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1992 - Fifteen Years Ago
The late 1980's and early 1990's were great times for California HS distance running. The nation’s top ranked Boys (Hart, Newhall) and Girls (Agoura) teams from 1991 in the entire nation returned just about all their key scorers, with Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) and Ryan Wilson (Agoura) back from the Kinney Nationals for the Boys. Carrie Garritson (Sunny Hills, Fullerton), Maribella Aparicio (Fillmore), Christina Blackmer (Upland), and Milena Glusac (Fallbrook) were Golden State athletes who had participated in the 1991 National Finals in San Diego in the Kinney competition who returned for 1992. Back in those days you were able to move up in divisions if you wished from some areas, with Agoura’s Girls, a Division II school assumed to be moving up to DI for the Championship season with a top trio in Kay Nekota, the current Vacaville Coach, Amy Skieresz, and Kristie Camp all among the top eleven in the State the previous Fall. Peninsula (Rolling Hills), the combo of Miraleste-Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills HS’s from that district a year previous, and Mt. Carmel were next ranked Division I previous to the 1992 Fall. The Edison Girls were ranked #6 nationally in 1991, but lost famed Shelley Taylor and Coach Stan Stauble, with the Fromosa twins, Jennifer and Jeannie (current Girls Coach at Edison) leading a strong DII power. San Pasqual was #10 in the nation in 1991, and Coach Wil Wester resigned, but the team had a ton of talent. El Modena (Orange) was the top-ranked Division IIII team statewide prior to the 1992 season, with area rivals Nordhoff (Ojai) and Fillmore, led by star Maribella Aparicio, expected to battle in the Girls Division IV that season. On the Boys’ side the state could measure themselves against the best, with Coach Gene Blankenship, who soon after moved to Washington, having the nation’s top ranked team from 1991, with five from 15:24 through 16:19 back at Woodward Park. Blankenship’s teams were really tough, with the one-armed Blankenship one of the all-time great motivators around, with the 1991 squad scoring 43 points at State. De la Salle (Concord), led by Mike Prindiville, always solid Madera, Arroyo Grande, and Thousand Oaks looked tough DI. Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) was one of the nation’s best at 9:05.79 for 3200m in track and the #2 returnee from the Kinney Nationals. Agoura’s Boys were led by Ryan Wilson (4:12.77 1600) and top ranked Division II, with Newport Harbor (Newport Beach) slightly ahead of the Boys DIII pack in early ratings, with Jason Balkman (Lynbrook) 4:22 and 9:22 the previous year as a frosh in track. McFarland was top-ranked Statewide DIV on the Boys’ side in the preseason.
Early season action down South started with the big Woodbridge Invitational. The Agoura Girls’ group, ranked #1 nationally at that point in the season once again, had Amy Skieresz 17:05, Kay Nekota (17:38), and Kristie Camp (18:00) lead a 90:36 team time winners for the day with 26 points in their varsity race. Ryan Wilson (Agoura) led the Boys at 14:20 with Margarito Casillas (Hoover) 14:31 winning a different race. Mission Bay (San Diego) surprised with a 77:29 fastest team time of the day. Katella (Anaheim) was impressive, with Coach Dave Wilson showing a very solid group here that was 77:58, and Agoura was 78:13 for five added up. At the Mt. Carmel Invite (San Diego) Hart (Newhall), ranked #1 the season before in the US blazed a 79:23 team time, some 45 seconds faster than the 1991 National Champ crew had run for Hart, with Peninsula’s Girls, ranked #11 in the US at the time, taking the Girls overall title. Milena Glusac (Fallbrook) had the Girls’ quickest of day time of 16:44 on a reduced distance course there, with Nazario Romero (San Pasqual) 15:33 the fastest Boyt. German foreign exchange student Karen Bockel (Nordhoff) was winning by huge distances locally. At the Laguna Hills Invitational the Edison (Huntington Beach) Girls, ranked #7 nationally, were presssed by Corona del Mar (Newport Beach), with the duo 95:11 and 95:19 on the team time clock. Mission Bay was tough again on the Boys’ side at Laguna Hills, with five between 15:04 and 15:47 to win easily. The McFarland Boys tore up the Bell-Jeff Small Schools race in their annual trek south to Griffith Park. The De la Salle Boys, ranked as high as sixth in the nation during the preseason period, romped at the late September San Ramon Valley Invitational, led by winner Mike Prindiville 9:42 over two miles. DLS took four of the top five places individually. The Clovis Invitational at the Woodward Park State meet course in mid-September had Madera (90) nip Jesuit (91) in the Boys Varsity, with Aptos over Bishop Amat 107-143 in the Girls Large School race. Livermore took the Small School Boys contest, with south Pasadena the Girls Small School winners. Scott Cervelli (Santa Teresa, San Jose) was the day’s quickest at 15:40, with Jenny Mortensen (Redwood, Visalia) 19:28 the quickest Girl. The early October Stanford Invitational had Oregon power Bend, Oregon, travel down, with the Oregon school coached by Bob Latham, who had been at Palos Verdes HS for a number of years. Hart took apart the Boys DI race at Stanford, placing 3-4-5-6-20 for 38 points, with Bend next at 75. The Bend Girls, ranked second in the US for Latham, were 1-2-3-4 and 8 to dominate there, a stunning team performance. Jesuit (Sacramento) took the Boys DII, with Ocean View the Girls at that level. Corona del Mar was 49 to take the Girls DIII contest, with McFarland (Boys) and Nordhoff (Girls) taking the DIV races. The October Mariner Invitational had De la Salle (Boys) and Mt. Carmel (Girls) take the Large Schools titles. It turned out that year that the Garritson family, with Carrie and James at Sunny Hills HS, sought a transfer to Buena Park HS for the duo when father Mike felt there was a “gang element” at the Fullerton school. The Section did not allow the transfer athletically, so Carrie and James ran JV for the year.
Early October action in the South had Meb Keflezighi (San Diego) set a CR at the Dana Hills Invite with a 14:37 run. Katella (Anaheim), led by Mike Love’s 14:55 and Mike Moreno’s 14:55 had the day’s quickest Boys’ team time at 76:26, with Newport Harbor 77:00. Erica Sumi (Wilson, Long Beach) led the Girls at 17:22 for the day, with #15 ranked nationally Irvine a 91:54-92:06 team time winner over Edison (Huntington Beach). The Thousand Oaks Boys impressd with a strong 77:45 team time at the Fountain Valley Invitational. Amy Skieresz (Agoura) screeched a 17:30 CR at the Kenny Staub Invitational at La Crescenta Park for her reduced in force team (injury and test date), with Peninsula taking both the Boys and Girls titles there. Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) was 15:10 (#3 AT) to take the Boys individual title. The Orange County Championships marked a huge Girls show-down that year, with Coach Bill Sumner of CdM, previously only the Boys’ coach, having real success his first year with the Girls. Corona del Mar won the Team contest over highly ranked Edison (Huntington Beach) 62-87, with Katella 54-83 over Newport Harbor on the Boys’ side. Mike Love (Katella) took Jaime Martinez (Orange) 15:04-15:06 for the individual win. After a 1991 heat-wave at the Mt. SAC Invitational, 1992 was greeted by Friday rains, with the course quite wet for Saturday’s races. Girls Sweeps action would center around a race between Milena Glusac (Fallbrook) and Amy Skieresz (Agoura), with five teams ranked among the top twenty-three in the nation at the line on the Girls’ side (Agoura #1, Edison #6, Corona del Mar #11, Peninsula #14, and Irvine #23). Glusac raced away to a bit win over Skieresz in a Course Record 17:15, with the Fallbrook star afterwards indicating this year’s course was in much worse shape than the one she recorded a 17:18 the previous year on. She also instantaneously recovered a couple weeks previous from a stomach ailment that turned out was a reaction to iron supplements she had taken for some time. The Girls’ team contest was a great one, with Peninsula scoring 90, Edison 102, Agoura 108, with Corona del Mar 112. It turned out Peninsula would actually have had a lot less points, but one runner entered the wrong chute and was not allowed to go back to the correct one, and top ranked Agoura still bothered by injury and recovery from same. On the Boys’ side Hart would compete without Gavin Klinger, but they were deep. The Sweeps contest featured many of the state’s best, with Katella from Orange County, a surprising Peninsula squad, Jesuit, Madera, and a building power from the Ventura County area, Thousand Oaks, all here. Up front Ryan Wilson, a 4:12.77 1600 star, would race away to a 15:03 win, with Eric Dunn of Arroyo Grande next at 15:21. The team contest was a real dog-fight, with Thousand Oaks, a surprising winner with 98 points (79:38 amazing for the conditions), Madera 114 (80:19), Katella 121 (80:12), and Hart 133 (80:48). Four of TO’s top five (Brandon Del Campo, Chadd Aldrich, Jeff Fischer, and Kevin Marsden) were underclass, with the last two sophs, as Coach Jack Farrell launched his program to the top. Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) took the Individual Sweeps contest at 15:11 over San Pasqual of Escondido’s Nazario Romero at 15:14. Merced’s Grace Durnell took the Girls Individual Sweeps race at 18:20. Friday's Mt. SAC action had Maribella Aparicio (Fillmore) take the Girls Sweeps race at 17:46, with San Luis Obispo (Girls) and Nordhoff (Boys) taking the team contests. Roger Ciano (SLO) raced 16:00 for the top Boys Friday time. The State meet had four Divisions in those days, with deep interest through the Section meets as squads moved on to that level. In San Diego the team winners were on the Girls side: Division I Mt. Carmel (34 pts), II San Pasqual (79), III Our Lady of Peace (51), and Coronado (IV) 23 points. The Boys’ team winners were DI Mira Mesa (47), DII Mission Bay (44), DIII St. Augustine 42, and DIV Coronado 56. Sub 15:40 Boys clockings for the day came from DI winner Meb Keflezighi (San Diego) 15:34 to win DI and Nazario Romero (San Pasqual) DII winner at 15:37. Milena Glusac (Fallbrook) was the quickest Girl at the 2.45 mile distance with her 14:19, with Michelle Cox (Escondido) the only one also under 15:00 at 14:44.
Southern Section Boys’ action featured the big Hart-Thousand Oaks Division I race, with TO very tough in scoring 53 points (79:29) over Hart 104 (80:49), with Peninsula third at 113 (80:53). Katella (Anaheim) edged Agoura 79 (80:02) - 81 (79:56) in Division II, with Newport Harbor (66-81:41) another tight winner in Division III over San Marino 74 (81:42). Nordhoff had 67 (82:44) to win over Morro Bay 77 (82:52) Division IV. Ryan Wilson (Agoura) smoked a 14:54 DII win, with Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) 15:09 DI. On the Girls’ side Peninsula had moved up to a #2 ranking in the country, with Agoura #5. Agoura had everyone back from injury and recovery from same this day, with Amy Skieresz racing away to a soph Course Record 17:24 wini in leading Agoura to a 42 (93:02) - 56 (95:18) win over Peninsula. Agoura’s effort was a cooker and the Chargers appeared capable of challenging as best in the country (Bend, Oregon had that honor at that time of the year). Girls DII Ocean View (Huntington Beach) was a 47 (96:29)-48(96:12) win over district rival Edison. #11 ranked nationally Corona del Mar took DIII with 46 (97:04), as Nordhoff marked two wins on the day with a 39 point total (99:43) to take the Girls DIV . Maribella Aparicio (Fillmore) was a quick 17:32 to win the Girls DIV, with Mayra Medina (Laguna Hills) 18:16 DIII. Belmont marked a sweep that year in the LA City action, with the Boys 50 and Girls 19, as Jorge Perea (Huntington Park) 15:30 and Trejo (Belmont) 18:37 took the individual titles. Madera’s Boys scored only 19 in taking the Central Section Division I title, with North (Bak) DII, Lemoore DIII, and McFarland 31 in winning the Boys DIV title. Chavez of Madera was the quickest at the D I-III athletes Meet at Hart Park with his 14:54 DI win, as Ricardo Brewer (North, Bak) was 14:46 at Avocado Lake for the DII-IV athletes. On the Girls’ side, Clovis West (46) took the Girls DI title, with North making it a sweep with their Girls DII win, as Yosemite GDIII, and McFarland added a second win on the Girls DIV side. Dawson of Hoover led DI-III action with her 18:00 win, and Jenny Mortensen (Redwood) was the DII-IV site’s quickest at 18:12.
Soph Jason Balkman (Lynbrook, SJ) at 15:10 at Crystal Springs was the CCS’s quickest in their Finals in winning Division III, with Scott Cervelli (Santa Teresa) 15:23 to wind DI in the day’s next fastest. Overfelt (DI), Fremont (DII), Los Gatos (DIII), and Half Moon Bay (DIV) were the Boys team winners, with Santa Teresa over Overfelt on the sixth runner rule Girls DI. Los Gatos (GDII), Aptos (GDIII), and Presentation (GDIV) were other team winners. Donatilla Torrens (St. Francis, Mountain View) was a quick 17:46 in taking the Girls DIII run. North Coast Boys action was led by the fine De la Salle group, who totalled 22 points (86:14) at Mills College in winning the Boys Division I race, with Montgomery (BDII), Livermore (BDIII), and Fortuna (BDIV) other team winners. James Logan (GDI), San Ramon Valley (GDII), Bishop O’Dowd (GDIII), and Ursuline (GDIV) were the Girls team champs. Miesha Marzell (Bishop O'Dowd) would be the day's quickest Girl at 19:16. Sac Joaquin Boys DI action had Del Campo 58-60 over Merced, with Brian Wilkinson (Merced) a 15:14 individual winner. Jesuit was a low 29 point winner Boys DII with a 79:39 team time as first placer Matt Farley 15:23 led Jesuit to the win. Sonora (62-BDIII), and Calaveras (46-BDIV) were other Boys winners. Del Campo made it a sweep, by taking the Girls DI contest, with Merced’s Grace Durnell the 18:09 winner. Davis was 60 to win the Girls DII race, with Del Oro the Girls DIII winner, and Dixon the DIV Champs. Anikai Webb (Bear River) was 18:17 to win the Girls DIV race. Lowell swept the San Francisco Section races behind individual champs Jeremy Osterloh and Logan Hiroshima. Skyline took both Oakland section runs, with Deonte McClendon and Anna Rensi from that program the individual winners. Way up north Aaron Gillen would start a fine career for Yreka HS while winning the Section title as just a ninth grader, with his Division IV squad the Section Champs 69-70 over Shasta. Valy Boulom (Chico) was the area Girls Champ as State Division IV power Lassen (Susanville) won the overall Section team title.
The State meet was a very exciting one, with as many Nationally ranked squads in attendance. Hart returned the favor to Thousand Oaks for their win there from the Section run in the Boys Division I race with a 53-80 win over the area rival, with Hart an excellent 79:29 as a team. Margarito Casillas (Hoover, Glendale) was a 15:03-15:12 winner over Upland’s Jim Cera there. Agoura took the Girls DI race 75-109 over Irvine, with Milena Glusac racing to the second fastest race ever in the State Meet with her 17:14 win there over Agoura’s Amy Skieresz at 17:42. Mission Bay, ranked #11 in the US, took the Boys Division II race 93 (80:41)-100 (80:26) over Agoura, with Ryan Wilson (Agoura) 15:13 the winner over Ricardo Brewer (North, Bakersfield) 15:20. Ocean View (Huntington Beach) really put together a fine race in the Girls DII finals to win with 52 (96:50) over San Pasqual’s 100 (99:36) and Edison, Ocean View’s cross down rival, who had 111. Michele Cox (Escondido) won there at 18:26. The Division III Boys race had soph legend add to his history with a State title at 15:38, as Newport Harbor, with a repeat of its Southern Section duel with San Marino, a 89 (82:13) -94 (82:23) winner. Popular Newport Coach Bim Berry eventually went overseas to teach and we have not heard from him, with San Marino Coach Phil Ryan a variety of injury and health problems to team members that 1992 season before their fine close. Coach Bill Sumner of Corona del Mar had a fine start to his coaching of the young ladies, with a Division III victory over Orange County rival Laguna Hills 66 (96:52) -84 (97:20). Bishop O’Dowd, third as a team, had Miesha Marzell 18:02 win over Domatilla Torrens (St. Francis, Mountain View) 18:12. McFarland added to their school’s amazing history in the sport with a Boys Division IV win over Nordhoff 63 (82:47) -79 (82:39), with Steve Brown (Piedmont) a 15:48 winner. Nordhoff took home two second place plaques, with the Girls nipped by Lassen (Susanville), with Coach Bob Wall of Lassen one of the State’s best for a number of years. Nordhoff’s Karen Bockel did take a win home as an individual, with an 18:12 win over Anikai Webb (Bear Valley) 18:24.
The Foot Locker West Regional, at Woodward Park in those days, had a big California slant, with Milena Glusac getting ready to head home to San Diego with her 17:11 win that had her win by sixteen seconds over Amy Skieresz (Agoura) 17:27, with Carrie Garritson third at 17:46. Garritson had been ruled ineligible after a switch from Sunny Hills to Buena Park HS during the school year, so she did not show up in regular season results. Karen Bockel (Nordhoff) was seventh at 18:12, with Anikai Webb (Bear River) just outleaned for the eighth place final qualifying spot with her 18:13 in ninth. Arizonans Theo and Tim Martin, from the fine program at Page HS went 1-2 on the Boys’ side, with Jim Cera (Upland) fourth at 15:13, Mike Love (Katella) doing a fine job in fifth, and first year runner Jaime Martinez (Orange) also moving to the National Finals with a seventh at 15:14. Margarito Casillas of Hoover, the defending Regional Champ, ended 48th, with Ryan Wilson (Agoura), another National returnee not finishing the qualifying event this date. The 1992 National Kinney (now Foot Locker) Finals had a local star in San Diego with Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac one of the big favorites. The presence of a local capable of a high placing always brings out the huge crowd, with the very popular Milena thousands here to support her. She ended up second in the race, four seconds behind winner Amanda White (Maryland) 17:34-17:38 d race. White was a great all-around athlete, the daughter of Pro Footballer Stan White, and she was also a top swimmer, and competed in that sport in addition to running at Stanford. Glusac started High School as a fine tennis player before she switched to running. Amy Skieresz of Agoura ended up third at 17:42, with Carrie Garritson 19th, and Karen Bockel 26th. Brendan Heffernan of New Jersey was the Boys’ winner in that 1992 Kinney National Finals run at 15:13, with Jaime Martinez (Orange) tenth, Jim Cera 18th, and Mike Love 26th. Sorry we did not get to this earlier, but we asked for some picture ID's on 1992 and 1982 athletes a while ago, then had some health issues and computer crash and all. Very impressive to us when Brian Butler was able to nail every single one of the picture ID's from our page! Wow! We will do more of that during the spring track season, with not so many to ID, but go back in history a few times and take a look at those from the past. Our 1982 History Story is here. Thanks Brian Butler for the ID's - his list is below and the pictures are here. |
