Diamond Briscoe loves purple.

She does not love chemistry. Yet her favorite teacher is Miss Jayna Yano. Who teaches … chemistry. At Pearl City High School.

"She’s down to earth and she’s funny. She’s just good to get along with. It’s not my favorite class, but she makes it easier. She’s very clear at explaining," Briscoe said.

In the world of Hawaii’s fastest girl in purple, Briscoe faces challenges all the time as the state’s top 400-meter runner. But she keeps working, in the offseason with Godspeed Track Club and now, early in the varsity season, for the Chargers.

The work has been paying off for Briscoe, who enters her junior season with so much promise and potential. If you happen to see Chargers coach Donaldo Hopper at a track sometime, he’ll tell you.

"She’s a Diamond in the rough," he quipped.

It’s more like a Diamond on the red dirt track at Pearl City, one of the wettest sites in the OIA.

Last year, as a sophomore, the explosive sprinter won the state championship in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.6 seconds at Keaau High School’s facility. It was a personal record for Briscoe, who also placed second in the 200 (25.96) and third in the 100 (12.74).

"She’s a specimen. She’s so natural, it’s ridiculous. She works hard, too," said Hopper, who ran for Pearl City and graduated in 1994. "She has aspirations, so she comes in and does the (offseason) conditioning."

Briscoe was noticeable from the start, running at around 63 seconds in the 400 at the Purple and White preseason meet as a freshman. A minute and 3 seconds. On dirt.

As for aspirations, Briscoe has begun to crack down in the classroom. That makes Hopper grin.

"She’s getting better grades than she did," he said.

Briscoe is awake and stretching, bouncing out of her crouch for a photographer early on a Sunday morning.

"She has high hips. She has a small body, she’s real light. She’s strong. Those long legs. She’s real fluid," Hopper said. "She looks like those people you see on TV in the Olympics. She’s kind of like Endia Abrante, the state record holder from Kaiser. When she just takes it out and she’s just relentless."

Abrante, of Kaiser, set a 400-meter record at the state meet in 1998 with a time of 54.41.

A key to Briscoe’s development has been relay competition. Hopper thinks it shows Briscoe at her best, an anchor on the relay. A force of nature.

"I think the 4×400 helps her a lot. She’s very aggressive. She hates losing to people. She tries to catch people off the bat, that’s what I try to teach her. That’s how she builds her toughness," he said. "That’s how she drops her time."

Briscoe anchors the 4×400 relay team, which had the state’s best time last year until the state meet, when Punahou and ‘Iolani each broke the previous state record to catch and surpass Pearl City.

"We encourage each other. We’re going to try and do 4-flat," she said. "Last year, we were 4:06."

The 400, one of the most challenging of events — the last turn will always send bolts of pain through any sprinter’s thighs — is Briscoe’s favorite.

"I always had to run the 400 since I was 8 because of our coach, but I started liking it in freshman year," she said. "I keep closing on them, closing on the gaps. If I do know I have energy left, I start sprinting past them if I can and try to keep it on them. I keep sprinting and pushing my arms until I finish."

The experience of running for the past eight years is invaluable.

"I think I see the race differently now. I used to just sprint from the beginning, but I’ve learned how to keep my energy until I get to the finish line. I’m pushing the first half, the first 150 (meters), then I stride, and then the last 200 I sprint it," Briscoe said.

MARGARET BAKER still looks like she could win a race or two. But three years ago, while her daughter was training at UH’s T.C. Ching track, something happened that neither parent nor offspring have forgotten.

Diamond beat Mom.

"It was the 200 and the 100," Briscoe said. "She never ran the 400. It was close. I was trying so hard. I wanted to prove to her I could be a fast runner. She said, ‘OK, OK.’ "

Baker wasn’t entirely surprised.

Briscoe grew up running with her mom, a former sprinter at the University of Texas. Briscoe has two older siblings who ran at Pearl City, including current senior Daicorri Briscoe, who was also a standout wide receiver on the football team.

"I put all of my family in track. It’s a natural gift from God that she has inside her," Baker said. "In the 400, she was faster than me at a younger age. This is something you see in children as a whole. That determination, she’s always been determined and pushes. She hates to lose, but I told her a long time ago, the only way you can appreciate winning is to know how to lose. I instill in them to go out and do the best that you can."

Briscoe began running at Godspeed when she was 8, and now trains alongside Christian Academy’s dynamite sprinter, Raion Black, in the offseason. Black has been superb in the 100 and 200, making the two friends and rivals at the same time.

"She’s my biggest competition. We’re friends off the track, but when we get on the track, I’m in a different world. I focus on the race, not anyone else," Briscoe said, admitting she’d love to win all three sprint races.

"I can try and really … hope," Briscoe said.