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Fifteen Years ago at Section Finals
Competitions - This Week in 1988
Beth Bartholomew (Fremont, Sunnyvale)
and Ashley Black (Palos Verdes) - two of the state's best a decade and
a half ago!!
Super soph Louie Quintana
(Arroyo Grande) and Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks) two Southern Section
Stars of the late 1980's!!
By 1988 the State Cross-Country scene had changed a great deal, with
the California State meet, three divisions at its start, in its second
year, and a great close to the Golden State season. Most Section meets,
covered below, had switched to multiple divisions to have teams move on
to that state competition, with the season having a nice close. The different
divisions had a great deal to do with the development of teams at all
levels, with the number of teams moving on to the state meet helping the
sport attract athletes, as there are not that many other statewide championship
team sports, making a glamorous situation for many coaches as they talk
to potential athletes at their schools. The Kinney series was going on
almost a decade, with the Regionals in Fresno, and Finals in San Diego,
giving more luster to the State “end of fall season” glory.
Ah, yes we will never forget those two consecutive weekends of drives
to Fresno (State meet, then the next weekend the Kinney Regional), with
the fears of “Valley Fog” putting the absolute concern of
death for folks whose existence was occasionally interrupted only by the
temperature gauge occasionally slipping under 70 degrees. Man, we used
to drive like crazy to get past Bakersfield and out of the valley before
dark on those Saturday State and Kinney Regional weekends before the “fog”
might roll in!!! The smell of fireplaces 24 hours a day as you drove all
throughout Fresno in those days was interesting for someone from a place
where the thermostat switch had natural gas power your home’s heater,
with it kind of strange sometimes to drive around Fresno and never see
those bank thermometer devices get above 50 degrees (geez!) at any time
of the day or night. So much for reminiscing-----------------
San Diego
–Somehow the San Diego Section results did not see the light of
day outside of local papers that year, with State Div I Champion Kira
Jorgensen (Rancho Buena Vista) the top local runner in that area that
year. The Mt. Carmel Girls team finished eighth in State Division I that
season to seem like the top squad on that side. Frances O'Neill (San Pasqual,
Escondido) was 4th statewide at the Division I championship run, and would
later become an Olympic class steeplechaser in College. La Jolla was 5th
Girls Division II Statewide (there were only three divisions at the first
couple of state meets), with the Calvin Christian Boys 8th in the Boys
Division III State run that late Fall.
Southern
1988 - Mt. SAC - 60 yard short of 3 miles, whatever fraction that is (the
old course)
Boys -
Coach Tim Butler’s Dana Hills crew, the defending champs, came to
a super peak in the strong Division I contest, with the “family”
affair having Mike and Andrew Tansley, and Steve and Dan Neidnagel, the
latter running the popular skizzim.com web site of today with video’s
of the top California prep races, win over Camarillo 86 (79:22 #10 SS
team in history up to that point) - 90 (79:44), with Corona del Mar 106
(80:05). Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks) raced 15:02 for the individual
Div I win. Division II had latest Burbank star, Todd Lewis, race 15:13
for a win, with Rowland (Rowland Heights) with Coach Don Blair having
moved over here from La Salle (Pasadena) the team winners with a fine
80:05 team time and 50 points over Upland’s 90. A super Division
III individual race had Walnut’s Scott Hempel (the nation’s
top returning 3200 runner at 9:01.56), Bryan Dameworth (Agoura) 9:04.46
as a soph the previous spring for that distance, and Luis Quintana (Arroyo
Grande), a super sophomore. Both Dameworth and Quintana would win Kinney
national titles in the sport before they were through. Hempel won this
day at 15:06 to Dameworth’s 15:09, and Quintana’s 15:24. Arroyo
Grande 94 (81:49) nipped Walnut 99 (81:21) for the title. Division IV
had Coach Tom Colley replace famed Ken Taylor at Sherman Indian, who had
won 5 section titles since 1980, with the 1988 SI group peaking nicely
once again to win 74 (84:21) over Salesian 104 (86:28). Gary Stolz (Miraleste,
Palos Verdes), a school since closed down due to declining enrollment,
was the individual champ by over 30 seconds at 15:31, with Stolz going
on to a super career at Stanford and after.
Girls - Palos Verdes had been the nation’s #1 ranked squad of 1987,
and in 1988 they looked even better, with Jamie Park (Santa Barbara) the
Section winner at Mt. SAC Div I at 17:57 over Ashley Black (PV) 18:14,
with PV 32 (95:24) - 87 (99:50) over Newport Harbor for the team win at
that level. Coach Joe Kelly had taken the reins of the PV program from
Bob Latham, who had gone to Oregon, first at South Eugene, then at Bend,
where he built one of the nation’s top programs. Division II had
Reyna Cervantes (Montebello) take the individual title at 18:04 over Nicole
Robbins (Hesperia) 18:16, with Coach Larry Nugent of Norco, another “end
of season” magician, having his squad win the team title 70 (101:13)-71
(100:03) over Montebello. Nugent had helped to improve frosh Shamika Lowery,
the younger sister of team leader Persephone, from 23:00 in an early September
meet on the Mt. SAC course to 19:53 for 9th in the Divisional Finals!
Karen Hecox (South Hills, W. Covina) was the Div III winner at 17:57,
with Deena Drossin (Agoura), just back from injury, leading the Agoura
squad to a 58 (98:57) - 115 (103:17) win over Yucaipa. Maranatha (Sierra
Madre) dominated Girls Div IV with 37 points (104:40), with Tanya Thayer
(Serrano, Phelan), a famed age-grouper, taking her third consecutive Section
title at 19:00. The Section was very, very strong at this time, with four
females in the Section having qualified for the previous year for the
Kinney National Cross Country Finals, making them among the top eight
in the Western US, and top thirty-two nationally–Hecox, Drossin,
Cervantes, and Nicole Robbins (Hesperia).
Los Angeles
1988 - Pierce College
Boys - Belmont, with 32 points, was an easy winner behind indivdiual Champ
Carlos Lopez 16:45.
Girls - Wilson took the Girls title with 50 points behind Arcelia Gomez
(18:18 the individual champ).
Central
1988 - Woodward Park -3.1 miles
Boys - Three division meet. Madera, under famed Coach Dennis DeWitt, took
the Div I race with 45 (82:17) over Clovis West (Fresno) 93 (85:16), with
Madera going 1-2 with Carlos Sanchez (16:00) and Jose Santiago 16:12.
Juan Romero (Arvin) won Div II at 15:57 over Sanger’s Robert Cardenas
(16:08), with Golden West (Visalia) 55 (84:04) - 65 over Arvin (84:05).
McFarland killed Division III with 15 points behind Johnny Samaniego’s
thirty second win at 16:18.
Girls - Mary Ann Martinez (Foothill, Bak) took the individual title at
18:50, with Clovis West (Fr) 50 (99:57) - 62 (101:12) winners over Madera.
Porterville took Div II 68 (109:58), with Becky Petty (Golden West, Visalia)
19:54 the winner by 50 seconds. Division III had the McFarland girls winners
with 39-(104:53) over San Joaquin Memorial 54 (107:08), with Delia Diaz
(McFarland) 20:05 for the victory.
Central Coast
1988 - Crystal Springs - 2.9 miles
Boys - Bellarmine (San Jose), the area power under Coach Terry Ward, was
the Division I Champs 74-91 over Live Oak (Morgan Hill), with Cliff Pappadakis
(Oak Grove) 15:29 winner over Ricky Woods (Independence) 15:33. Los Gatos,
with Coach Willie Harmatz, was the Division II Champs 89-103 over Palo
Alto, with Andy Bupp 15:14 and Mike Brown (Gunn) 15:19 in second. The
York School (Monterey) was a 28-36 winner over Robert Luis Stevenson (Pebble
Beach) Div III, with Jeff Arnold (York) 16:30 the individual winner.
Girls - Fine 1600 star Beth Bartholomew (Fremont, Sunnyvale), who went
on to a fine career at UCLA, took the Girls Div I race at 18:22 over Noel
Crockett (Leland, SJ) 18:50, with Santa Teresa 70-78 over Leland in that
team contest. Los Gatos (Div II Girls) made it a school sweep at that
level, with 56 to Mitty’s 70, with Alva Dancel (Mills, Millbrae)
18:49-19:06 winner over Thea Roberts. Santa Catalina (Monterey) interestingly
was the only full Div III team entered (have a feeling small school running
has come a ways in this section!) with 15 points behind Rachel Lewis’s
fine 18:41 winner.
North Coast
1988 - Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park - 3 miles
Boys - Santa Rosa edged De la Salle (Concord) Boys Div I 57 (77:32) -
58 (78:16), with Donnie Nelson (Foothill, Pleasanton) 15:07-15:09 winner
over Jeremy Seven (DlS) Boys Div II had Piedmont (80;25) over Castro Valley
(80;40), with Eli Ricca (Arcata) 15:14 over Kevin Berkowitz (Hayward)
15:18. University (SF) took Div III over McKinleyville 64-96, with Matthew
Metzger (Uni) the 15:36 winner by forty seconds! Girls Div I had California
(San Ramon) 65 (97:58)-83 (98:43) winners over Granada (Livermore), with
Anne Wedum (San Leandro via Norway) 18:11 the winner with Michelle Ferguson
(Piner, SR) next at 18:27. Division II Champs were Redwood (Larkspur)
118 (100:09) over Northgate (Walnut Creek) 123 (100:45), with Jennie Dempsey
(Analy) 18:24 over Melanie Toler (Arcata) 18:39 for the individual title.
Uni City (SF) took the Small Schools race 36-39 over Fort Bragg behind
Amy McConnell 18:50.
Oakland
1988 - Lake Merritt - Oakland
Boys - Manuel Perez (Oakland) led his team to the title with 31 points
over Fremont with his individual victory.
Girls - Cindy Aguilera (Fremont) took the race, with her team winning
on the 6th runner rule when they and Oakland tied at 41 (with Skyline
close at 44).
San Francisco
1988 - Golden Gate park - 3.1 miles
Boys - Luke Lim (Lowell) led his team to an 18 point total win with a
19:26 win over Andy Chan (19:33).
Girls - Lowell had 28 here for th ewin, with Ramona Pena (Washington)
a 21:27 individual winner.
Sac Joaquin
1988 - Sierra College (Rocklin) 3 miles
Boys - Division I had Del Campo (Fair Oaks) 56 (81:39), under long-time
Coach Bob King, over Casa Roble 74 (82:55), with Coach Ernie Gomes’s
CR group another top team from the area early in the State meet history.
Kevin Holbrook (Vacaville) 15:08 took the individual title from teammate
Cory Davis 15:35 (Vacaville was third as a team with 92). Division II
had Jesuit with a very low 24 point total (80:28) with El Dorado (Placerville)
back at 82 (84:11). David Welch (Jesuit) was at 15:19 winner over Bob
Baca (Bear River, Grass Valley) 15:50. Riverbank, a Division III powerhouse
for a long time, was 50 (90:02) -51 (89:44) winners over Bret Harte (Altaville),
with Brian Singleton (BH) a 16:50 winner.
Girls - Vacaville had 27 (99:53) to take the Girls Div I team contest
over Bella Vista 50 (102:26), with Brooke Pritchard (Vacaville) winning
on that side for Coach Mike Larsen. Girls Division II had El Dorado (Placerville)
50 (104:11) -75 (107:47) winners over Sonora behind individual champ Eva
Belt (18:28), with Barbie Stillman (Placer) next at 18:41. The Bret Harte
(Altaville) girls made it a Division III sweep for their school with 18
points (101:37), with Amy Davidson (19:51) and Tanya Dooley, the latter
one of the nation’s top 400 runners in the low 53's, stretching
out to the cross-country distance for second at 20:04. Tanya went on to
a fine track career at Fresno State, and lived at the Fresno finish line
for a number of years after her prep careeer there as part of the the
great crew from that school who worked the bodies at that area in the
Championship meets in Woodward Park during her college years. Also one
of our favorite people in the sport as one of the nicest people you would
ever meet.
Northern
1988 - West Valley HS (Cottonwood) 3.1 miles
Boys - A competitive Boys team race had Shasta (Redding) Div I (statewide
enrollment division) 79 - 85 (Yreka Div 2) - Paradise 94 (Div 2) teamwise,
with Neil Haggard (Paradise) 15:56-Ron Ames (Yreka) 16:05, and Jeremy
Redding (Central Valley) 16:17 going 1-2-3.
Girls - Tina Gorbet (Lassen, Susanville), a Kinney National Finalist along
the way and the latest flash out of Coach Bob Wall’s program, was
the Girls’ champ at 18:41, with Nicole Teter (West Valley), currently
the nation’s top 800 star at the Olympic level, next at 19:24, with
Christy Olivera (WV) next at 19:37. Denise Wall, undoubtedly the latest
child of Coach Bob at Lassen, was fourth. West Valley (Div 2) had 57 for
the team win over Lassen’s 74 (Div 2), and Shasta’s (Div 1)
77.
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