1979 State Meet – Hughes Stadium – Sacramento – June 1st – 2nd

1979 Photo Album of Top Athletes

1979 Program Cover - Gwen Loud finishes 200 with a smile!!

It is kind of fitting that 25 years ago the State meet was held in Hughes Stadium, in Sacramento, the last year that the competition would be held on a dirt track, with probably some reasons for that, as work on the facility at Hughes left the dirt very soft, with a haze of dust over the scene Friday evening in the qualifying. That did not slow the athletes down a bit, as the young ladies in attendance smashed three national records, and the boys had a ton of very, very competitive events.

Right down the events:
Boys 100y – Bill Green (Cubberly, Palo Alto), a school closed down soon after, took this event at 9.59 over defending champion Mike Sanford (Pasadena) 9.66 and Ron Brown (Baldwin Park) 9.76 (Brown later 1984 Olympic Gold in 400m Relay and Pro Footballer)
220y – Sanford huge 21.00w (+3.67 mps) win over Ray Threatt (Pittsburg) 21.52w.
440y – Bit of controversy, as favored Bill Green (Cubberly, Palo Alto) was dq’d after a 46.27 win for running outside of his lane. Tony Banks 47.27 the winner after that action.
880y – Defending Champ David Mack (Locke, LA) nipped rival Jeff West (Cresnshaw, LA) 1:50.2-1:50.5 with the rest of the pack some 15m back of the talented LA city stars.
Mile – Paul Mevin (University, LA), after a slow first lap of 67.3, screeched the final 440 in 58.8 to win at 4:12.9 over Steve Whitcomb (Helix, La Mesa) 4:14.6.
2 Mile – Jeff Nelson (Burbank), hot off a National 2 mile record of 8:36.3 while finishing 3rd in the early May Pepsi Invite at UCLA, took this contest by a huge eight second margin at 8:47.4 with a final 880 of 2:05. The first mile was 4:27.8, with Jeff racing the final four laps just under 4:20. Biggest winning 2 mile margin in State History by the fastest ever?
120yHH – Jim Scanella (San Ramon, Danville) edged Gary Lee (LB Poly) 13.87 (wind +.68 aiding) 13.88. Favorite and local star Henry Andrade (Johnson, Sacramento) false-started.
330yLH – Transition from the 180 lows to the 330 Intermediates had this event run for a few years. Gary Lee gained revenge for his 120 Highs loss with a 36.22 State Meet Record run to win over Scanella 37.01.
440y Re – Pasadena HS, team of Tyrone Ervin, Troy Delamar, Melvin Cook, and Mike Sanford 41.45 winners over Fremont (LA) 41.73. Sanford busy this weekend with 100-220-440 relay duty heats and finals!
Mile Re – Locke (LA) winners at 3:14.04 way ahead of Richmond 3:17.53 (largest margin in state history?). With National Record at 3:11.57 in those days this was the one team it was felt was really held back with the soft dirt surface at the end of two days with some national record possibilities if the facilty had been in better shape or all-weather.
HJ – Lee Balkin (Glendale) latest of Coach John Barnes and Paul Broneer’s stars, peaked magnificently with a 7-03.25 clearance that at the time was the #2 jump in US High School history, and meet record.
PV – Clark Eliot (Bellflower) took 16-footer Tim McIntyre (Los Alamitos) with a 15-06 win over Tim’s 15-02 runner-up effort.
LJ – George Gaffney (Lemoore) led qualifying at 24-02.25w, then came back in the finals to win at 24-01.75.
TJ – Henry Ellard (Hoover, Fresno), future Pro football great, showed his great all-around athletic ability with a 49-02.5 win.
SP – Don Mosebar (Mt. Whitney, Visalia) 62-06.75 was a narrow winner over Jim Spillers (Rowland, Rowland Heights) 62-04.5, with John Brenner (Fullerton) also over 62 foot at 62-01 in third.
DT – Hank Kraychir (San Jacinto), whose sons are about to embark on their own prep careers, won the event at 179-03.

Girls – Three National Records Highlighted the action
100y – Gwen Loud (Westchester) had a magical meet, with a 10.61 meet record (wind +1.96 mps) run here that had her win over Sherri Howard (San Gorgonio, San Bernardino) 10.80.
220y – Another meet record of 23.53 for Gwen Loud, with the win giving her school 24 points and enough for the eventual team title.
440y – Sherri Howard, one of four military sisters who showed up from Alaska, and would later switch to Kennedy HS in Granada Hills, set a National Record of 53.65 in winning here.
880y – Ann Regan (Camden, San Jose) defended her title with a 2:10.3 win over Louise Romo (North Torrance) 2:11.5.
Mile – Linda Goen (North, Bakersfield) won a very competitive event over Vickie Cook (Alemany, Mission Hills) 4:51.1-4:51.6.
2 Mile – Lisa Scaduto (Santa Monica) closed with a sub-5:15 second mile after a 5:20.3 opener to upset Cindy Schmandt (Santa Barbara) 10:35.0-10:39.3.
110Y LH – Janet Yarborough (Clovis) won the close contest at 14.01 over Michelle Jerald (University, LA) 14.03, and Alicia Sweeney (Tamalpais, Mill Valley) 14.05.
440y Re- San Gorgonio and Berkeley did not complete passes to finish, and Westchester raced away to the win at 47.20.
Mi Re – San Gorgonio, keeping it in the family, had Atra Howqard 59.2 lead-off, soph sister Tina 58.3, frosh Denean Howard 53.7, and junior Sherri Howard 52.0 set a National Record of 3:44.1. LB Poly pushed San G, second at 3:46.3.
HJ – Tonya Alston (Chico) a 6-footer and one of the Northern Section’s All-Time greats (13.7 hurdler also as a prep), won at 5-09 on misses over Sue McNeal (Carlsbad).
LJ – Gwen Loud 20-04.5 State Meet Record to win by over a foot on her magical championship day!
SP – All-Arounder Susie Ray (she did also place in the 100 Hurdles (4th at 14.19) won at 49-06.5 (Meet Record) over Rosario Ramos (Anaheim) 49-04.25.
DT – Leslie Deniz (Gridley) added to the North Section’s glory this day with a 159-03 National Record best in the trials before winning the finals at 167-03! Old State record was 154-06 by Christi Pyle (Hoover, Glendale) from 1978, and National Record 161-11 by Helene Connell (Jackson, NJ) from 1977!