Steele Canyon High School track coach Charles Tyler has the kind of dilemma most coaches dream of.

He has a special 4×100-meter relay team — a foursome that placed third in the state a year ago, running 46.26 seconds in the prelims. That time is the second-fastest in San Diego Section history.

All four runners — Evie Allison, Aniya Scott, Ily Barclay and Daylani Daniels — are back for the 2026 season.

And things have only gotten better. University City’s Joelle Frazier, who last spring won the section 100-meter dash in a wind-aided 11.65 seconds, moved and was accepted at Steele Canyon.

A relay team that was already flying added a crucial member.

Tyler’s dilemma may be just trying to keep everyone happy since he also had two very fast freshmen arrive; additionally, Asia Broussard returns after being injured a year ago.

“We’re going to have two fast relay teams,” said Tyler, even though only one can qualify for the section and state meets. “We’ll have to see what happens when they get together. Ily hurt her leg in softball and wasn’t 100% half of last season, but she’s ridiculously fast. Healthy, she can give Joelle a run for her money. We had other injuries, yet they came together at the end of the season. You can never have too many sprinters.”

Certainly, the members of last year’s team are anxious to see how a new quartet will fare. The 49-year-old section record of 45.94 (converted from 440 yards to 400 meters) by Crawford High School is within reach.

“Add Joelle in there, and we’re even more competitive,” said Barclay, who will also continue to play softball. “It’s super exciting. We want to break that section record.”

They will have a lot of opportunities.

Steele Canyon’s schedule includes the Long Beach Relays on March 7, either the Redondo Track Festival or the Don Jones Bronco Invitational the following weekend, the Texas Relays on April 3, the Arcadia Invitational on April 10 and Mt. SAC on April 17.

“The Texas Relays are always fast, but they’re early in the season and we’d like to work the kinks out in the order,” said Allison. “We could have a completely different order from last year or just insert Joelle into one of the legs. I know whatever we end up with will be fast.”

Frazier could make as much as a full second difference by the end of the season. They could even threaten the state meet record of 44.70 by Playa Del Rey St. Bernard in 1997.

“I’m super excited,” said Frazier, a senior. “Usually, I run the second leg, but I’ll go where I can help the most. The workouts here are strict and organized, which I like. I have a 3.7 GPA and I’m hoping to attract the attention of the University of Hawaii. I want to run faster than 11.3 in the 100 and 23.5 or even 23.2 in the 200.”

The section record in the 100 is 11.43, set by El Camino’s Jasmine Gibbs in 2012. Only three-time Olympian Monique Henderson, who ran 23.16 while at Morse in 2001, has approached those 200-meter times.

“We’re going to run two teams as often as we can,” said Tyler. “At Arcadia, one group can run in the daytime, the other at night. Mt. SAC sometimes adds additional teams. There are other races like the 4×200 and 4×400 plus sprint medley relay teams, so we can always have rested girls ready to run. Going into the season, we have 12 girls who are very fast.”

Tyler has been around long enough to know good on paper in February means very little by late May.

“So many things can happen in a relay, but we also know that with a year more of training, the four who ran a year ago should be faster,” said Tyler. “What we’re looking for is chemistry. It was there a year ago and that was good. But if we want that record, we’ll have to be even better, especially on the baton passes.”