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1982 California High School Cross
Country Season 1982 California HS Cross Country The ‘good new days’ 1982! That Fall Cross Country season 25 years ago came during a time of great momentum in California prep distance running. The spring previous Polly Plumer (University, Irvine) set the still standing prep mile standard of 4:35.26, Harold Kuphaldt (Bella Vista) had led the nation previously outdoors at two miles with returnee Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) the nation’s top athlete back, and juniors Jim Ortiz (Barstow) and Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena) the nation’s top tenth grade eight lappers at under 9:05 the previous spring. Kuphaldt was the runner-up in the 1981 Kinney National Cross Country Champions, Jay Marden (Mission San Jose) was the 1980 champ, with Vickie Cook (Alemany, Mission Hills) finishing off a great prep career in cross-country and track the previous June. This ground swell had started in the mid 1970's with Richard Kimball (De la Salle, Concord), Eric Hulst (Laguna Beach), Thom Hunt (Patrick Henry, San Diego), and Ralph Serna (Loara, Anaheim) on the male side, with the female start to CIF sports in the 1970's adding Cheri Williams (Livermore), Plumer, Cook, and others to what would be an eventually super history on that side of the sport. Back before the state meet in Cross Country the Northern
half of the state, from the Central Section north, came together
for an end of season Championship
competition, with the 1981 Boys’ title
taken by Leigh of San Jose, with Saratoga second, and Los Gatos
showing the CCS power with a third place finish. Harold Kuphaldt,
who was second in the Kinney National Championships in 1981 was
the Nor Cal Individual winner. Terra Linda (San Rafael) took the
Girls’ title,
with St. Francis (Mountain View) and Redwood (Larkspur) the next
two finishing squads, as Lori Shanoff (Petaluma) took the individual
race. A season-ending Statewide ranking in the sport, done by yours
truly and Harold Willman, had the state’s best ranked as
follows: 1982 would turn out to be a very good year. The Golden State would provide one of the two Kinney National Individual Champions in the sport, with a third place on the other half of the affair, with the state’s eventually top ranked Girls’ squad continuing its schools’ super recent tradition and the Central Coast Section showing power as its top Boys squad was the state’s top ranked team at the end of the fall campaign.
There was not nearly the intersectional competition before the days of the state meet meet (1987 and thereafter), with Stanford an early October gathering of some of the state’s best. Jason Flamm (La Sierra, Carmichael) had the day’s top Boys clocking with his 15:24 win over George Yuster (Brentwood, LA) and his 15:29. El Modena, led by 1:52 800 runner Ruben Esparza, took the team title with 103 over Castro Valley’s 126. John Morse (Las Lomas) was 15:38 to win the Varsity “B” race. On the Girls side it was the Northern Section’s Denae Dunlap (Anderson) who won the Sweeps race at 18:38 over Joni Mooney (Vacaville) 18:40, with a strong Reno Girls group taking that side over Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach). Early quick action down south had Laura Cattivera (Mira Costa) setting a CR at Woodbridge at 17:41, Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena) racing the #2 clocking of 15:11 at the Kenny Staub Meet at La Crescenta Park behind famed Jeff Nelson (Burbank), who had the CR at 15:05. Mark Junkermann (Los Alamitos) had a number of Course Record runs in area meets, with Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) setting a 14:58 CR at the Royal Invite at Moorpark College.
Cory Schubert (Del Mar) blasted a 10:31.0 two mile on the track in a late October postal two mile competition at Los Gatos HS, with Nanette Garcia (Silver Creek) second at 10:39.7. St. Francis (Mountain View), led by Susan Brodie’s 11:07 in fourth, had the top team time of 57:37.8, a CCS record an 11:31.6 average for five. Orlando Biggs (Willow Glen, SJ) was 9:11.1 to take Grant Foster (Monte Vista, Cupertino) 9:12.3 in the Boys’ race, with Willow Glen racing the area’s third fastest ever as a team 47:32.8 (9:30.6 average for top five).
At the Mt. SAC Invitational in late October (29th and 30th that year) it was Course Record time on the Girls side, with Katie Dunsmuir (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) racing 17:25 in taking Tania Fischer (Chaminade, Canoga Park) 17:43 in the Individual Sweeps event, with Sandy Blakeslee (Vista) 17:46 in third. Laura Cattivera (Mira Costa) was 17:26 in winning the Team Sweeps race by fifty nine seconds, with the top two times here both under Polly Plumer’s 17:27 CR from 1981. Foothill (Santa Ana) took the Girls Sweeps event with 53 (94:59). Interestingly University of Irvine, a top team on the Girls’ side, ran their JV in the Team Sweeps event, as they continued a season where they had not put all their top runners together yet in an Invitational meet. On the Boys side at Mt. SAC a great group of individuals would battle, with Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) racing the course’s #2 clocking ever behind Jeff Nelson’s 14:32 CR with his 14:44 clocking, as Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena) was next at 14:53, with Jim Ortiz (Barstow) 14:56 in third. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) took the Men’s Sweeps event with 97 points (79:06 #6 All-Time Team Time). George Yuster (Brentwood, LA) had the Friday Smaller Schools top Boys time at 15:22, with Mar Vista (Imperial Beach) the top Boys team that day. Katie Manning (Louisville, Woodland Hills) was 18:09 in Friday Girls action, with Morro Bay the top team in that day’s top race. In Section action: The far Northern Section had top miler Jim Frey (Yreka) take the area title by 45 seconds at 15:11 with Las Plumas the team winners on that side. Denae Dunlap (Anderson) took the Girls individual title, with Enterprise the team winners. The Sac Joaquin Finals were a one-division race, with Jason Flamm (La Sierra, Carmichael) the first Boy ever under 15:00 on the Sierra College course in taking down Harold Kuphaldt’s CR to 14:50. Jesuit took the Sac Joaquin Finals as a team, with Brett Stauffer leading the squad, and future greats, frosh twins Eric and Marc Mastalir also top twenty finishers. Joni Mooney (Vacaville) took the Girls Sac Joaquin race at 17:50, also a CR, with El Dorado (Placerville) 74-84 winners over Del Oro (Loomis). Lowell swept the San Francisco titles that Fall, with Skyline of Oakland scoring 20 in each of their Section Finals Boys and Girls contests. North Coast Meet of Champs action that Fall had Livermore take the Boys title with 95 over Berkeley’s 122, with John Morse (Las Lomas,Walnut Creek) the individual champ at 16:15 at Coyote Hills Regional Park over soph Calvin Gaziano (Castro Valley), one of the most honored area runners before his career ended. Wendy Sihner (Miramonte, Orinda) took the Girls race at 19:10, with Piedmont (103) taking Miramonte (115) for that team title.
Central Coast Finals action at Crystal Springs (so nice to have the same course used forever and make times comparable through the decades) had some good running, with junior Matt Giusto (San Mateo), shockingly the Kinney National Champ the next 1983 season, winning over Mike Anderson (Carlmont, Belmont) 15:04-15:09. On the Boys side, Willow Glen was 56 to Leigh’s 78 from the very, very strong area. The Girls race had ninth grader Shannon Clark (Mountain View) in a great run in taking quick-starting Cory Schubert (Del Mar) 17:26-17:33, the winning time the #6 clocking ever on the Crystal Springs course up to that point in history (Schubert had run 17:23 earlier in the year #5 AT). Schubert would do some real damage after the section finals through the end of track season with Clark one of the nation’s top prep 1600 runners during her career. Central Section action had a fine underclass dominated Sanger team take the Boys Championship with 57 over Clovis 62 and Madera’s 71. Looked like only two Clovis Schools in those days, with West also showing up in the restuls. Chris Bahr (Mt. Whitney) was the individual Boys winner at Woodwad Park in a fine 15:04, the distance listed at 3 miles. The Girls ran two miles, with Lori Cook (Golden West, Visalia) the winner 11:50-11:53 over Lisa Lewis (Clovis), with Clovis 25 to take the Girls title over Bakersfield with 60.
Down south University (Irvine) had graduated the nation’s top group of prep female distance runners ever the year before, with National mile record setter Polly Plummer (4:35.26) leading a group that set a National Distance Medley Record that stood for eighteen years (11:44.53) and an all-time Mt. SAC team time Course Record of 92:25 (18:29 average on the old longer course). After a mid-year team time (different race) loss of by over nearly two minutes to Foothill (Santa Ana) in the Orange County Championships, the talented 1992 Uni Fall squad had its doubters. However, in the Section Meet the group put it together in a big way and Uni was 51 (93:33), to 83 for Foothill (95:00), with Kirsten O’Hara (Palos Verdes) the individual winner at 18:03 (at that time the 13th fastest ever on the old Mt. SAC course). Personal bests for Uni added up to 92:43 on the Mt. SAC course, so the 1982 version was not a huge drop-off from the 1981 squad. Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) faced a top group that included Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena) in the Boys 4A division, with Reynolds moving strongly during the second half of the event to the #2 time ever on the old course at 14:39, with Gutierrez edging Mark Junkermann (Los Alamitos) with both at 14:58 for second and third. A great Boys Large Schools Division 4A contest had El Modena come back from a second the previous week in their prelims heat to win at 67 (79:09 #6 time ever on course) over Mater Dei 78 (79:19), with Palos Verdes next at 87 (79:24) in a great team battle. Laura Cattivera (Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach) was the 3A Girls winner at 17:49 over Kathy Ebiner (Bishop Amat, La Puente) 17:59, that duo making eleven under 18:00 in the history of the course as of that date. Mira Costa took the Girls 3A title with 66 points (95:41). A great Boys 3A battle had Montebello 62 edge Barstow at 63 with the squads 79:52 and 79:11 respectively on the team time clock. Montebello’s Roy Nilsson and Barstow’s Don Braden were masterful peakers with their teams. Jim Ortiz (Barstow) won there at 15:04. The 2A Girls title went to Lompoc 86 (100:21), with Tania Fischer (Chaminade, Canoga Park) closing out her great career with a second consecutive 2A win at 17:32. Tania had a personal best at Mt. SAC at 17:29, and ended her prep career with the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 10th fastest individual clockings overall on the facility by the end of her senior season. Arroyo (El Monte) took the Boys 2A title with 61 (81:02), with 1:52 800 runner Brian Casey (Righetti, Santa Maria) a 15:33 winner. Morro Bay took the Girls 1A run over Bishop 55 (105:19) to 68 (106;46), with Lisa Garnett (Marymount) the individual winner at 18:47. The Boys 1A Division was typically owned by Sherman Indian (Riverside) in those days, with that group peaking in super style for the Finals, taking their sixth title in the last ten years with 69 (82:51). The Los Angeles section had Jose-Luis Garcia (Lincoln) take the title at Pierce College at 14:52, with eventual statewide great, soph Roman Gomez (Belmont) setting a tenth grade record there with his 14:59 in second, leading his squad to a win over San Pedro 56-72. Paul Bresnan (Kennedy, Granda Hills) was the Girls winner at 12:19 for two miles, with favorite Katie Dunsmuir (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) the victim of championship week bronchitis, placing second at 12:28 after a 12:01 in the Prelims a week previous. Chatsworth nipped Kennedy fo r the team title 100-103. In San Diego Aaron Ruud (Valhalla, El Cajon) was the day’s fastest at Morley Field, taking the 3A division, covering the 5000 meter course at 16:06, with Monte Vista (Spring Valley) the team winners over Valhalla 56-65. Matt Clayton (Mar Vista, Imperial Beach) took the 2A contest at 16:30, with Bonita Vista (Chula Vista) the team winners with 55. Pat Green (La Jolla) took the 1A win at 16:36, with El Camino (Oceanside) the team winners with 46. Sandy Blakeslee (Vista) was the day’s quickest on the Girls side, racing 13:28 for the shorter course run by that half of the meet, with Mt. Carmel (SD) 83-91 winners over Valhalla at that level. Sharon Lewis (San Pasqual) took the 2A contest to lead her squad to a 49 point total and win, with Jackie Frost (University City, SD) a 14:42 1A winner as Clairemont (SD), another of those eventually closed down California schools, taking the title with 55. In the big Northern California Championships at Sierra College on November 27th, it was Jim Frey (Yreka) who was the individual Boys winner racing 14:41 to better the CR of 14:51 from the Sac Joaquin section meet by La Sierra’s Jason Flamm. Flamm was 15:04 this day, with soph Calvin Gaziano (Castro Valley) third. Willow Glen (San Jose) continued to show the Central Coast power in this affair, winning with 44 as Orlando Biggs and Mike Livingston were fifth and sixth, with defending champs Leigh (San Jose) next at 114, and Sanger next at 116. Cory Schubert (Del Mar, San Jose) came back from her section loss to a big run here, 17:17 to mightily break the CR of 17:50 by Joni Mooney (Vacaville) at her section title meet. Shannon Clark (Mountain View) was second this week at 17:27, with Nanette Garcia (Silver Creek, San Jose), a part of the great San Jose Cindergals program, third. St. Francis (Mountain View) made it a CCS Team sweep with their 82 points to win, with Piedmont net at 119 and El Dorado (Placerville) 123. After the Kinney Regionals a state team ranking was done by the
author and Howard Willman. Girls: A nice balance to the teams from around the State on the Boys side, with Orange County continuing to be particularly tough on the Ladies. Willow Glen had run 47:32.8 as a postal team time for five running two miles added up, a fine 9:30.6 average for their scorers on the oval. Interesting comment on our rankings in the “pre-state meet” days, as we put in the first paragraph, “there is not enough intersection competition,” and with things for most ending at the Section level, what reason was there for it. The sport has become so much more exciting with the season-long sense of how different teams are doing in all the divisions north and south. The season continued in 1982 with the Kinney Regional run at Woodward Park in Fresno. Eric Reynolds set a Course Record with his 14:39 win there on the Boys side, with Jim Ortiz (Barstow), Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena), Jason Flamm (La Sierra, Sacramento), Mark Junkermann (Los Alamitos), and George Yuster (Brentwood, LA) also making the west team. Cory Schubert (Del Mar, SJ) set a Course Record also with her Girls win at 17:15, with Laura Cattivera (Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach), Kathy Ebiner (Bishop Amat, La Puente), Tania Fischer (Chaminade, Canoga Park), Nanette Garcia (Silver Creek, SJ), and Sandy Blakeslee (Vista) also making the West team for the Nationals, that year in Orlando, Florida.
The 1982 Kinney Nationals course was an interesting one, a hastily laid out looping course near the meet headquarters hotel. National Meet Coordinator Max Mayo from Georgia, who has been with the Kinney/Foot Locker series about since its start still considers the winning clocking of 14:35 by Eric Reynolds from Camarillo there one of the handful of very top performances in Kinney/Foot Locker history. Max indicated that the footing for the National Finals run was one where no two or three footfalls were on the same level, with Mayo staggered with Reynolds’ fourteen second margin of victory at the meet. Jesus Gutierrez was seventh, Junkermann tenth, Flamm 22nd, Ortiz 25th, and Yuster 29th at the Finals meet, with the Western squad second with 49 to the Northeast’s 29 winning total. On the Girls side, it was Christine Curtin (New York), a 4:43.5 miler as a prep later that year, who was the winner at 16:58, with Cory Schubert third at 17:04, Laura Cattivera 6th, Kathy Ebiner 15th, Nanette Garcia 16th, Sandy Blakeslee 17th, and Tania Fischer 22nd, with the West squad again second to the Northeast’s 25 with a 57 point total. Tune Back as we go through 15 years ago 1992 next and the rest of the picture ID's |
