Dick Tomlinson, assistant coach and in charge of weight events at Mount Miguel, was suspicious, so he got a long tape measure and began surveying.
Tomlinson said he discovered that the 440-yard oval track at his school was six feet short (two yards) of regulation distance.
The coach told Evening Tribune writer Bill Finley that he also learned that the El Capitan track was 10 feet short (3-plus yards) and that the Helix track while only a foot short, was off on the 220-yard distance on the curve. It came up 235 yards.
Tomlinson might have been reacting to Sweetwater coach Dave Ashley’s frustration.
The Red Devils’ oval, where County records had been set in long relay races, was reported as being anywhere from three to 14 feet (almost five yards) less than 440, according to Ashley. The most glaring example was when Armando Valencia stunned the track world with a 4:07.2 mile in the National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays at Sweetwater in 1967.
Valencia actually ran four laps and at least 12 yards less than a mile. Valencia, a fine runner, finished high school a year later but his career best, in his final race, was 4:08.8.
San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson, who also was boss of City Schools athletics, said all district tracks had been measured years before and were up to standard.
Not all marks were bogus and despite apparently legitimate times in races from the 440 to the two-mile, San Diego Section runners came up short in the state meet, not winning an individual championship for the third straight year, after winning one title in each of the section’s first six .
HORNETS LOSE DUAL MEET TITLE
Student complaints and campus unrest resulted in Lincoln’s being closed for several days in early April. A showdown dual meet with Crawford and other events eventually or declared no contest. The Colts won the league championship with a 5-0 record to Lincoln’s 4-0, which ended the Hornets’ streak of five straight titles dating to 1964.
4/18/69
Vincent Breddell ran the 100 in :09.8, 220 in :21.8 and teamed with Michael Cornell, Gary Downes, and Lloyd Ellis to win the 440-yard relay in :43.1 and Kearny outscored Crawford and Chula Vista, 69-56-24.
—Granite Hills’ 3:32.4 victory in the mile relay was the difference in the Eagles’ 68-67 win over Mount Miguel.
Daryl Guthridge’s 23-foot, 2-inch long jump usually would have been the day’s highlight, but that was reserved for Mount Miguel’s Steve Dougherty, who beat teammate Billy Joe Winchester with a 60-foot, 3-inch shot put.
—Jim Downs’ Vista Panthers came up short in a 60-57 loss to Escondido, whose Jon Cnossen, said Downs to Bill Center of the San Diego Union, turned in “the greatest performance I’ve ever seen by a high schooler.
“He picked up a point in the 440, won the mile, and then anchored their winning mile relay team. Heck, the mile isn’t even his race,” said Downs.
4/19/69
Fallbrook won varsity competition and the overall Sweepstakes trophy in the Laguna Beach Trophy meet.
The Warriors edged Brea-Olinda, 41-40, to the varsity title and used Class B and C points top Laguna Beach, 92-60, for the overall championship. San Marcos and Coronado tied for fourth in varsity competition with 37 points.
Top marks were the 2:00.2 880 by San Marcos’ John McFarland and the 15.3 high hurdles effort by Coronado’s Robert Mansueto.
4/25/69
A team of Stu Williams (4:29), Jon Freyer (4:32), Bob Brenner (4:28.8), and Chuck Dyer (4:22.4) covered the four-man, four-mile relay in a County record of 17:52.2 at the Mt. San Antonio Relays in Walnut.
The infrequent race bettered a Kearny mark of 17:58.4 at the San Diego Relays in 1967. Monte Vista finished second to Point Loma in 17:59.2.
Billy Joe Winchester heaved the discus 174 feet, 9 inches, breaking the school record of 172-8, set a month before by Mount Miguel teammate Steve Dougherty. Winchester also hurled the shot 60-9 ½. The Matadors won the Grossmont League dual meet, 72-64, over El Cajon Valley.
5/2/69
Marion Franklin tied a school record of :14.1 in the 120-yard high hurdles, won the 180 lows in :19.6, and ran a leg in the 440-yard relay as the Lincoln clocked :41.6., fastest time of the season in California.
The Hornets’ 75-43 win over San Diego included Charles Robertson’s :09.9 100, Charles Patterson’s, :22.2 220, and Clive Carrero’s :50.8 440.
San Diego’s Tori Meza won the 880 in 1:59.8 and Joe Herrington beat Michael Lee of Lincoln with a 54-3 shot put.
—El Cajon Valley’s Chris Woods long jumped 22 feet, ¾ inch, and skipped to 45-8 in the triple jump, third all-time in the County, behind Lucky Fleming’s 46-4 ¼ in 1967 and Bob Beckus’ 46-1 ¾ in 1938, in an 81-55 win versus Santana.
—Billy Joe Winchester and Mount Miguel teammate Steve Dougherty showed why they are 1-2 in the weights in the Matadors’ 76-60 win over Grossmont.
Winchester won the shot put at 61-8 and discus at 170-9 and Dougherty was second at 58-8 ½ and 170-5.
5/9/69
LEAGUE TRIALS
EASTERN LEAGUE, @BALBOA STADIUM
Mike Lee, a 210-pound linebacker for Lincoln in the fall and, until recently, most notably a 12-foot pole vaulter fin the spring, hurled the shot 56-9 ½ for an Eastern League record in trials at Balboa Stadium and broke the school record of 54-9 by Richard Howell in 1960.
Nate Harris of St. Augustine logged a :48.9 440, Charles Patterson of Lincoln a :09.8 100, Charles Robertson of Lincoln :09.9 and :22 in the 100 and 220, and Class B sprinter Bill Smith of Morse :09.9 in the 100.
WESTERN, @KEARNY
The wind blew and sprinters flew with Kearny Mesa breezes.
Vincent Breddell of the host Komets won heats in the 100 and 220 in :10 and wind-disallowed :21.2. Mission Bay’s Jim Koudelka tied 100 mark of :09.9 by Mission Bay’s Rick Tauber in 1965 but also with too much breeze, same as in Koudelka’s :21.6 220.
Bennie Martinez of Mission Bay ran the mile in 4:23.7, setting up a Friday duel with Clairemont’s David Harper, who eased to a 4:28.8 heat, slower than the 4:22.4 he logged several days before.
Madison qualified 20, Mission Bay 17, Kearny 16, Point Loma 14, Clairemont 8, University 5, and La Jolla 4.
5/13/69
GROSSMONT, @HELIX
Helix led all qualifiers with 29 and Art Evins of the Highlanders set a league record of :14.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles; teammate Rick Ely logged :19.8 in the 180 lows.
Mount Miguel, which qualified 16, got a double from Billy Joe Winchester, 61 feet, 2 inches in the shot put and 170-1 in the discus.
Granite Hills, which had 14 moving to the finals at Mount Miguel, had a triple winner in Daryl Guthridge, :10 in the 100, :22 in the 220, and 23-1 ½ in the long jump.
El Cajon Valley qualified 14, Monte Vista and Grossmont, 12 each; El Capitan 10, and Santana, 7.
AVOCADO, @SAN DIEGUITO
Blake Martinson of Vista long jumped 23 feet, 11 inches, to break the meet record of 22-6 1/2, set in 1967 by Ira Raibon of Oceanside, and moved Martinson ahead of the 23-3 ½ by James (Sporty) Willis of Oceanside for the San Diego Section lead.
Martinson also won his 100 and 220 heats in :10.2 and :23.
Lower division records were set by George Allen of Orange Glen, 60 feet ½ inch with the Class C eight-pound shot and Steve Magdaleno of Oceanside, 1:25 in the B 660.
METROPOLITAN, @CASTLE PARK
Mar Vista and Sweetwater each qualified 11. Chula Vista had 8, Bonita Vista and Hilltop 6 each, Coronado and Castle park 5 each.
The Mariners’ Valley Coleman ran the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.9 and the 180 lows in :20.
Sweetwater’s Jesse Davis raced the 220 on Castle Park’s gusty straightaway in :22.1 and teammate Steve Ruiz ran the B 220 in :21.8, better than the :22 meet record by Steve Adams of Grossmont in 1960.
5/16/69
LEAGUE FINALS
EASTERN, @BALBOA STADIUM
Lincoln ran away with the team championship with 89 points, but may have lost star middle-distance runner Milton Mitchell.
Mitchell, the area leader with a time of :48.4 in the 440 and with a best of 1:55.9 in the 880 as a sophomore, was leading. St. Augustine’s Nate Harris when Mitchell suddenly tied up about 15 yards from the finish.
Harris won in :48.9 and Mitchell staggered home second in :49.
Lincoln coach Darryl Nelson said Mitchell aggravated an abdominal muscle injury. “I don’t know how bad it is; we’ll just have to wait and see the next couple days,” Nelson said when asked how long he expected the Hornets’ runner to be sidelined.
Mitchell sustained the injury earlier in the season and had not run since April 5.
Lincoln won seven events in varsity competition and qualified 18 for the following week’s San Diego Section trials.
Charles Robertson and Marion Franklin were double winners for the Hornets, Robertson in :09.8 and :21.9 in the 100 and 220 and Franklin in :14.3 and :19.8 in the 180-yard low hurdles.
A 54-foot, 11 ¼-inch shot put win by Mike Lee was sandwiched around 440 and mile relay victories of :42.1 and 3:24.3.
Morse and Crawford were closest to Lincoln with 38 and 37 points respectively.
WESTERN, @KEARNY
Vincent Breddell led coach Jim Cerveny’s Kearny Komets to the team title with wins of :09.8 in the 100-yard dash :21.9 in the 220, and anchored a winning, :43.4 effort in the 440-yard relay.
Breddell avenged three earlier losses to Mission Bay’s Jim Koudelka, who was second in both sprints in :10 and :22.
Clairemont sophomore David Harper won the fastest mile of the season, 4:19.5, topping Mission Bay’s Bennie Martinez’ 4:20.5. Point Loma’s Chuck Dyer’s 9:29 two-mile also was an area best.
Five runners bettered two minutes in the 880, with Madison’s Pat McCallion leading the way at 1:55.8, another best mark of the season. Mission Bay’s Tom Lee was second in 1:57.
Kearny scored 80 points to the 50 by Mission Bay, which had tied the Komets for the dual-meet championship. Point Loma followed with 40 and Clairemont with 36.
AVOCADO, @VISTA
Oceanside’s Jerry Culp cleared 6 feet, 9 inches in the high jump, fourth highest in County history, but officially not his best. Culp cleared 6-10 in a dual meet at San Diego on March 7, but an over-zealous teammate accidentally knocked off the bar before the jump could be measured.
Blake Martinson of Vista was a triple winner, :10 in the 100, :22.4 in the 220, and 21-9 in the long jump.
METROPOLITAN, @MAR VISTA
Host Mar Vista outscored Sweetwater, 56-45, for the team championship and Valley Coleman set Mar Vista records of :14.8 in the high hurdles and :20 in the lows. The Mariners also set a meet record of 3:28.5 in the mile relay.
Hilltop (35), Chula Vista (30), Castle Park (21), Coronado (15), and Bonita Vista (12) followed in team scoring.
GROSSMONT, @MOUNT MIGUEL
Dick Tomlinson, the weight events coach at Mount Miguel, waxed almost reverently about Billy Joe Winchester, the 225-pound shot put and discus County leader:
“This guy has to be Superman. Tuesday he hurt his arm throwing the javelin. I don’t know what he was doing with the thing, but he can use it every week if this is what happens.”
Winchester increased his San Diego Section lead to 62-2 ¾ in the shot put and set a County record of 180 feet in the discus.
Winchester’s shot put was third best in area history, behind the 64-11 by San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock in 1968 and the 64-3 ½ by Granite Hills’ George Brown in 1967. Brian Wadlington of Granite Hills had held the discus record of 176-1 in ’67.
Winchester shared some props with Granite Hills’ Daryl Guthridge, who tripled with victories of :09.8 and :22.6 in the 100 and 220, 23-2 ¼ in the long jump, and anchored the Eagles’ :43.4 victory in the 440-yard relay.
Helix sophomore Ed Mendoza surprised by winning the two-mile in 9:36.5 over favored Dave Carter of Monte Vista. Landis Bender of El Cajon Valley vaulted 14 feet, 4 inches. Norm Lumpkin of Santana bettered the three-day old record in the 120 high hurdles with a time of :14.7.
Helix won the team title with 53 points to Granite Hills’ 51. Mount Miguel had 44, followed by El Cajon Valley, 32; Monte Vista, 28; El Capitan, 22; Santana, 22, and Grossmont, 7.
5/19/69
Art Evins of Helix ran :14.7 in the 120-yard high hurdles in a “runoff” at Helix to determine the third qualifier for the San Diego Section trials. Rick Ely of Helix was second and Mike Nielson of Monte Vista third.
5/22/69
SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
Billy Joe Winchester of Mount Miguel led nine qualifiers with a toss of 173 feet, 9 inches. Teammate Steve Dougherty reached 167-10, followed by Monte Vista’s Pat Foley at 165-10, more than 18 feet further than the next entrant.
El Cajon’s Richard Norkunas cleared 13-2 in the Class C pole vault finals, breaking the record of 12-2 by Grossmont’s Bob Lesh in 1966.
5/23/69
SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS
Lincoln, without injured 440 favorite Milton Mitchell, still advanced toward its seventh team championship in nine seasons, leading all qualifiers with 11, followed by Oceanside and Helix with 9 each.
Mitchell, who re-injured a groin muscle in the Eastern League 440, was limited to a lap on the Hornets’ mile relay squad after San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson, citing Section rules, declared Mitchell couldn’t be “byed” into the finals.
The Hornets, whose team was the ninth qualifier in the relay, hoped to get Mitchell for that event the following week.
Oceanside’s Jerry Culp set a meet record of 6-8 ½ in the high jump, a quarter-inch higher than what Morse’s Harold Greenwood cleared in 1966.
Culp’s performance was matched in the Class B 220 and C shot put. Morse’s Bill Smith’s :09.8 100 bettered the mark of :09.9 by Mike Turnipseed of Carlsbad in 1964 and Henry Shaw of Lincoln in 1965. Orange Glen’s George Allen set a record by hurling the eight-pound ball 61 feet, 2 ¼ inches, shattering the record of 57-3.
San Diego’s William Ricks was one of the leaders in the pole vault at 13 feet, 4 inches, breaking the school record that had stood since Bill Miller cleared 13-3 in 1929.
5/29/69
SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS
Lincoln scored 48 points and won the team championship, outdistancing Oceanside, 18; Helix, 14; Vista, 13; Mount Miguel, 11; St. Augustine and El Cajon Valley, 10 each, among the leaders.
The Hornets’ state-leading 440 relay ran :42.0, with Reese Jarrett replacing sore-legged Melvin Maxwell on the first handoff. The Hornets also prevailed in the mile relay in 3:19 as Milton Mitchell, out of the 440 because of an injury, anchored the victory.
Other winners for Lincoln were Marion Franklin, :14.4 and :19.6 in the high and low hurdles respectively; Charles Robertson, :09.8 in the 100 and Charles Patterson, :21.8 in the 220.
–Billy Joe Winchester was first in the discus with a 175-4 effort, bettering the 175-1 of Pat Foley in 1968. The Matadors junior also took the shot put at 59-11.
–Dave Carter of Monte Vista ran the sixth fastest two-mile in County history, 9:10.4 but was off the school record of 9:03.4 by Don Olsen in 1967.
–Pat McCallion of Madison won a competitive 880 in 1:54.2, followed by Vista’s Jerry Plunkett (1:54.7), Dave Ripley of Mount Miguel (1:55.6), Steve Gillean of Monte Vista (1:55.7), and Jon Cnossen of Escondido (1:56).
–Sophomore David Harper of Clairemont won the mile in 4:16.4, with Mission Bay’s Bennie Martinez (4:17.1) and Granite Hills’ Dale Horton (4:18.2) in pursuit. Helix’ Darryl Simmons (4:19.8) was the fourth runner to break 4:20.
6/6/69
51ST STATE TRACK TRIALS, @UCLA
A San Diego contingent of 30 qualifiers quickly dwindled to 10 in the Friday trials.
The Section was wiped out in every running event except the 440 relay, in which a Lincoln team of Marion Franklin, Reese Jarrett, Charles Patterson and Charles Robertson was tied for third overall in :41.9.
John Robbins of El Capitan qualified eighth at 58-8 ½ in the shot put and Mount Miguel’s Billy Joe Winchester 10th at 58-1 ¾.
Pat Foley of Monte Vista was a qualifying 12th at 158-9 in the discus. Winchester was 18th.
Jerry Culp of Oceanside and Dean Owens of El Cajon Valley were among 12 moving forward with 6-4 high jumps.
Blake Martinson of Vista moved on, ninth in the long jump at 22-9.
Landis Bender of El Cajon Valley was one of 12 who cleared 14 feet in the pole vault.
Ed Mendoza of Helix and Dave Carter of Monte Vista would run the two-mile the following day.
6/7/69
51ST STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, @UCLA
Lincoln was second in the 440 relay in :41.8, unusual in that it was not the Hornets’ best time (:41.6). They led until the final 15 yards when an Oakland Castlemont anchor passed Charles Robertson in a photo finish :41.8.
Jerry Culp of Oceanside was second in the high jump at 6-8, behind the 7-foot jump of Compton’s Reynaldo Brown, who was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team. Dean Owens of El Cajon Valley tied for sixth at 6-4.
John Robbins of El Capitan was fifth in the shot put at 58-8.
Helix’ Ed Mendoza was ninth in the two-mile in 9:13.6 and Dave Carter 12th in 9:19.8.
Rick, Great article on short tracks in 1969. Wonder how many records or best times were
affected. It wouldn’t have affected Lincoln’s vs Ragsdale in 1962 as he was in a class of his own in the sprints.
Good to hear from you, Smooth. All the best to you and Mrs. Paving. You came to Oceanside at a great time in its sports history.
Rick,
Liked your rundown of the Avocado League meet. It [1969] was my second year in Oceanside and I knew nothing about track. But having Jerry Culp around forced me to cover track and I fell in love with it.
I still have a piece of the crossbar Jerry gave to me after jumping 7-0 ¼ inches (I think) his senior year.
One other name struck me. Orange Glen’s George Allen. He went to high school with my wife, Diane, and we remain good friends today. His title now is Dr. George Allen, an anesthesiologist.
He was an outstanding wrestler at OG and then wrestled for Clemson.
A nice guy, he lives in Murrieta.
Kindest regards, Steve
Steve, at 89 I am still on this side of the grass. I have fond memories of our times together and teaching you about track techniques of which you were an avid student. I know we had a couple of disagreements but the good certainly outweighs the bad. The main one of which was the presidents decision not to hire any full time coaches Part time coaches have full time jobs which are the two most important aspects of coaching and recruiting . I decided to let it all go and retired far before I wanted to. I did enjoy my coaching hurdlers at RBV part time developing state hurdle finalists Let bygones be bygones.. Hi to Diane.
Tom Shields
Hi, Tom, good to hear from you, indirectly. I still think the ’68 O’side 440 relay and Ed Johnson and Larry Crayton in the hurdles would have battled for a state championship. All the best.
Why did Winchester perform so poorly at State.?
Were those track dimensions ever corrected.?
Winchester could have just had a bad day. He still had another year and would do better in 1970, when he was second in the shot put and the discus. I don’t know if those tracks were realigned. The Sweetwater coach, Dave Ashley, was a good guy. As I recall, he had the oval officially surveyed. I don’t know about the veracity of Tomlinson’s remarks. Thank for writing.