

Tiffany Boyd of Woodbridge pitched a no-hitter, her eighth of the season, and struck out 17 in a 7-0 victory over Montebello Friday.

Terry Carpenter of Edison struck out 43 but lost to Burbank, 1-0, in Southern Section 4-A playoff game that lasted 24 innings Thursday.

Allison Franke of Canyon won the 4-A triple jump in a personal-best 38-feet 1-inch and defended her discus title with a throw of 135-3 Saturday at the Southern Section track and field championships.

Michele Granger of Valencia pitched a perfect game and struck out 17 in a 1-0 victory over Glendora Friday.

Sita Jones of La Habra clocked the fastest Orange County time this season--5:06.67--in the girls’ 3-A 1,600 meters Saturday at the Southern Section track and field championships.

Ivy Pinkerton of Western pitched a perfect game and struck out five in a 1-0 victory over Garden Grove Friday.

Daniele Reaves of Esperanza won the 3-A 300-meter hurdles (44.42) and qualified for Friday’s Masters meet in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.77 Saturday at the Southern Section track and field championships.

Rae Rice went 3 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs to lead Fountain Valley to a 14-1 victory over North Torrance Thursday. Rice also threw a four-hitter and struck out nine.

d’Layne Kerr

Corona del Mar High

Position: 200 and 400 meters.

Height, Class: 5-6, Sr.

Last Week: Kerr won the 400 meters in 57.04 seconds and the 200 meters in 24.71 to lead the Sea Kings to the Southern Section 3-A girls’ title. Kerr also anchored the Sea Kings’ 400- and 1,600-meter relays, the latter to a school record time of 3:51.49. Each of Kerr’s performances was a lifetime best.

Season: Kerr was undefeated in Sea View League competition. At the Orange Relays in March, Kerr was named the athlete of the meet for the second consecutive year.