The season was outstanding, perhaps the best ever overall in San Diego, but the section was a legislative loser.

San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson made a request to the state CIF during a meeting in Berkeley the week of the state meet.

Clarkson asked that his section be allocated three berths in each event at future state meets.  The section was allowed one berth in 1961 and ’62 and that number was raised to two in 1963.

CIF officials said no. The bosses declared it was a matter of student enrollment, in which the San Diego Section lagged when compared to other sections, according to Clarkson.

Track and Field News’ Fran Errota provided an interesting observation after the meet, when he computed scoring on the percentage of each section’s entries.

The Southern Section, with five entries, scored 37.3 per cent of the points.  The Central Section, with three entries, scored 28.9 per cent.  The San Diego Section, with its two entries, was third with 23.3 points.

The locals outscored the Los Angeles City and North Coast sections, each with four entries, and the three-entry Central Coast and Sac-Joaquin sections.

It would be years later, in 1980, but San Diego eventually was granted three.  By the decade of 2010-19 the rule became three entries plus anyone who met a CIF-imposed standard for each event.

5/2/68

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson announced he had chosen the mile over the two-mile for the big, late-season meets and ran 4:14.6 in the shorter event as the Braves subdued Granite Hills, 90-46.

Davidson had set a state-leading mark of 9:02.2 in the two-mile at the Mt. San Antonio Invitational in Walnut on April 27.   “He’s got stars in his eyes for the mile and I know he’ll do a good job,” said Braves coach Joe Brooks.

Jim Cochran, Davidson’s teammate, upped his pole vault best to 14-8 ¼, close to the county record of 14-9 by El Capitan’s Andy Steben in 1965.

—Monte Vista’s Dave Carter won the mile in 4:22.8, but will move to the two-mile.

—Larry Gillham logged a 1:57.8 in the 880 and outran Monte Vista’s Steve Gillean’s 1:58.2, but Gillean and teammates scored a 70-66 win over Grossmont.  The Monarchs got a double win from shot putter-discus ace Pat Foley, who hurled the 12-pound ball 56 feet, ¾ inch and wafted the 3.9-ounce platter 163-4.

—Coach Ed Teagle’s Mar Vista Mariners, claimed the Metropolitan League dual-meet championship, 69-49, at Castle Park as Dan Helton put the shot 58-2 and teammate Wolfgang Weichert 57-2.

WESTERN LEAGUE TRIALS, @KEARNY.

Steve Becker’s 4:21.1 mile broke Thornton Bigley’s 1967 record of 4:22.1 and Becker and his Kearny teammates led qualifiers with 27.

Becker’s teammate Dennis Downes covered the 120-yard high hurdles on the Kearny track in :14.8, tying Dee Hayes’ 1965 standard. Downes also was first in a :20.4 180-yard low hurdles heat.

Komet Seneca Godwin doubled (:50.1 440 and 22 feet, 2 inches long jump).  Vincent Breddell won heats in the 100 and 220 (:10.1, :23.1).  Craig Campbell led shot putters with a toss of 54 feet. High jumper Bob Fulbright and vaulter Carl Geisser also tied for first in their events.

Clairemont’s Larry Castillo won an 880-yard run heat in 1:58 and Point Loma’s Rick Kaye took the other in 1:58.5.

EASTERN LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Marion Franklin was one of 20 Lincoln qualifiers and had the day’s best mark, :14.4 in the 120 high hurdles.  Hoover’s John Talbot and Lincoln’s Melvin Maxwell won 100 heats in :10.

5/7/68

AVOCADO LEAGUE TRIALS, @SAN DIEGUITO

“I had a hunch I was going to do something,” said San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock who had “been in a slump, but I had a pretty good practice last week and things were falling into place.”

Shmock was speaking with Evening Tribune reporter Bill (Biff) Weurding after setting a County record of 64 feet, 11 inches, in his home ring.  Shmock improved on his previous best of 63-3.

Oceanside’s Ed Johnson won his heat in the 120 high hurdles in :14.9 and led broad jumpers at 22-4. Johnson was recovering from a pulled muscle sustained in a 66-52 dual meet win over San Diego April 16.

(Three days earlier than the dual-meet victory, Johnson and Oceanside teammates Sporty Willis, Willie Buchanon, and Larry Crayton stunned Lincoln with sizzling :41.5 and 1:27.1 victories in the 440 and 880-yard relays, and Johnson won the high hurdles in :14.2 in the San Diego Relays).

GROSSMONT LEAGUE TRIALS, @EL CAJON VALLEY

Helix had 34 qualifiers to Grossmont’s 19.  El Cajon Valley and Mount Miguel followed with 17.  Best mark was the 174-3 discus throw by Monte Vista’s Pat Foley.

5/10/68

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS, @MAR VISTA

Mar Vista’s Ralph Lopez was named the outstanding performer after running the two-mile in 9:32.2 as Mar Vista ran away with the team title with 78 points to 34 for runner-up Castle Park.

“He weighs just 106 pounds,” Mariners coach Ed Teagle said of Lopez, “but he’s the guttiest kid I’ve ever had.”

Mar Vista shot putters Dan Helton and Wolfgang Weichert held sway, with Helton reaching a career high 58-5 ½ and Weichert heaving 56-8.

Chula Vista’s Randy McNabb broke 50 seconds for the first time, at :49.9 in the 440.

EASTERN LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln won its fourth consecutive team title with 84 points to San Diego’s 56, and the Hornets served notice to California with outstanding performances in the relays.

With Therlee Murphy anchoring in :47.2 the Hornets raced to a 3:17.4 clocking in the mile after Murphy finished a :41.7 440.

Sophomore Milton Mitchell, who won the 880 in 1:55.9, ran :49.2 on the first leg of the mile, followed by Clive Carrero (:51.4) and Albert Fennell (:49.8).

Long Beach Millikan (3:18.5) and Compton Centennial (3:18.9) were closest to the Hornets in the long race and Los Angeles Fremont, the presumed leader of the L.A. City Section, was disqualified in its league meet because of a lane violation.

Lincoln was sandwiched between Centennial (:41.3) and Los Angeles High (:41.9) in the short race, all seemingly headed for a showdown three weeks later in the state meet in Berkeley.

“I like our chances in the mile, but we’re going to get better in the 440, too,” said the Hornets’ first-year coach, Darryl Nelson.

Lincoln’s Doug Jones bettered defending champion Phillip Singleton with a 6-5 ½ high jump. The San Diego high jumper’s 6-4 wasn’t close to his career best of 6-9 ¼ in 1967.

Singleton’s teammate, James (Bouncy) Moore won the long jump at 24 feet.  Lincoln’s Herman Woods stunned teammates Marion Franklin and Doug Jones by winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.4.

Marion Franklin won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.6.  Therlee Murphy contributed to the Hornets seven first places by running :49.2 in the 440.

John Phillips and John Talbot made the 100-yard dash a 1-2 finish for Hoover, with Phillips winning in :09.8 and he repeated in the 220 in :22.1.  The Cardinals’ Lloyd (Brick) Burrows won the shot put at 55-1.

WESTERN LEAGUE FINALS, @KEARNY

Dennis Williams set a meet record of :09.9 in the 100, won the 220 in :22.5 and anchored the 440-yard relay team to a first-time-run, record :43 as Kearny scored 90 points and outdistanced Point Loma (41), Clairemont (39), and Madison (32).

The Komets’ Steve Becker improved on his mile record from the league trials, lowering the mark to 4:20.3; Craig Campbell put the shot 57-1 ¾, breaking the record of 56-4 by La Jolla’s Holland Seymore in 1963, Seneca Godwin’s 22-9 long jump topped Komet Bobby Johnson’s 22-7 ¼ in 1964.

GROSSMONT LEAGUE FINALS, @EL CAJON VALLEY

Bruce Ruff’s :10 and :22.1 victories in the 100 and 220, Tom Davidson’s record, 4:13.4 mile, and Jim Cochran’s record 14-7 ¼ pole vault, plus a 22-6 ½ long jump by Ron Gillilan were the difference as El Cajon Valley’s 68 points won the team championship over Helix, which had 63.

Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington won the discus at 173 feet, 8 ½ inches, and El Capitan’s John Robbins led shot putters with a 57-5 effort.  Helix’ Allen Stevenson anchored 440 (:43.2) and mile relay wins (3:25.6), and won the 440 in :49.9.  Teammate Roy Gayhart was a :14.9 winner in the 120 high hurdles.

PALOMAR LEAGUE FINALS, @SAN MARCOS.

San Marcos scored 91 points, Ramona 59, Ramona 22, and Army-Navy 21.

SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @CAMP PENDLETON

Cruzet of Borrego Springs, competing independently, won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.4.  San Diego Military won the team segment with 46 points.  La Jolla Country Day had 41, San Miguel School 38, and Julian 18.

AVOCADO LEAGUE FINALS, @SAN DIEGUITO

Ed Johnson was ailing, but Oceanside won the team championship with 70 points to Vista’s 59.

Johnson, state meet fourth-place finisher in the 180 low hurdles in 1967 at Grant High in Sacramento, and a champion Oceanside runner in the lower classes as a freshman and sophomore, injured his right leg, a second, disappointing setback for the talented senior.

Johnson still competed in four events, anchoring the Pirates to a :43.1 victory in the first-time-run 440 relay, winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.5, and was third in the 180-yard low hurdles and broad jump.

Whether Johnson would be recovered by the CIF Trials in one week was a question coach Tom Shields couldn’t answer.

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock won the shot put at 62-11 and Johnson’s teammate Larry Crayton was timed in :18.7 in the 180 lows, which would be a County record but disallowed. Timers, across the field, heard only the delayed report of the starter’s pistol and saw no smoke, from which they begin clocking.

5/16/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION DISCUS FINALS

Monte Vista’s Pat Foley fouled on five of his six attempts, but his first throw was good, Foley setting a CIF meet record of 175 feet, 1 inch, in his home ring.

Foley Bettered the 170-5 mark by Grossmont’s Richard Grise in 1964. Defending champion Brian Wadlington of Granite Hills, who had beaten Foley four times in five meetings this season, was second at 169-9.

Wadlington, who also qualified for the state meet in Berkeley, set the County record of 176-1 in 1967.

5/19/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln, seeking its sixth tile in the eight years of the section, qualified 14, tying Kearny.

Oceanside would send 12 to the following week’s finals but all-around star Ed Johnson, plagued by leg problems, qualified in the high hurdles in only :15.1 and did not make the finals in the 180-yard low hurdles, in which Johnson was fourth in the 1967 state meet.

Oceanside led Lincoln at the anchor exchange in the 440 relay, but Therlee Murphy caught Johnson and the Hornets won by four yards in :41.6, second fastest time in the state, to Oceanside’s :41.9.

Murphy came within one-tenth of tying the meet record of :48 in the 440 and also finished the mile relay as Lincoln qualified in an eased-up 3:19.3. Doug Jones ran :14.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

Among the casualties was Hoover’s John Phillips, the Eastern 200 champ at :09.8, disqualified after two false starts.

Best in the Class B was Oceanside high jumper Jerry Culp, who cleared 6-5 ½, bettering the mark of 6-5 by Doug Jones of Lincoln in 1966.

5/24/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln set meet records of :41.5 in the 440 and 3:16.8 in the mile relay and Doug Jones doubled, winning the 120 high hurdles in :14.3 and the high jump at 6-6 ¼.

But Oceanside, which trailed the Hornets, 45-33 in team scoring, had the evening’s top performer.

Larry Crayton won the 100 in :09.7, the 180-yard low hurdles in :18.9, and was second to James (Bouncy) Moore’s 24-2 ½ long jump at 23-1 ½.

“This should have been our year,” said Crayton to Bill (Biff) Weurding of the Evening Tribune.  “I’ve been waiting four years for this one.  I can’t stand to see the CIF go like this.  This is torture.”

Crayton’s pain was the pain of Ed Johnson, who was heavily taped but managed to bring Oceanside home second in the 440 relay.

“His injury cost us a first in the highs, a second in the lows, a third in the long jump, and probably a first in the 440 relay, “said Crayton.

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson won the mile in 4:09 and Jerry Culp upped his Class B high jump record to 6-6.

5/31/68

50TH STATE TRIALS, @EDWARDS FIELD, BERKELEY

Therlee Murphy’s :47.2 anchor lap saved Lincoln from disaster in the mile relay.  The Hornets had a qualifying time of 3:20.4, ninth fastest in the three heats, and they got another day.

Murphy took the baton in fifth place and ran down two runners to claim the qualifier.

Lincoln also advanced at :42 in the 440 relay and Oceanside, with a not-100-per-cent Ed Johnson, was seventh in :42.5.

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock was second in the shot put at 62-1. Oceanside’s Larry Crayton was third with a :19.2 180-yard low hurdles but did not qualify after a :10.0 100.

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson was fourth fastest with a 4:14.6 mile. Marion Franklin of Lincoln tied for fourth at :14.4 in the high hurdles.  Doug Jones of Lincoln hit hurdles, stumbled and finished last with a time of :15.5 but was among many who qualified at 6-5 in the high jump.

James (Bouncy) Moore was fourth in the long jump at 23-4 ½ and El Cajon’s Jim Cochran and Ron Gillihan were in a parade of 13-6 pole vaulters.

Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington, the County recordholder at 176-1 in1967, was out of the discus after reaching only 159-2.  Pat Foley of Monte Vista qualified seventh at 166-11.

6/1/68

50TH STATE FINALS, @EDWARDS FIELD, BERKELEY

The San Diego Section, with just two entries in each event, came up strong, although it produced only one gold medal. Scoring was on a point basis of 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.

–Pete Shmock won the shot put with a throw of 63 feet, 11 inches, and Mar Vista’s Dan Helton was a non-scoring eighth at 58-5.

–El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson was leading the mile when he tied up and within feet of  the finish line, finishing second in 4:09.5 to Sacramento Kennedy’s Clifton West’s 4:09. Kearny’s Steve Becker was sixth in 4:16.7.

–Lincoln was third in the 440 relay in :41.7 and third in the mile relay in 3:15.5.

Compton Centennial won the short relay in :41.3 followed by Oakland Castlemont (:41.6).  Los Angeles Dorsey was fourth in :41.8.  Oceanside was seventh in :42.

Centennial won the mile in 3:14.3.  L.A. Fremont, disqualified for a lane violation in its league meet, was allowed to continue by the L.A. City Section and the Pathfinders finished ahead of Lincoln in 3:14.6.  San Bernardino trailed the Hornets in fourth place at 3:15.9.

Edesel Garrison anchored Centennial with a :46.6 lap.  L.A. Fremont’s John Smith, a future world recordholder, brought his team home in :46.8 and Murphy’s :46.9 anchor saved third for Lincoln.

–Bouncy Moore was third in the long jump with a best of 24 feet.  Larry Crayton tied for third in the 180 lows in :19.1.  Jim Cochran was third in the pole vault, going over the bar at an all-time County high 14-10 ¾.

–Lincoln’s Doug Jones cleared a personal best of 6 feet, 8 inches and tied with five others at third place but placed eighth on the basis of more misses in the high jump. After clearing 6-8, Jones passed at 6-9 and almost made 6-10 on his first attempt.

Marion Jones of Lincoln was seventh in :14.3 in the high hurdles.

–Bruce Ruff’s :22.2 220 and Ron Figueroa’s 1:54.9 880 were eighth, respectively, as was the 9:13.9 San Diego’s John Jacobsen in the two-mile.  Dave Carter of Monte Vista was ninth in the eight-lap race in 9:22.2 and teammate Pat Foley 10^th in the discus at 155-10.

6/20/68

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock completed an outstanding career by setting a County record of 64 feet,11 inches, in the Golden West Invitational.  Shmock, headed to the University of Oregon, set a another County record of 53-1/4 with the 16-pound shot in the National Junior Championships on Aug. 15 in Eugene, Oregon.

Sweetwater High was the site for several outstanding performances over the years in the National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays and other events of distance, usually in early March.

Few of those individual or team marks were repeated or equaled, one of which drew the most attention and eventually called for surveyors and tape measures.

El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia took the national lead when he ran 4:07.2 in the invitational mile at the JC Relays. That Valencia did not come close to that time again, his best being 4:08.8 after his high school season had ended, probably set some coaches to thinking.

A few years later frustrated Sweetwater coach Dave Ashley had the school’s 440-yard layout surveyed and it was found to be more than a yard short, a distance of at least four yards for a four-lap race such as the mile.

Short tracks meant better but not accepted marks.  How many tracks like Sweetwater’s were out there?  At least two, Mount Miguel and El Capitan, also were found abbreviated.  CIF Commissioner Don Clarkson said city schools tracks had been measured and met standards years before.

More on Valencia and competition in the mile as the season turned to May and the high stakes meets:

5/4/67

Lincoln coach Bobby Smith made a surprising announcement the day before the Eastern League trials. Lloyd Apgar, a potential state meet medalist in the two-mile run, was opting for the mile in the upcoming league and San Diego Section meets.

Apgar and teammate Otis Martin were favored to be the San Diego Section’s two qualifiers in the two-mile for the state meet in Balboa Stadium in June.

The local cognoscenti was surprised.  Apgar, according to the track nuts and so-called experts, was making the wrong decision.

The Hornet senior’s best time in the mile was 4:17.3, which compared unfavorably to the 4:11.4 of Clairemont’s Thornton Bigley and the 4:07.2 at Sweetwater by El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia.

“I’m not going to criticize Lloyd for his decision,” said Smith. “I’m grateful for the contribution he’s made.  He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever had.”

Apgar held school records in the Class C 660 (1:25.6) and 1320 (3:10.8) and Class B 1320 (3:07.9), plus the mile and a portion of the 440, 880, 1320, and mile distance medley (10:18.

(In 2009 Apgar’s daughter Elizabeth, running for Lincoln,  won the San Diego Section 880-yard run in 2:12.16).

5/5/67

–Orange Glen’s Mike Quirk set three school records in a triangular meet with Escondido (66 points) and San Marcos (63).  The Patriots scored 40.

Quirk ran wind-aided times of :14.5 in the 120-yard high hurdles, :20.1 in the 180 lows, and pole vaulted 13 feet.

–El Cajon Valley won its first outright league dual-meet championship since 1956 with a 75 ½-56 ½ win over Monte Vista.

The Braves’ Armando Valencia, running the last 880 of his high school career, clocked 1:53.4, fastest in the area, with Monte Vista’s Danny Ungricht second in 1:54.2, best mark of his injury-slowed season.

LEAGUE TRIALS

–Lincoln led with 22 qualifiers in the Eastern League, while Kearny topped the West with 17.

Most significant achievement was in the Eastern League mile, where Lloyd Apgar set a meet record of 4:17.

Lincoln and Morse sustained two significant losses. The Hornets’ Doug Jones, stumbled and crashed in the 180-yard low hurdles, and the Tigers’ Donald Anders, leading the area with a :09.8 100, pulled up lame in his heat.

5/12/67

LEAGUE FINALS

EASTERN, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lloyd Apgar, set a meet record with a 4:14.9 mile and teammate Otis Martin nailed a record 9:09.6 two-mile.  San Diego high jumper Phillip Singleton cleared 6-6 to tie Eddy Hanks’ and Harold Greenwood’s record, set in 1964 and 1966, respectively.

Lincoln won the team championship with 76 points.  San Diego followed with, 52, Crawford, 31, Hoover, 27, Morse, 22, and St. Augustine, 1.

WESTERN, @MADISON

–Kearny edged Point Loma, 74-70, for the team title. Madison and Clairemont each had 25, followed by La Jolla, 6, and Mission Bay, 2.

METROPOLITAN, @CHULA VISTA

–Mar Vista outscored Chula Vista, 57-38, trailed by Sweetwater, 31, Hilltop, 30, Escondido, 24 ½, Coronado, 23 ½, Castle Park, 4 ½, and Bonita Vista, 0.

Mike Griffiths of Mar Vista moved into the top five all time of County pole vaulters when he cleared 14 feet, 6 inches.  Teammate Dan Helton put the shot 59-5, No. 9 all time.

GROSSMONT, @GRANITE HILLS

Granite Hills won the team championship with 52 points, followed by Grossmont, 47, El Cajon Valley, 33, Monte Vista, 32, Santana, 29, Mount Miguel, 26, Helix, 14, and El Capitan, 7.

The discus of Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington caught an early-evening breeze and the Eagles’ junior set a County record when his toss sailed 176 feet, 1 1/4 inches, bettering the 174-6 of Grossmont’s Richard Grise in 1964.

Wadlington, whose best in 1966 was only 127-3 and had a best of 167-10 coming into the meet, said, “I worked out well all week. I’m not lifting weights anymore, just doing isoes (isometrics).  I felt a good throw.”

Brian’s teammate George Brown set a meet record with a 63-foot, 4 ½-inch shot put.  Monte Vista’s Danny Ungricht blazed a 1:53.2 half mile. Armando Valencia of El Cajon Valley ran 4:16.4 to win the mile.

AVOCADO, @VISTA

Vista won the 880 relay in a school record 1:31.1 and claimed the team title, 46-42, over rival Oceanside.  San Dieguito scored 35 points, followed by Orange Glen, 21, Carlsbad, 20, University, 19, Fallbrook, 11, and Poway, 5.

Bruce Burdick of Fallbrook cleared 13-4 ½ to win the pole vault and San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock won the shot put at 56-1 ½. Mike Turnipseed’s :09.9 100 was a league record and the Carlsbad runner returned with a winning, :22.5 220.

PALOMAR LEAGUE, @PALOMAR COLLEGE

Ramona’s Pat Hallman added more than seven inches to the high jump record when Hallman cleared 6-5, leaping past the 5-9 ¾ by two Carlsbad jumpers in 1964.

San Marcos ran away with the championship, scoring 106 ½ points.  Marian had 41, Ramona 34 ½, and Army-Navy 16.

5/19/67

SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Momentum in the mile was building

Clairemont’s Thornton Bigley, recovered from a mid-season attack of strep throat, narrowly nipped Lincoln’s Lloyd Apgar as both runners were timed in 4:12.9.

El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia, running unopposed in another heat, clocked 4:14.9.

“Aw, man, I am tired,” gasped Bigley.  “Apgar’s so good.  I just hope it’s a good race next week.”

–Granite Hills’ George Brown pushed the shot 62-4 ½ to break the meet record of 60-9 by Helix’ Doug Nelson in 1964.

–Season bests:  Leonard Thompson, Orange Glen. :14.4 in 120-yard high hurdles.  Hoover 880 relay, 1:28.9.  Mike Turnipseed, Carlsbad, :21.8 220 on curve.

SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

5/25/67

Mike Robinson of Mount Miguel won the discus championship with a toss of 155-11 in Balboa Stadium.  Pat Foley of Monte Vista was second at 153-4.

Favored Brian Wadlington of Granite Hills fouled on three of his seven attempts and was fourth at 145-10.  Steve Burgesser of Monte Vista was third at 146-10, presumably giving the Monarchs seven points.

5/26/67

“The Battle of Balboa Stadium is in the books,” I wrote after the controversial finish to the mile.

Thornton Bigley, Lloyd Apgar, and Armando Valencia were virtually neck and neck as they turned for home and the final 100 yards to the finish line.

Bigley passed Valencia and at that point Valencia suddenly left the track and stumbled into the infield.  Valencia quickly got back on the track, but Bigley finished first in 4:10.8 and Apgar nosed out Valencia for second in 4:11.8. Valencia was timed in 4:12.1.

The question was whether Valencia was bumped or pushed off the track, or did he jump?

Valencia claimed he was pushed.

NO FOUL

“We had three guys there from three different angles,” said Vernon Finch, the meet’s chief turn judge.  “There was no contact.”

Two competitors from other schools said they saw Bigley’s arm hit Valencia in the side, causing the El Cajon Valley runner to stumble.

“He was running really close to the rail,” said Bigley.  “I was watching that.  I thought he jumped off.  I didn’t touch him.”

El Cajon Valley coach Joe Brooks did not file a protest.  Brooks was sitting on the other side of the stadium, where coaches gathered.

“I’ve never seen him lose his balance like that, but I was sitting clear over here and I didn’t see what happened,” said Brooks.

Even if Valencia hadn’t stumbled, it appeared Bigley would have won. Apgar’s second-place finish qualified for the state meet.

–Lincoln won the team championship for the fifth time in seven years with 30 points.  Monte Vista scored 19, El Cajon Valley 16 ½, Orange Glen 13 1/2, Carlsbad 11, and San Diego 10. Twenty-eight schools scored at least one point.

With a virtual junior varsity relay team of Nate King, Melvin Maxwell, Ezell Roberts, and Willie Wilson, replacing Clarence Warren and Lewis King, Lincoln won in 1:29.8, its six points separating the Hornets from Monte Vista.

The Monarchs believed their seven points in the discus gave them a final score of 26, which would have had them in front of the Hornets entering the final event.

But the discus points did not count, said San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson, who noted that the CIF board of managers never had written the discus into scoring rules. Most leagues in the CIF did not have discus competition; points in the finals all came from Grossmont League throwers.

Lincoln’s Otis Martin set a meet record of 9:01 in the two-mile and Martin’s pace brought along Monte Vista’s Don Olsen, who ran 9:03.6, almost 16 seconds better than his career best of 9:19.

George Brown of Granite Hills set a meet record for the second week in a row with a shot put of 63-11.  Bruce Ruff of El Cajon Valley was a double winner, :21.7 220 and :48.6 440.

Danny Ungricht of Monte Vista won a duel with Fallbrook’s Frank (Pancho) Enriquez in the 880 with a time of 1:53 to 1:53.8.

6/2/67

STATE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Danny Ungricht of Monte Vista won his heat in the 880  in 1:54.2. Thornton Bigley (4:15.2) and Lloyd Apgar (4:15.6) won their mile heats.

–Qualifying third in their competition was Granite Hills shot putter George Brown (63-11½), Lincoln long jumper Lewis King (24-2 ½), and the Hornets’ relay team, with Doug Jones replacing Nate King in the starting blocks, 1:28.6.

–Pasadena Muir’s Jerry Proctor was in four trials and won the 120 high hurdles in :13.9, 180 lows in :18.9, long jump (25-2), and ran the third leg for a relay team that was first in 1:26.4.

STATE FINALS

6/3/67

For the first time in the seven years of the San Diego Section there was no individual champion.

Thornton Bigley (4:13) was second and Lloyd Apgar (4:13.2) third in the mile, beaten by the 4:11.4 of Westminster’s Mike Solomon.

George Brown was third in the shot put at 63-6 and Lincoln’s Lewis King fifth in the long jump at 23-6 ¼. Otis Martin was fifth for the second year in the two-mile with a time of 9:16.6.

San Diego’s Philip Singleton was sixth in the high jump (6-7). Danny Ungricht (1:54.3) was seventh in the 880. Monte Vista’s Don Olsen was seventh in the two-mile in 9:17.

Lincoln was eighth in the 880 relay but its time, 1:28.3, was 11^th all time in the County.

Pasadena Muir’s Jerry Proctor was the meet’s star, with Santa Rosa Montgomery’s Mel Gray a close second.

Proctor scored 19 of the Mustangs’ 24 points with wins of :13.7 in the 120 high hurdles, :18.7 in the 180 lows, 25-4 1/2 in the long jump and contributed a powerful third leg on Muir’s runner-up relay team, beaten in the stretch by Los Angeles Fremont’s 1:26.

Gray scored all 16 of his team’s points, tied the national record of :09.4 in the 100, set a national record of :20.7 for the 220 on a turn, and was second in the long jump at 24-1.  He ran down a handful of runners after starting in last place in the relay but the Vikings were seventh in 1:27.7.

Attendance for the finals was 8,268 and state CIF Commissioner Bill Russell enthused that “this was the best (meet) we’ve ever had from the standpoint of organization, performances, the works.”

6/4/67

His high school career behind him, Armando Valencia finished sixth in a field of 16 that included some international competitors at the Rose Bowl Invitational in Pasadena with a time of 4:11.7.

6/10/67

Armando Valencia won the special high school mile in the San Diego Invitational, beating, among other New Jersey’s Martin Liquori, a future international star, with a time of 4:08.8, which, as it turned out, was Valencia prep career best.

Bigley finished behind Valencia in 4:11.

6/15/67

Bigley had a non-winning 4:11 clocking in the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento.

Happy trails, Victory League.

A bi-product of World War II, gasoline rationing, security scares, and travel restriction, the league served its purpose for four calendar years (search 1943: V is Key) as school bosses and students strived for normality.

San Diego and Hoover, which joined teams in the Metropolitan League in1942 and again when the Victory was formed, returned this season to the Coast League, in which the Hilltoppers first rolled in 1923 and which Hoover had joined in 1937.

The Compton Tarbabes, little brothers to the Compton College Tartars, united with San Diego, Pasadena, and Pasadena Muir in a revived Coast League, while smaller city schools and suburbans were back in the Metropolitan League, back in business following four years in drydock. The remaining few  took seats in the Southern Prep League.

Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles and Ernie Smith of San Diego the broad jump in the Southern Section finals.  Each was a  runner-up in his event in the state meet.

2/28/47

San Diego opened the season with a 77-27 dual meet victory at Grossmont.

3/6/47

Jack Littler, not as well known as his golf champion brother Gene, won the 100-yard dash in :10.8 and the broad jump at 19 feet, 11 inches, as La Jolla won a dual meet, 73-27, over visiting Vista.

3/7/47

Graydon Calder high jumped 6-1 and Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12 feet as San Diego beat the host Long Beach Wilson Bruins, 63-41.  Ernie (Bud) Genet tied with Bob Van Doren for first at 45-9 in the shot put and won the broad jump at 20-3.

–Grossmont beat Sweetwater, 72-32, and La Jolla, with Art Barnard winning the 100 in :10.3 and 220 in :23, swamped Escondido, 90-14, and Kearny beat Coronado, 77 1/3-26 2/3 in opening Metropolitan League dual meets.

3/13/47

Jack Lucas set a La Jolla record of 2:06 in the 880 and Art Barnard tied his school record with a :10.3 100 as the Vikings defeated Sweetwater, 70-34.  Grossmont beat Point Loma, 77-27, and Escondido defeated Coronado, 66 1/3-37 2/3.

3/14/47

Bryan Benson went 48-6 ½ and Volney Peters 48-6 ¼ in the shot put as Hoover won a Coast League dual at home, 69-35, versus Long Beach Wilson.

3/20/47

Art Barnard set a La Jolla school record with a :22.6 220 and Jess Estrada tied Jack Lucas’ recent school record of 2:06 in the 880 in the Vikings’ 57 1/2-46 ½ win over Point Loma on the Vikings’ track.

3/21/47

Sophomore Gene Sieben doubled in host Sweetwater’s 84-20 win against Coronado, winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.7 and 180 lows in 21.4.

3/22/47

Team champion Redondo Beach Redondo Union scored 30 points to San Diego’s 29 1/5 in the Southern Counties Invitational at Huntington Beach.

Hoover and Grossmont were fourth and sixth with 14 and 8 ½ points each.  La Jolla was second with 18 points in the small schools’ division, won by Fullerton with 19. Point Loma was 13^th with 5 points and Coronado did not score.

Hoover’s Bob Lange and San Diego’s Bobby Smith tied for first in the pole vault at 12 feet, 3 inches.

3/25/47

Brown Military scored 47 ½ points to San Dieguito’s 43, and host Ramona’s 12 1/2 in a Southern Prep League triangular meet.  Miller of Brown won the 100 in :10.8, 220 in :23.3, and broad jump at 20 feet, 5 inches.

3/27/47

Jess Estrada set a La Jolla record of 2:04.2 in the 880 and Art Barnard won the 100 in :10.1 and 220 in :22.7, but San Diego claimed the nonleague dual meet, 70-34, in Balboa Stadium.

4/10/47

Hoover and San Diego were favored to fight it out for the Coast League dual-meet championship, but Compton beat both in their triangular showdown on the San Diego State oval.  The Tarbabes scored 51 ½ points to San Diego’s 43 and Hoover’s 36 ½.

Bill Fell was a double winner in the 100 (:10.1) and 220 (:22.6), Jerome Walters won the 880 (2:00.4), and Chuck Kohl took the mile (4:33.7) for the visitors.

Joe Azevedo put the shot 51 feet, ½ inch, Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12-3, and the Hilltoppers won the 880-yard relay in 1:31.1.

Ernie Smith of San Diego and Jack Razzeto of Hoover tied for first in the high jump at 5-11 ½. Karl Preibisius won the 120-yard highs in :15.8 for the Cardinals.

–Grossmont defeated La Jolla, 60-44, in the Metropolitan League’s big one.  Top mark was Foothiller Joe Page’s 6-2 ½ high jump.  Art Barnard doubled in the sprints in :10.1 and :22.6 for the visiting Vikings.

–Gene Sieben won the 180-yard lows in :20.7 and Bill Ellis logged a :52.6 440 as Sweetwater beat Kearny, 54-50. Point Loma topped Escondido, 81 ½-22 ½.

4/15/47

Hoover stepped out of the Coast League and dominated Metro power Grossmont, 72-32. Jack Razzetto and Grossmont’s Joe Page tied for first in the high jump at 6-1 1/4.

Hoover’s Karl Preibisius won the high hurdles in :15.7 and teammate Don Donnelly took the 180 lows in :21.2.  The Cardinals’ Bill Kirby won the 440 in :51.5.  Bryan Benson led a 1-2 Hoover finish with Volney Peters in the shot put at 49-2 ½.

4/16/47

Hoover won the 880 relay in 1:31.8, capping a 69 1/6-34 5/6 victory in a rain-makeup meet with La Jolla at Hoover.  Chuck Whitmarsh won the 100in :10.2 and 220 in :22.6 for the Cardinals.

4/18/47

A San Diego quartet of Cleo Williams, Charles Davis, John Holloway, and Harold Miller ran a season-best 1:30.1 in the 880 relay and brought San Diego to victory and a 52-52 deadlock with Hoover before an estimated 2,200 persons in Balboa Stadium in the first-ever night meet between the rivals.

Bill Kirby set a Hoover record of :50.9 in the 440. Chuck Phillips ran 2:03.1 in the 880, and Jack Razzeto high jumped 6-1.  Joe Azevedo put the shot 50-8, Bobby Smith vaulted 12-4 ¾, and Harold Miller won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.7 for San Diego.

–Ray Oyos turned in the season’s best broad jump, 22-3 ¼ in Grossmont’s 85-19 win at Coronado.  Joe Page high jumped 6-1 3/8 for the Foothillers.

–Gene Sieben rook the 100 in :10.8 and 180-yard lows in :20.5 as Sweetwater forged a 52-52 tie with Kearny.

4/25/47

Joe Page bettered his school record with a 6-foot, 3-inch high jump as Grossmont wrapped the Metropolitan League championship, 90-14, over Escondido. Bob Mahan won the 120 low hurdles in :13.9 and 120 highs in :15.5, and added a 19-7 ½ broad jump as Point Loma won at Kearny, 76-28.

–Joe Azevedo reached 51-6 ½ in the shot put and Ernie Smith went 22-1 ½ in the broad jump and San Diego routed Pasadena and Pasadena Muir in Balboa Stadium, 91 ½ to 30 ½ to 9, respectively.

4/30/47

Dick Straub won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.8 and Hoover also scored a multiple win, winning a three-way meet at Pasadena.

The Cardinals outscored the host Pasadena Bullpups, 78 1/10-38 9/10, and the Muir Mustangs, who scored 14 points.

Bill Kirby ran the 440 in :51.4 for another Hoover victory.

5/2/47

Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15 and 180-yard low hurdles in :19.8, fastest ever run by a San Diego County athlete, but Grossmont ran away with the team championship in Class A, B, and C in the Metropolitan League meet at San Diego State.

Coach Jack Mashin’s Grossmont squad scored 62 ½ points each in A and B, and 50 points in Class C.

–Bob Mahon of Point Loma, second to Barnard in both hurdles races, won the broad jump at 21 feet, 11 ¼ inches.  Grossmont’s  Joe Page high jumped 6-1.

5/5/4

Compton edged Hoover, 58 ½-58, for the team championship in the Coast League championships at Compton College.

Hoover would have 10 entries for the CIF Southern Section Divisional meet as Bill Kirby and Don Donnelly qualified in two events each.

Kirby won the 440-yard dash in :51.2 and third in the 100 to the :10.1 of Compton’s Bill Fell, who also won the 220 in :22.5. Donnelly was third in the high jump and third in the 180-yard low hurdles.  Kirby also participated in the 880 relay, won by Hoover in 1:32.

San Diego qualified four, shot putters Joe Acevedo and John Davis, jumper Ernie Smith, who won the high jump at 6-3 and the broad jump at 21-9, and pole vaulter Bobby Smith, first at 12 feet.

Compton won Class B with 67 ½ points to San Diego’s 41, Hoover’s 23 ½, Pasadena’s 23, and Pasadena Muir’s 8.  San Diego scored 59 ½ points in Class C, Hoover 51, Compton, 12, Pasadena, 4 ½, and Muir, zero.

5/10/47

Hoover outscored Grossmont, 36 1/2-36, followed by San Diego, 22 ½, Point Loma, 22, La Jolla, 18 ½, Sweetwater and Brawley, 13, El Centro Central, 5, Kearny, Brown Military, 4, Kearny, 2 ½, and Coronado, 1, in the CIF Divisional meet at san Diego State.

Art Barnard of La Jolla was a double winner, :14.8, fastest ever in the 120-yard high hurdles by a County athlete, and :20.1 in the 180-yard low hurdles.   Joe Page of Grossmont high jumped 6-2.  San Diego’s Joe Acevedo won at 51 feet, 1/8 inch in the shot put and teammate Ernie Smith at 21-9 1/2 in the broad jump.

5/17/47

Art Barnard won the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.6 and Ernie Smith of San Diego took the broad jump at 22-6 ½ in the CIF finals at breezy Oxnard High. Barnard was fourth in the 180 low hurdles and Smith tied with Grossmont’s Joe Page for fifth in the high jump.

–Failing to qualify for the finals,  Bobby Smith entered the high school portion of the West Coast Relays in Fresno. San Diego High reported that Smith cleared 13 feet, 2 inches, eight inches better than his previous best, and one inch below Bill Miller’s 1929 school record of 13-3.

Smith was the son of Ralph and nephew of Harry Smith, Hilltoppers vaulters of the 1920s, and later was head coach at Lincoln and San Diego City College.

5/24/47

Art Barnard was second to the winning :14.5 of Los Angeles Washington’s Hugh McElhenny in the 120-yard high hurdles in the 31^st state meet at the Mineral Bowl in Visalia.

McElhenny also won the broad jump at 22-10 ½, with San Diego’s Ernie Smith second at 22-6 ¼.

Bill Kirby of Hoover was unplaced in the 440-yard dash and Joe Acevedo of San Diego did not place in the shot put.

 

San Diego High, led by quartermiler Norman Stocks, sprinter-broad jumper Jimmy Barrera, hurdler Harry West, shot putter Joe Acevedo, and half-miler Harry Taylor, among others on a deep and talented squad, was in full force, posting an 8-0 record in dual meets, winner of 16 in a row, and 20-2 since Bill Patten became coach in 1944,  their only losses, 54-50 to Grossmont, and 55-48 to Hoover, in Patten’s first season.

The CIF Southern Section meet, held in Balboa Stadium for the first time,  could have been a reference point for when the San Diego Section won the right to host the 1967 and 1975 state meets.

The Stadium configuration, which did not provide a straight distance for races of 220 yards, eventually proved to be an Olympic-style  model.  Starting in 1967, all 220-yard events were on a curve, according to track historian Russ Reabold.

The season of 1946  also was the last in which the 220-yard hurdle race was contested.  The CIF reduced the distance to 180 yards in 1947. The CIF had reduced the 120-yard high hurdles clearance from 42 inches to 39 inches in 1939.

3/1/46

San Diego won a 65-38 decision against La Jolla, with Norm Stocks setting the pace by winning the 440 in :51.6 and taking the baton to the finish line of a 1:32 victory in the 880-yard relay.  Bobby Smith pole vaulted 11 feet, 6 inches, for the Hilltoppers and George Pinnell had a 48-9 shot put for La Jolla.

3/8/46

A Hoover team of John Mhoon, Chuck Whitmarsh, Rudd Hanna, and Kempton Blair ran the relay in 1:35.5 and its winning five points allowed the Cardinals to deadlock Grossmont, 52-52, in a controversial Victory League dual at Hoover.

Chuck Evins of Grossmont won the 220-yard low hurdles but was disqualified when Evins drifted into another lane on what an Evening Tribune reporter described as poorly marked boundaries.

Grossmont’s Duane (Bud) Close staggered and fell across the finish line in the 440-yard run.  Officials ruled that Close had breasted the tape first in :53.6, although had he not fallen Hoover’s Kempton Blair would have won.

—Norman Stocks won the 100 in :10 and 440 in :50.3, and broad jumped 21 feet, 10 inches, as San Diego whipped Point Loma, 74-30. Stocks teamed with Harry West, Cosimo Cutri, and Jimmy Barrera in a 1:31.9 Hilltoppers relay victory.

Bobby Smith of San Diego pole vaulted 12 feet and Harry Taylor of the Hilltoppers logged a 2:04.3 880.  Point Loma’s Bob Smith ran a 4:44 mile.

3/15/46

Writer Norrie West of the Evening Tribune noted that Point Loma’s 53-51 dual meet victory over Hoover was result of the Pointers’ 1:36.2 triumph in the 880-yard relay final event, traversed on the peninsula team’s 330-yard oval.

But West credited the Point Loma victory to John Chasey, who scissored 5 feet, 9 inches, on his third and final try in the late-finishing high jump.  The second-place and three points by Chasey narrowed a Hoover lead to 51-48 heading into the relay.

–San Diego’s Harry West covered the 220-yard hurdles in :25.5 and teammate Fred Deewall ran the 220 in :22.8, and the Hilltoppers won all 12 events in the 89 ½-14 ½ rout at Sweetwater.

–Bud Held’s 12-2 ½ pole vault was instrumental in Grossmont’s 89 ½-14 ½ win over Kearny.

3/19/46

A “gooey track and half-hour downpour” didn’t make the Balboa Stadium layout unusable, while other Victory League duals were postponed in what had become a wet spring.

San Diego loafed to a 93 ½-10 ½ win over Coronado. Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 21-8 into a messy pit.  Norman Stocks jogged to a :54.8 win in the 440, and anchored a 1:41.6 victory in the relay.  Stocks and his three associates ran the race without removing their sweat suits.

3/20/46

Grossmont won all 12 events and the meet, 85-19, at Sweetwater despite losing its top sprinter, Dick Johnston, who pulled a muscle in the 100-yard dash.

3/22/46

More than 100 athletes from Victory League schools Grossmont, Coronado, Point Loma, San Diego, Hoover, and Coronado converged on Huntington Beach High with 34 other schools for the 25^th Southern Counties’ Invitational.

Grossmont took large school honors with 21 1/5 points to San Diego’s 20 1/5. Redondo Beach Redondo Union was third with 16 and Hoover fourth with 14.

Ish Herrera of Grossmont won the high jump at 6-1 and Chuck Evins was clocked in :25.4 by coach Jack Mashin for third place in the 220 hurdles.  Bud Held tied with four others for first in the pole vault at 12 feet. Harry West of San Diego was second to Bob Bacon of Redondo Beach Redondo Union in the lows.

Norman Stocks of San Diego and Bud Close of Hoover each won one of the two 440-yard dashes, Stocks finishing in :51.4 and Close in :53.1.  Stocks anchored the Hilltoppers’ 1:32 win in the relay.

Hoover’s Earl Caldwell was second in :15.5 to the :15.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles by Redondo’s Bob Bacon.  Rolland Nelson won the mile in 4:42, followed by teammate Paul Juette.

Wally Hawke of Coronado pole vaulted 11-4 for first in the small schools competition.

3/26/46

Graydon Calder of San Diego high jumped almost a foot over his head when he cleared 6 feet, 3 inches, in the Class B meet with visiting La Jolla.

The 5-foot, 5-inch Calder bettered the CIF Southern Section B meet record of 6-1 ¾ by a Santa Ana jumper in 1938.

San Diego won the varsity portion of the Balboa Stadium event, 83-21.  La Jolla’s Art Barnard edged Norman Stocks in a :10.3 100, but Stocks came back to run the 220 in :22.4 and Harry Taylor posted the season’s best 880 time, 2:02.4.

—Hoover won its first dual meet, 64-40, although visiting Sweetwater’s Bob Tomlinson cleared 11-5 in the pole vault and 5-8 ½ in the high jump, and Cy Young beat favored Bobby Rodriguez in the 880 in 2:05.8.

3/30/46

Grossmont’s Bud Held cleared 12 feet, 4 7/8 inches in the pole vault and teammate Ish Herrera cleared 6-1 3/4 in the high jump at the San Diego State Aztec Relays.

4/5/46

San Diego won the battle of Victory League heavyweights, defeating Grossmont, 61-43, as Norman Stocks and Jimmy Barrera scored two victories each.

Stocks ran :10.4 in the 100-yard dash and :50.2 in the 440.  Barrera broad jumped 21-4 ½ and ran :23.3 in the 220.

Grossmont’s Franklin (Bud) Held pole vaulted 12-1 3/8 and Chuck Evins set a school record of :15.9 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

–George Pinnell hurled the shot 49 feet, 6 inches, but Hoover beat La Jolla, 68-36.

4/10/46

John Janney posted a win-aided :10.0 in the 100 and Maurice Lawford logged a 2:06.5 880, but Grossmont swept the late-finishing high jump and eked out a 52 ½-51 ½ victory over host Point Loma.

4/11/46

Joe Vargas and Brown Military held sway in the CIF Group 12 League finals at San Dieguito. Vargas was reported to have run :10 in the 100 and :22.5 in the 220, and was third in the shot put for a total of 21 ½ points. Brown scored 76 ½, followed by San Dieguito, 65 ½, Vista, 53, Escondido, 45 ½, Oceanside, 28, and Fallbrook, 7 ½.

4/12/46

Norman Stocks’ :10.2 100 and :50.8 440 and Jimmy Barrera’s :22.7 220 and 21-7 ½ broad jump were augmented by Joe Acevedo’s 49-6 ½ shot put and 2:06.5 880 by Harry Taylor in San Diego’s 73-31 win over Hoover.

Half-miler Taylor also joined Stocks, Barrera and John Holloway in a 1:31.3 880 relay victory

Hoover’s only victories came from Earl Caldwell’s :16.2 in the 120 high hurdles and Paul Juette’s 4:46.2 in the mile.

4/17/46

A ferry trip across the bay to Coronado was just part of a leisurely afternoon for coach Raleigh Holt’s Hoover Cardinals.  They beat Coronado, 76-28, winning 10 of 12 events (11, but disqualified in the relay) and Earl Caldwell was a double winner in short hurdles races, :09.5 in the 70-yard highs and :14.3 in the 120-yard lows.

Hoover also swept to victory in classes B and C but the Islanders’ Jike Wong made things interesting for the home team, winning the Cee 50 in :5.9 and broad jump at 20 feet, 3 inches.

4/27/46

Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 22-2 1/2 to set a Victory League record and Norman Stocks tied a 220 record by running :22.3 on the Balboa Stadium curve. Harry Taylor logged a 2:03.5 880.

San Diego wrapped a 5-0 dual-meet league season with the  81-23 win over Kearny.

–Bob Tomlinson ran :25.7 in the 220-yard low hurdles and pole vaulted 12 feet, but Point Loma defeated Sweetwater, 71-33.

–George Pinnell put the shot 50 feet, 2 inches for La Jolla and Chuck Evins broad jumped 21-4 in Grossmont’s 76-28 win.

4/30/46

Buster Bennett, the No. 3 runner on La Jolla’s 880-yard relay team, stumbled and fell during his 220-yard leg, opening the door for a Point Loma win in 1:34 and a 53-51 Pointers’ Victory League dual meet finale victory.

5/5/46

Norman Stocks set a meet record of :50.0 in the 440 and won the 100-yard dash in :10 as San Diego took the Victory League meet championship with 46 ½ points. Grossmont followed with 27, Hoover, 23, La Jolla, 15 ½, Coronado, 5, and Sweetwater, 4.  Kearny was blanked.

Seven meet records were broken.

Harry West of San Diego ran :25.3 in the 220-yard low hurdles.  George Pinnell of La Jolla hurled the shot 51 feet, 9 inches. Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma covered 880 yards in 2:02.7. Ish Herrera of Point Loma high jumped 6 feet ½ inch,  and a San Diego quartet of Jimmy Barrera, Harry West, John Holloway, and Norman Stocks set a record of 1:30.8 in the 880 relay.

Larry Boerner of Grossmont ran the mile in 4:39.2, beating the favored Rolland Nelson of Hoover, second in 4:40.7, ahead of teammate Paul Juette.

5/11/46

Norman Stocks continued his pursuit of Irvine (Cotton) Warburton’s 440-yard dash school record (:49.6) with a :49.9 clocking before about 200 competitors from 23 schools in the Victory, CIF Group 12, and Imperial Valley who attempted to extend their seasons in a Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State College.

Stocks, battling blustery weather on the one-turn race, was caught in :49.7 on one official’s stopwatch and :49.8 and :50 on others.

San Diego led all scorers with 43 ½ points and had additional first places in the 100 (Stocks, :10.2), 880 (Harry Taylor, 2:03.5), broad jump (Jimmy Herrera, 21-7 ¾), and 880 relay (1:31.4).

Grossmont’s Bud Held, a future world record holder in the javelin throw (268 feet, 2 inches in 1955), and a 1952 Olympian, was first in the pole vault at 12 feet, ½ inch. La Jolla’s Art Barnard was timed in :25.0 in the 220 hurdles.

Winners automatically advanced to the CIF championships the next week but second and third place finishers had to await an announcement from CIF boss Seth Van Patten after marks were compared to those in two other divisional meets.

5/14/46

San Diego High hurdler Harry West and shot putter Joe Acevedo did not meet the qualifying standard as CIF boss Seth Van Patten announced a total of 29 Victory League entries in classes A, B, and C along with those from divisional meets at Oxnard and Inglewood for Saturday’s Southern Section championship in Balboa Stadium.

5/16/46

Meet director John Brose promised a well-run, informative event for those attending the 28^th CIF championships, held for the first time in San Diego’s Balboa Stadium.

Sixty-two schools had 220 athletes who qualified.

Athletes not in direct competition will be staged in the Southwest corner of the stadium, assuring fans of a clear view of the 440-yard oval, said Brose. American flags will indicate national records in field events and red flags will indicate CIF records.  A stadium public address will follow runners in longer races and large signs will mark the height pole vaulters and high jumpers will attempt.

5/18/46

San Diego scored 11 points, with Norman Stocks winning the 440 in a County record :49.3; anchoring the Hilltoppers to a second place in the 880-yard relay, and Jimmy Barrera finishing fourth in the broad jump in the Southern Section championships.

Stocks did not place in the 100-yard dash but made up eight yards on Redondo Beach Redondo Union’s anchorman to finish second to the Sea Hawks’ 1:29.1.

–Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma was fifth in the 880, won by Clarence Witt of Redlands in 1:58.7.

–Paul Juette of Hoover was fifth in the mile won by Chuck Kohl of Compton in 4:30.7. Victory champion Larry Boerner apparently did not enter after an article in The San Diego Union had cast doubt on his participation because of the flu.

–Earl Caldwell of Hoover was fifth in the 120-yard high hurdles.  Grossmont’s Bud Held tied for fourth in the pole vault.  La Jolla’s George Pinnell was fourth in the shot put.

Redondo won the team championship with 24 ½ points.  Los Angeles Cathedral was second with 12 1/5.

L.A. Mt. Carmel’s John Helwig set a meet record of 59 feet in the shot put.

5/25/46

Norman Stocks was a double winner with another :49.3 in the 440 and by anchoring San Diego to a 1:29.2 victory in the 880 relay in the final event of the afternoon-evening, 30^th state track meet at Compton College.

The Hilltoppers were fourth in team scoring with 10 points.  Redondo Beach Redondo Union won with 21, followed by Alameda, 12, and L.A. Cathedral, 11.

George Pinnell of La Jolla was third in the shot put to John Helwig’s national record 59-5 7/8. Hoover’s Paul Juette was fourth in a record-setting mile of 4:24 by Bob McMillan of L.A. Cathedral. Bud Held of Grossmont tied for fourth in the pole vault, won at 12-6.

Arnie Robinson was coming to the end of four brilliant seasons at Morse.

Robinson high jumped 6-7, long jumped 24 feet, and won the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.8 in his last competition (see below) at the school on Skyline Drive in Encanto that Robinson watched open in September, 1962.

The nephew of 1940s San Diego High stars Ermer and Ivan Robinson went on to Mesa College, San Diego State, and, later, to international acclaim.

Arnie won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump at the 1976 Olympics after earning a bronze in 1972.

Robinson, who eventually returned to teach and coach the Mesa track team, had career bests of 6-10 in the high jump, 27-4 ¼ in the long jump, and 51 feet in the triple jump.

2/28/66

Madison’s Dennis Smith cut almost 10 seconds off his 1965 school record when he ran 10:04.7 in the two-mile, but Granite Hills, defending San Diego Section team champion, won the season-opening meet at Madison, 82-31.

3/2/66

San Diego defeated Point Loma, 67-46, as Doyle Steele doubled in the high jump (5-10) and long jump (22-7) and Orvin Romo logged 1:58.7 in the 880.

Steele could have gone much higher, said coach Martin Pedigo, but the event was halted after the takeoff area became slippery and unsafe because of rain.

3/4/66

Doyle Steel tied Bob Logan’s 1938 school high jump record of 6 feet, 5 ½ inches.  Steele also won the long jump at 23-1 and the triple jump at 43-3, but San Diego dropped a 72-59 decision to Grossmont.

—Crawford routed Kearny, 90 ½-17 ½, and future decathlete Don Bajema set a school record of 6-1 ½ in the high jump and won the long jump at 21-9.

3/11/66

Lincoln’s Johnny Mack Ellis demonstrated strength and speed when he pole vaulted 11-6 and won the sprints in :09.8 and :21.5 and anchored a 1:30 relay victory in Lincoln’s 85-28 win at Kearny.

Ted Scales ran :14.3 in the 120 highs and David Edwards took the 180 lows in :19.3.

Marks were complemented by the breezes that blow off the Kearny Mesa.

—Arnie Robinson long jumped 23-10 ½ in Morse’s triangular meet with Chula Vista and Mission Bay, which the Tigers won with 79 points to the Spartans’ 44 and the Bucs’ 17.

Chula Vista’s Tim Danielson, idled by the flu last week, won the 440 (:50.7) and mile (4:24.2).

3/17/66

Lincoln’s dual-meet power, enhanced by the arrival of Johnny Mack Ellis from Tyler, Texas, rolled on usually respectable Crawford, 84-29.

Ellis took advantage of the Crawford track, elevated, on a mesa and in line with westerly breezes, beat the Colts’ Danny Patton (:09.9) with a :09.7 100, took the 220 on the curve in :22.1, anchored a 1:30.1 relay victory, and pole vaulted 12 feet for a four-win, golden spike afternoon.

—El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia took the state lead with a 1:54.9 880 and broke Jack Hudson’s 1958 school record of 1:55.9 in the Braves’ 71-60 loss to Granite Hills and Hilltop’s Terry Rogers, who would win the 880 in the state meet in June, ran 1:55.5 as the Lancers defeated Escondido, 71-60.

3/23/66

Morse would not compete three days later in the National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays at Sweetwater, but the Tigers showed they would have been contenders for the team championship by defeating Helix and San Diego in a triangular meet that featured events of the relays.

The Tigers scored 79 points to Helix’ 45, and San Diego’s 32.

Tigers high jumpers Larry Greenwood (6-7 1/2), Paul Lee  (6-2), and Arnie Robinson (6-0) cleared an aggregate, average height of 6-3 ½.

3/26/66

Tim Danielson took the national lead with a time of 4:11.2 in the mile in the 12th annual National City JC Relays, with Terry Rogers of Hilltop, the leader until final 110 yards, second in 4:12.2.

Problem.

The track was yards short of the typical 440-yard oval, but no matter to Danielson.  He had several times better later in the season on other tracks.

3/30/66

St. Augustine’s Tom Eklund tossed his hat into the 880-yard ring with a 1:54.8, topping by 1/10 second that which El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia negotiated earlier.

Eklund’s mark did little to help the Saints, 85-18 losers to San Diego.

“I’m using starting blocks, so it will get me out there quicker,” said Eklund of his :54 first quarter. “Then it will let the second quarter take care of itself.”

Eklund was third in 1:55.2 in the San Diego Section championships in 1965 and his best this season before today was 1:56.4.

4/1/66

Tim Danielson took a shot at the 880 and ran 1:53.2, fourth fastest in area history, and Chula Vista won at Escondido, 87-26.

–The wind blew and the marks flew at Morse, where the Tigers’ Donald Anders beat Crawford’s Danny Patton in a :09.8 100 and Patton beat Anders, :21.3 to :21.4, in the straight 220.

–Rick Rubin set a Helix record of 4:20.6, but Armando Valencia won the mile in 4:16.1, although Valencia and his El Cajon Valley teammates were on the short end of the 91-40 score.

4/6/66

–Ira Raibon set an Oceanside record of 6-2 3/4 in the high jump.  Terry Rogers broke Hilltop’s two-mile mark with a 9:41.8 and Brent Rowlett ran 9:50.8 for an Oceanside record. Fred Logel lowered the Morse mile to 4:38.6 and teammate John Roberts hurled the shot 51-2 ½ for another school record.

4/9/66

Hilltop won the Dean C.E. Peterson trophy for the outstanding performance and Lincoln hurdler Ted Scales for the outstanding individual performance in the seventh San Diego (formerly Easter) Relays in Balboa Stadium.

The Lancers’ distance medley team of Bruce Pradels (440), Bernie Calderon (880), Jimmy Gelsomini (1,320), and miler Terry Rogers, who anchored in 4:16.1, completed the distance in a County-record 10:23.4.

Scales came from behind on the last hurdle to nip teammate David Edwards in the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.1, best ever in the area, and Monte Vista’s 4-man, 4-mile relay team of  Dave Matheny, Rod Stephens, Mark Clark, and Don Olsen clocked 18:06.08, another all-time best.

4/15/66

Arnie Robinson won the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.8, high jumped 6 feet, 7 inches, and long jumped 24 feet in Morse’s 71-42 win over Hoover, the same school that had beaten the first-year Tigers, 103-1, in 1963.

Of one of the most impressive three-event performances in area dual-meet history, Robinson said, “It was my last meet at home and I wanted to do good.”

“Arnie had the spirit today,” remarked teammate Harold Greenwood after Robinson reached 24 feet on his first try.  Robinson and Greenwood tied in the high jump but Arnie had fewer misses.

Another Robinson teammate, Donald Anders, won the 100 in :09.9 and 220 in a school-record :21.5.

–Johnny Mack Ellis ran :09.8 and :22.2 in the 100 and 220 and pole vaulted 12-6 as Lincoln erased any drama in the usually heated rivalry with San Diego, 74 ½-38 ½.

The Hornets even topped the Cavemen with essentially a backup relay team of Louis King, James Gunn, Albert Quinn, and Leroy Davis, which ran 1:30.

–Terry Rogers of Hilltop turned in a 1:54.4 880 and barely minutes later tried to double in the 440, finishing last.   Sweetwater won the 880 relay in 1:33.4 and the meet, 59-54.

–Oceanside’s Ira Raibon high jumped 6-2 and long jumped 23-2 and Bill Reilly put the shot 55 feet in Oceanside’s 74-52 win over Orange Glen.

4/22/66

George Brown was almost 10 feet better than his father.

The senior Brown, an El Cajon doctor and former all-America football player at Navy, set a Hoover High record of 51 feet, 11 inches, in the shot put in 1941.

The younger George III, a muscular 220 pounds, heaved the 12-pound ball 60-10 ½, seventh best in County history, and defending champion Granite Hills stayed alive in the Grossmont dual-meet race with Grossmont and Helix.

The Eagles, who lost to Grossmont, 67-64, last week, defeated favored Helix, 70 ½-60 ½.  With the meet in the balance, Granite Hills’ Donald Evans anchored a 1:30.2 victory in the 880 relay after topping the Highlanders’ Ralph Lavage in :09.9 and :22.2 in the sprints.

Granite’s Bruce Rickett’s (:49.5) edged Helix’ Ron Koenig (:49.8) in the fastest 440 in the area this season.

–Armando Valencia’s 9:15.7 two-mile was the fastest this year in California and left Valencia and his coach Joe Brooks wondering.

“If Danielson and Rogers run the mile and 880, we might go in the two-mile,” said Brooks. “It would really give our area a real shot at three first places in the state meet.”

–Point Loma ended Mission Bay’s two-year rule in the Western League, 75-38, and will meet Kearny for the title next week.

Grossmont (5-0) must get past Helix (4-1) for an outright Grossmont title next week.

Lincoln, 91-14 over St. Augustine, goes for the Eastern crown against Morse, 61-52 over San Diego, next week.

Chula Vista, 81-32 over Hilltop, and Sweetwater, 95-17 over Escondido, will settle matters in the Metropolitan League.

4/29/66

Grossmont nipped Helix, 67-64;  Lincoln rolled Morse, 80-33; Chula Vista edged Sweetwater, 59-54, and Point Loma routed Kearny, 74 ½-38 ½, to either claim league titles outright or face only virtual formalities in the final week of dual meets next week.

–Grossmont secured its win over Helix with a 1:30.8 victory in the relay.  Crawford did the same in a 58-54 thriller with San Diego as Danny Patton anchored a 1:29.8 win after taking the 220 in :21.8 on the Balboa Stadium curve.  The Colts’ Jim (Big Game) Hunter ran :14.8 in the 120-yard highs.

–Terry Rogers threw down on the state’s 880-yard run aspirants with his 1:53.2, which tied Tim Danielson’s area season best.

–Rick Geer set a Monte Vista record with a 162-8 discus throw and doubled with a 50-11 shot put.  Granite Hills’ George Brown heaved the shot 59-4 and teammate Mike Bimer set a school record with a discus throw of 160 feet.

–Tom Danielson jogged a :50.4 440, teammate Johnston ran a 1:59.7 880, Jim Baldwin hurled the shot 54-6 1/4, and Don French covered the 120 high hurdles in :14.7, all of which helped Chula Vista to a 61-51 win over Sweetwater,  which embraced a school-record 22-11 1/4 long jump by Jim Rice, minimally longer than Burte Jackson’s 22-10 1/2 in 1965.

See additional narrative, 1966 Track II, for more information.

 

 

 

 

Tim Danielson, Terry Rogers, and Doyle Steel were state champions and would have been favored in their events if there were a prep national championship meet.

Chula Vista’s Danielson, the second to better four minutes in the mile, was undefeated  on the prep level the last two years  and he competed nationally and internationally well into the summer.

Following a two-mile victory on June 18 in Sacramento’s Golden West Invitational, Danielson also ran the mile  in the National AAU meet in New York, running nonwinning 4:07.4 in the trials on June 25 and 4:03.3 in the finals on June 26.

Danielson’s last significant event was the Police Games in Toronto, Canada, where he ran 4:03.9, in late July.

Steel, who set a national record in the long jump, and Rogers, the national No. 1 runner in the 880, made for a tremendous San Diego Section season.

5/6/66

Tim Danielson ran the two-mile in 9:04.7, fastest ever in the county and No. 6 in the country this season, as Chula Vista wrapped the Metropolitan League dual meet championship, 87-26, over visiting Mar Vista.

Grossmont claimed the Grossmont League dual-meet title with a 90-41 win over El Cajon Valley, whose Armando Valencia posted a 4:12.9 mile.

Danielson will drop the two-mile for the mile and Valencia will leave the mile for the two-mile in league meets.

Granite Hills’ George Brown put the shot 60 feet, 5 ½ inches;

Chula Vista’s Don French ran :14.4 in the 120-yard high hurdles;

Sweetwater’s Bill Yahnke logged a :09.9 100 and :21.5 220 on the notoriously breezy Castle Park straightaway.

EASTERN LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Otis Martin shaved more than 25 seconds off his two-mile time with a 9:16.1 and Lincoln teammate David Edwards cleared the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.3.

Edwards equaled the league record set by Jimmy Fox in 1964 and Martin smashed his 9:41.3 in the 1965 meet.

The Hornets led with 23 qualifiers, followed by San Diego (18), Hoover (16), Morse (15), Crawford (13), and St. Augustine (8).

Class B field event finals saw Hoover’s Lance Ruff set a record of 50-9 ½ in the shotput, more than 6 feet further than the 44-5 ¾ by Jerry Darr of St. Augustine in 1963.

Mike Johnson of Lincoln pole vaulted 12-6, a foot higher than the 11-6 in 1963, ’64, and ’65 by representatives of three different schools.

Doug Jones of Lincoln high jumped 6-2 ¾, tying  Arnie Robinson’s 1964 Class B record.

WESTERN, @CLAIREMONT

Point Loma’s Bob Chavez set a 220 record of :21.7, erasing the :21.8 by Clairemont’s John Procsal in 1963.

The 4:26.3 mile by Barry Richardson of Kearny was better than the 4:27.5 by La Jolla’s Jeff Dragila in 1965.

Frank Heitman of Clairemont ran 1:58.9 in the 880, gutsy and notable because Heitman’s dislocated shoulder was harnessed after an injury sustained playing volleyball.

5/9/66

GROSSMONT, @GROSSMONT COLLEGE

Dan Ungricht of Monte Vista tied the 880 record of 1:56.6 by El Capitan’s Tad Hendrickson in 1964.

That Ungricht was wearing shoes did not fit the category of breaking news.

Footwear was not new to the Spring Valley community, where Ungricht lived, but was seldom the choice of the Monarchs’ runner or his distance-running teammates.

“In cross country we always go barefooted,” said Ungricht.  “Your feet feel lighter.”

Ungricht said he usually dumped his shoes for the longer races.

The prospect of going barefoot didn’t appeal in shorter events.

Granite Hills’ Donald Evans, appropriately shod, tied a record he shared with two others when he ran :09.9 in the 100.

METROPOLITAN, @MAR VISTA

The :14.6 in the 120 high hurdles by Chula Vista’s Don French broke the record of :14.7 by El Cajon Valley’s Dave Landis in 1960.

5/15/64

FINALS

METROPOLITAN

Tim Danielson, in a rare attempt at the 440, was first in :50.2 and added a 4:13.3 mile as Chula Vista ran away with the team championship with 63 points to runner-up Sweetwater’s 29.

The evening’s top mark was the U.S.-leading 1:51.8 by Hilltop’s Terry Rogers in the 880.

“No one told me my time at the 660 mark,” Rogers told Bill Weurding of the Evening Tribune, “so I was running mentally, according to the way I felt.  I didn’t believe it was that fast.  I still can’t believe it.”

GROSSMONT

Granite Hills outscored Helix, 66-58, fired by a triple win from sprinter Donald Evans, who won the 100 in :10, 220 in :23.2, and anchored a 1:30.3 victory in the 880 relay.

Evans’ teammate, George Brown, set a record with a 60-7 1/2 shot put.

Mount Miguel’s Pat Ela doubled with a 13-foot, 7-inch pole vault and a record 23-3 long jump.

Dan Ungricht of Monte Vista ran the 880 in 1:56.5, knocking 1/10 off the record he tied in the trials.

Rick Olander, the leading pole vaulter at 14-7, was byed into the CIF trials because of an injury.

AVOCADO

Vista’s Rick Fox set the pace with a 4:20.8 mile but Oceanside won the team championship with 49 points to the arch-rival Panthers’ 18.

PALOMAR

Mike Turnipseed, a Class B entry for Carlsbad, won the 100 in :09.8 and 220 in :21.7.

EASTERN

Several jumpers of beyond 23 feet would be cut to three for the San Diego Section trials.

Lewis King of Lincoln won at 24 feet, 2 ¾ inches.  Henry Woods of San Diego was second at 23-4 ¾ and Morse’s Arnie Robinson, who had a best of 24 feet, was third at 23-3.

Missing was San Diego’s Doyle Steel, who earlier had gone 23-9 ¾ but was sidelined with an ankle injury.

It was revealed that Eastern League coaches had voted prior to the meet to bye Steel into the CIF trials.  Robinson, who would win the 1976 Olympics gold medal, was out.

CIF commissioner Don Clarkson dismissed complaints, saying they were “league matters”.

SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS

5/22/66

About 450 competitors descended upon Balboa Stadium, where at the end of the day four records had been set, one tied, and the number of survivors for the finals was winnowed down to approximately 265 in 33 varsity, Class B and C events.

Chula Vista’s Tim Danielson continued undefeated and unchallenged, setting a section mile record of 4:08.2, closing in on his best of 4:08 in the 1965 state meet and better than Danielson’s 4:08.7 in the ‘65 San Diego Section trials.

Tall Point Loma junior Bob Chavez, bothered off and on since last season by a muscle pull, barged into the sprint conversation with a record :21.5 on the stadium’s curved 220, topping Byron Olander’s :21.6 in 1964.

Chavez, 10 yards behind on the anchor exchange, also caught and passed Granite Hills’ Donald Evans and brought the Pointers home in a Lincoln-and-San Diego-like 1:28.5 in the 880 relay.

SIBLINGS

Morse’s Harold Greenwood, younger brother of Hoover’s Norris and Lincoln’s Larry, tied the 1964 high jump mark of 6-8 by Hoover’s Eddy Hanks.

Carlsbad’s Mike Turnipseed ran the B 100 in :09.9, knocking down the :10 flat Turnipseed had run a year before.

Lincoln’s Doug Jones high jumped 6 feet, 5 inches, to improve on the B record of 6-2 3/4 by Arnie Robinson in 1964 and Jones the previous week.

Johnny Mack Ellis and Ted Scales of Lincoln were individual double winners.

Ellis ran :09.7 and :21.8 in the 100 and 220.  Scales tied with teammate David Edwards in :15.1 in the 120 high hurdles and won a 180 lows heat in :20.1.

Terry Rogers of Hilltop won one 880 heat in 1:52.3 and Tom Eklund of St. Augustine took the other in 1:53.3.

Lincoln led all varsity qualifiers with 17, Oceanside had 11 (to Lincoln’s 10) in the Bees, and Grossmont led the way with 9 (to Lincoln’s 8) in the Cees.

SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

5/29/66

Tim Danielson and Terry Rogers were forced to give up the limelight to the glare that was coming from the long jump pit.

Lincoln’s Lewis King drew a roar from the crowd of about 4,000 when he soared 24-5 1/4 early in the competition.

Doyle Steel, an injured nonparticipant in the Eastern League meet two weeks before and then quietly byed into the trials, suddenly became airborne and landed at a national-record 25 feet, 5 ½ inches, 1/4 inch beyond what a jumper from Pacific Grove, California, did in 1964.

Steel, whose jump could have been declared a foul, because he walked back through the pit before exiting, had gone a foot and a half further than his previous best of 23-11 ½.

Lincoln, paced  by Johnny Mack Ellis’ 0:9.8 100, :21.4 220, and anchor of the winning 880 relay team that tied the record of 1:27.2,  scored 65 points to 15 each by runners-up Chula Vista and Granite Hills.

RECORDS

TWO-MILE RUN

New: 9:10.8, Armando Valencia, El Cajon Valley.  Old: 9:17.8, Otis Martin, Lincoln, 1965.

120-YARD HIGH HURDLES

New: :14.2, David Edwards, Lincoln.  Old:  :14.4, Mike Swaim, Oceanside, 1963; Harold Burt, Morse, 1965.

HIGH JUMP

New:  6-8 ¼, Harold Greenwood, Morse.  Old:  6-8, Eddy Hanks, Hoover, 1964.

LONG JUMP

New:  25-5 ¼, Doyle Steel, San Diego.  Old: 24-5 1/4, Lewis King, Lincoln, 1966.

220

New:  :21.4, Johnny Mack Ellis, Lincoln.  Old: :21.5, Bob Chavez, Point Loma, 1966.

MILE

New: 4:06.2, Tim Danielson, Chula Vista.  Old:  4:08.2, Danielson, 1966.

880 RELAY

Tie:  1:27.2,  Lincoln (Lewis King, Leroy Davis, David Edwards, Johnny Mack Ellis).  Lincoln, 1962; San Diego, 1963.

STATE TRIALS, @BERKELEY

6/5/66

Lincoln had eight athletes in eight events and a total of 11 entries.

The Hornets were given a chance to win the team championship, although Los Angeles Dorsey and Pasadena Muir were favored, having come through the larger, more competitive L.A. City and Southern sections.

San Diego Section entries met with success in the Friday afternoon portion of the meet at 22,000-seat Edwards Stadium on the University of California campus.

Terry Rogers, Tim Danielson and Doyle Steele won their preliminary tests, as did Lincoln’s Johnny Mack Ellis, first in one of the 100-yard dashes.

Lincoln pole vaulter Mike Johnson was among qualifiers at 13-3 ½ in the pole vault.

The top three finishers in each of three heats and usually 11 or 12 in field events moved on to the finals. Parenthesis indicate place in respective heats, with San Diego Section qualifiers in italics.

NAME, SCHOOL	EVENT	TIME	LEADER
Ellis, Lincoln	100	:09.9 (1)	:09.8, Hill, Stockton Edison; Masters, El Cerrito; Underwood, L.A. Dorsey.
Belle, Lincoln		:10.0 (4)
Chavez, Point Loma	220	:20.9w (3)	Underwood, L.A. Dorsey. :20.5.
Ellis		:21.2 (2)
Ricketts, Granite Hills	440	:50.5 (9)	:47.5, Collett, Gardena.
Quinn, Lincoln		:50.3 (6)
Rogers, Hilltop	880	1:52.7 (1)
Eklund, St. Augustine		1:53.6 (3T)
Danielson, Chula Vista	Mile	4:18.7 (1)	Mattingly, L.A. Loyola, 4:15.9
Fox, Vista		4:21.1 (4)
Edwards, Lincoln	120HH	:14.2 (2)	Parish, L.A. Dorsey, :13.9.
Scales, Lincoln		:14.5 (4)
King, Lincoln	180LH	:20.2 (7)	Farmer, La Puente, :18.6.
Edwards		:19.0 (4)
Robinson, Morse	High Jump	6-4 (12T)	11 at 6-6.
Greenwood, Morse		6-4 (12T)
Steel, San Diego	Long Jump	24-3 ¾ (1)
King		22-11 ½ (11)
Brown, Granite Hills	Shot Put	58-6 ½ (9)	64-¼, Hubbell, Long Beach Poly
Rielly, Oceanside		49-8 (24)
Johnson, Lincoln	Pole Vault	13-3 ½ (1T)
Griffiths, Mar Vista		13-0 (17T)
Gold, Grossmont	Discus	156-8 /1/2 (14)	183-4 /12, Peters, Piedmont
Geer, Monte Vista		Fouled 4 throws
Point Loma	880 Relay	1:29.1 (3)	1:27.3, Garden Grove Bolsa Grande
Lincoln		1:28.7 (3)	1:27.5, L.,A. Manual Arts

6/6/66

FINALS

Tim Danielson, Doyle Steel, and Terry Rogers helped produce a San Diego Section record three gold medals, but Lincoln finished far down the pack with 3 points, two for Johnny Mack Ellis’ fourth place in the 100 and one for Otis Martin’s fifth in the two-mile run.

Rogers began the day holding off a late charge by Karl Henry of Rialto Eisenhower to win the 880 in 1:51.5, same time as the runner-up.

Steel had to rally on his last jump, reaching 25 feet, 3 1/4, to finally beat back the challenge of L.A. Loyola’s Henry Harris, who was leading in the final flight of jumpers at 24 -7 ¼.

Danielson was taking on superstar status.  He won the mile by at least 35 yards in a state meet record of 4:07.    Second place finisher Wally Mattingly of L.A. Loyola clocked 4:13.4.

San Diego Section scorers in italics.

NAME	SCHOOL	EVENT	TIME	WINNER
Johnny Mack Ellis	Lincoln	100	:09.7 (4)	:09.6, Underwood, L.A. Dorsey
Ellis		220	:22.0 (6)
Bob Chavez	Point Loma		:22.1 (6)
Terry Rogers,	Hilltop	880	1:51.5 (1)
Tom Eklund	St. Augustine		1:57.4 (10)
Tim Danielson	Chula Vista	Mile	4:07 (1)
Otis Martin	Lincoln	Two-Mile	9:10.1 (5)	9:01.6, Gamez, Berkeley
Armando Valencia	El Cajon Valley		Did not finish
David Edwards	Lincoln	120HH	:14.7 (8)	:13.9, Parish, L.A. Dorsey
Doyle Steel	San Diego	Long Jump	25-3 ¼ (1)
Lewis King	Lincoln		23-2 (6)
George Brown	Granite Hills	Shot Put	58-7 ¼ (8)	66-11, Hubbell, Long Beach Poly
Mike Johnson	Lincoln	Pole Vault	13-0 (14T)	15-3/4, Meyers, Sacramento Foothill
	Point Loma	880 Relay	1:33.4 (7)	1:26.4, Pasadena Muir
	Lincoln		Did not finish.

6/11/66

Danielson, Rogers, and Steel each competed in the San Diego Invitational, which included former Olympians and an international field.

Danielson continued to rock, finishing fourth in the mile in 3:59.4 and becoming the second high school runner after Jim Ryun in 1964 to break four minutes.

Terry Rogers was last in a six-man 880 field but his 1:50.4 was No. 6 all-time in the U.S.

Doyle Steel jumped 24-5 ½, behind Ralph Boston’s winning 25-3 and Gayle Hopkins 24-11, but Steele impressed track and field expert Dick Bank of Los Angeles.

“He looks like the guy who could take (world record holder) Boston’s place,” said Bank.

“This is the thing that impresses me,” Bank said of Steel, “the conditions weren’t good but he was jumping right with those guys.”

6/18/66

Danielson set a record of 8:55.4 in the two-mile at the Golden West Invitational for athletes from California and the U.S. in Sacramento.

Steele won the long jump at 25-5 and Rogers was the winner in the 880 at 1:51.8.crol

See additional narrative, 1966 Track I, by searching “Recent Posts”.