Mt. SAC Invitational - A History - 15 years ago - 1988

Kira Jorgensen (Rancho Buena Vista) was the scourge of Cross-Country courses nationally in the late 1980's - Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks) another of Coach Jack Farrell's greats down through the years - Karen Hecox (South Hills, West Covina) the nation's top returning 3200 star for the 1988-89 school year! - Kevin Holbrook (Vacaville) Coach Mike Larsen's latest star was one of the highlighters of the 1988 Mt. SAC Invite

Ashley Black led the nation's top team, Palos Verdes, in the 1988 season (Bill Leung photo)

Mt. SAC Invitational - 15 years ago - 1988

The 1988 Mt. SAC Invitational was another with some great competition and fine times. With the California State Cross-Country Meet finally started in 1987 there was certainly a “statewide” sense to the sport during the entire year by 1988, with the Invitational weekend with its different divisions developing into a preview of the action in Fresno a month later. There were three divisions at State back in those early days of that competition.

Friday’s action at Mt. SAC featured the defending State Div III Champs on the Boys’ side, McFarland from the Central Section, and Maranatha (Sierra Madre), on the Girls’. Whittier Christian’s Tony Bergman took the Boys Div III Sweeps on Friday at 16:16, with McFarland led by third placer Johnny Samaniego (3rd 16:40) on the way to a 61 point total (85:30) to win comfortably over St. Anthony (Long Beach) and the pack. The Maranatha Girls took their half of the Friday Sweeps action with 61 (107:12) - 84 (St. Joseph (SM) and 124 (112:19) McFarland. Karen Hecox (South Hills, West Covina), who was the leading returning two miler in the entire nation from the year previous with a 10:16 3200m best, cruised to an 18:37 Friday Individual Sweeps win over Serrano (Phelan) star Tanya Thayer (19:27). Hecox went on to win an NCAA 3000m championship at UCLA and is married to 1600 star Coley Candaele (Carpinteria/CP SLO), with Coley in the Murrieta area as a coach after a few years at Carp in that capacity. Gary Stolz (Miraleste, Palos Verdes) raced 16:11 in Friday’s Individual Sweeps with South Pasaena 55 (85:54) the team winner there, with Stolz moving on to Stanford and the Open Olympic level later with some real success.

Saturday action featured the best Boys team from the rest of the US, Christian Brothers HS of Lincroft, New Jersey, who came to challenge the Mt. SAC Hills and California’s top groups. Coach Tom Heath had his east coast group led by three sub-4:20 mile stars, and they would prove worth their salt on the tough course here. On the individual side of that race it would be Bryan Dameworth (Agoura), Louie Quintana (Arroyo Grande) (both of whom would be national prep champs before they were through), Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks), and fine soph Dave Hartman (Canyon, CC - today the Texas A&M Cross-Country Coach), who broke away from that Team Sweeps race pack early. Damewroth and Quintana took the lead during the switchback loop a bit. The CBA crew from New Jersey appeared to have a narrow lead over Camarillo and Corona del Mar as the team race came off the switchbacks on to the airstrip, with John Coyle from the Jersey group and Mike Williamson moving up to challenge for the individual lead during the tough final mile. Williamson moved ahead over the final Reservoir Hill, and despite Coyle’s strong run off that segment an onto the airstrip and into the finish, the TO star Williamson was the winner at 15:01 (=#8 AT), with Coyle 15:03 (=#21 AT), with Dameworth next at 15:11 and Eddie Lavelle (Corona del Mar) 15:13 in 4th. Christian Brothers ran in dark blue uniforms, and they appeared to be the team winners with their top five inside the top 30. The CBA group totalled 96 (79:28), with Camarillo 124 (80:07), Poway 131 (80:37), and Corona del Mar 145 (80:33) next in the very competitive struggle. The New Jersey group indicated that their state meet course featured hills as tough or tougher than Mt. SAC, so they felt ready for the challenge local venue here.

The Boys’ Individual Sweeps also had a fine group! A relatively pedestrian 4:55 first mile had a ton of folks along up front, with Jim Rodriguez (Santa Ana Valley) and Scott Hempel (Walnut) narrow leaders and Kevin Holbrook (Vacaville) third as the group headed up the switchbacks. That threesome battled the entire final two miles together, with Holbrook racing madly down off the final Reservoir Hill to lead by 15 yards with the last flat quarter mile to go on the airstrip. Coach Mike Larsen’s latest Vacaville star, Holbrook, ended the winner at a fine 15:01 (top 20 all-time), with Rodriguez 15:10, and Hempel 15:20. It had developed that the Mt. SAC Sweeps winners immediately became favorites for divisional state titles in late November in Fresno!

The Girls team sweeps featured the nation’s top team, with Palos Verdes, under Coach Joe Kelly, dominating local action recently, as they did this contest. With Ashley Black (1st 18:18), Lori Lucas (2nd 18:35), and Maya Muneno (3rd 18:35), PV scored 22 points in taking the rest of the field put together on the way to a 94:03 team time, besting the 94:12 run by their 1987 team here, again a group judged #1 in the Nation at the end of the year! Agoura had Tiffany York (4th 18;51) and Deena Drossin (5th 18:56) near the front of that Team Sweeps event, with Drossin her first race for the season after injury problems.

The Girls' Individual Sweeps this day was taken by the nation’s hottest prep, with Kira Jorgensen (Rancho Buena Vista) qualifying for the National Prep Finals in the sport her frosh, soph, and junior (1987) years, and she was the national champ over the Balboa Park course in 87. With a twenty yard lead after an 880 over Lucinda Reyes (Lakewood) and Jamie Park (Santa Barbara), Jorgensen waved “bye-bye” to the pack here, racing away to a 60 yard lead at 5:20 for the first mile, with Park leading the pack in chase. The impressive RBV star continued to romp away to a 17:32 clocking (she had run 17:27 to win here in 1987), with Park the race of her life with a 17:48 (#17 AT) in second. Jorgensen would meet some frustration in her quest for a second consecutive national individual title, with that a story a few weeks down the road in this series coming up.

With a state meet in place by 1988 the sport was really ready to take off, with the different areas of the state having their strengths in the different divisions, and that competition gradually developing gradually into a five level competition to balance the different groupings. The nice progression from the Mt. SAC to Section competitions, then on to the State meet for individuals and teams, then on to the National individual series that ended in mid-December in San Diego at Balboa Park really gave the sport a nice local complete feel.