La Jolla High School’s Chiara Dailey was already peeking ahead to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Watching Cole Hocker win the men’s 1,500 meters in Paris clinched it.

Dailey, her parents and four brothers were watching with 72,000 others from Stade de France when the unsung Hocker shocked the running world, coming from behind to capture distance running’s glamor event in 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds.

“I really want to be in the Olympics one day but now I’m thinking 2028 when I’ll be in college,” said the Vikings junior. “When the Olympics are in L.A., people can easily make the trip from San Diego. I really enjoyed the men’s 1,500 because everyone was talking about the other runners and an underdog, Cole Hocker, won. I was screaming … cheering for him to win.”

Dailey’s three days at the Paris Olympics were part of a three-week family vacation. She admits running every day on the streets of Paris was a major motivation for this high school season.

“Going to Paris helped me by having a progression for my goals,” said Dailey. “I’m way more motivated this year knowing my end goal.”

Two years ago at this time, Dailey, a freshman, was entering the world of cross country running as a complete novice. Her first race would be just that, the first time she’d ever run competitively.

After a banner start, Dailey returned a year ago and promptly set her sights on winning the State CIF Division 4 championship, which she did.

This time, the 16-year-old is taking the same approach as virtually every other titlist, having gained the experience without the wear and tear of many of the others who have been running for nearly a decade.

“I’m hoping to break 17 minutes in the state championships, and not just 16:59,” said Dailey, whoclocked a 17:09 over the 3.1-mile Woodward Park course at the State Championships in Fresno. “If I had competition, I know I could have done it last year.”

Dailey left all of her division rivals in her wake to win by 22 seconds, which was actually close compared to the 83-second gap she had in the CIF San Diego Section finals.

That 17:09 at State was the fourth fastest overall. All four girls who ran the fastest times return, but all are in different divisions. So Dailey won’t get to race against them.

Dailey won’t even get to battle state track 3,200-meter champion Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake High School,  who is in Division 1 in San Diego.

Dailey opened her season by winning the Ravens Invitational at Canyon Crest, clocking a 16:14.2 over 3 miles to win by 45 seconds.

She’s entered in what many consider the three most competitive invitationals in the state — Woodbridge, Mt. SAC and Clovis.

Woodbridge, in Irvine, is a fast, flat 5,000-meter course that is run at night, drawing the top competitors from all over the country. Mt. SAC is an ultra-hilly revamped course where the Foot Locker West Regionals will be run after the State Meet. Clovis is the site of the State Meet.

“I always run better against good competition,” said Dailey. ” I really wish I could run against Jaelyn in cross country. I get to race her in track, but in cross country times don’t really matter as much as they do in track.

“It’s still 50-50 on which I like better, cross country or track, and they’re totally different. In cross country, you run different courses every week, while in track every race is on a 400-meter track where you can make time comparisons.

“I wasn’t happy with my last track season, which has motivated me this summer.”

Few people knew that from Mother’s Day (May 12) until the state meet (May 24-25), Dailey battled an illness that hampered her efforts on and off the track.

As a result, while she qualified for State by pushing Williams to a section record in the 1,600, placing second in 4:42.26, she couldn’t match that time at State, where she placed third in 4:43.30.

“I know I could have done better, so I decided to train over longer distances this summer,” said the 5-foot-2 redhead, who had hoped running against Ventura’s Katie Engelhardt (the state champion at 4:32.06), would give her a PR.

“Preparing for track and cross country are about the same. I’m hoping by being stronger and healthy, I can maintain my pace longer. Whatever illness I had, I still don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t COVID-19, it’s gone now.

“Not living up to expectations just gives me fuel to do better.”

An added bonus, this cross country season she’ll be paired with her good friend, Navah Lipsky, who recently transferred from Francis Parker to La Jolla.

The Vikings finished 1-2-3-4 in the section meet a year ago en route to a third-place finish at State, a point out of second. Another bonus for Dailey, her father, Adam, has been named the girls cross country coach at La Jolla.

“That’s what I like about cross country over track, it’s a team sport,” Dailey said.