Janae Stanley-Castillo, a sophomore competing in the throw field events for La Jolla High, has an enviable position at this point: She is putting the shot and hurling the discus good distances, doing it “to have fun” to balance her other sports, soccer and volleyball, and coming into each meet an unknown, “not expected to win.”

A true amateur, if such a thing exists today.

Told the mere fact she was throwing at the 44th Mt. Carmel Sundevil Invitational meant she had to be pretty good, the likeable 10th-grader smiled and said, honestly, “I was surprised I was invited.” Here she is, only six weeks into chucking the two metal objects for the first time, and going to a major meet.

“I’m pretty strong for my age,” she said as she submitted to an interview during English class recently on campus. Her strength, and an activity to balance her other two sports.

Yet she has already won meets: At the Viking Sunset Relays March 9, she threw the shot 30 feet 2 inches for first place. At the “Battle of La Jolla” a week earlier versus town rivals Country Day and Bishop’s, she hurled the discus 65 feet 9 inches and the shot 27 feet 9.5 inches, both good to win the meet.

Stanley-Castillo has garnered several personal records, this being her first season of competition. Her PR in the discus at this writing is 77 feet 8 inches (a dual meet against OLP) and 32 feet 2 inches in the shot at Cerveny VII at Mission Bay High.

What’s neat to see is her family’s full support, and her inclusiveness of everyone as she celebrates her adventure into track and field. At the Jim Cerveny meet, when she was awarded two second-place medals, the 16-year-old stood for a group photo with her mom Andrea, stepdad Carlos, and her little sister Emma, alongside a school friend.

“My family is always supportive of any endeavor I do,” she said. “I usually stay 45 minutes after regular track practice. Practice goes from 4 to 5:30-ish. I usually stay till 6:15 p.m. My family supports that. I have soccer practice after.”

Her throws coach is Darian Savage.

She says she doesn’t rough-house with her younger sister, but her 22-year-old brother, Tyler, a mammoth 6 feet 7 inches tall, 230 pounds, “pinned me” when they horsed around. “He played basketball at San Diego High. He got into bodybuilding. He’s all about the aesthetic physique.”

Stanley-Castillo’s preference is for the shot put: “All the way. I feel like the discus irritates me. A lot of things can go wrong with the conditions: the wind, the heat, the travel (to the meet); if you don’t throw it exactly right, it doesn’t spin. With the shot, you just throw it. It’s a ball of metal.”

As an unknown, unranked, she can show up to a meet and enjoy it. “I try to improve and have fun. I don’t let the pressure get to me. Most of the girls are older than I am, so I’m not expected to do well.”