Divorced from the Southern Section after 47 years, the new San Diego Section was one of the smallest in the state, 28 schools, and found itself with one automatic qualifier for each event in the state meet.

The legislation by the state CIF ended the possibility, however unlikely, of as many as three in each event, the number which graduated to the state meet from the Southern Section in previous years.

One was more than enough this year. See the subhead 6/3/61 below.

3/3/61

Bill Jones’ 6-5 high jump bettered Jones’ 6-3 ½ Grossmont record a couple weeks before.  The latter topped Joe Page’s 6-3 in 1947.

Ed Speed sent the 12-pound shot 61 feet, 1 inch, but didn’t break the Grossmont school record.

Speed was close to Jim Wade’s 61-5 7/8, with which Wade placed third in the 1957 Southern Section championships.

Speed and Jones were not enough as Lincoln won the nonleague dual, 57 1/2-46 ½.

3/10/61

About 1,500 persons converged on Grossmont to see Compton Centennial win a heralded triangular meet with 59 ½ points to Grossmont’s 45 ½, and San Diego’s 27.

Marks were disappointing because of wind and a slow Foothillers track, but Centennial ran 1:27.8 in the 880 relay (San Diego was second in 1:30.8), fastest ever on a local track.

Grossmont’s Ed Speed reached 61 feet in the shot put and Bill Jones won a high jump duel with the Apaches’ Cleve Liddell.  Jones cleared 6-4 and Liddell 6-3.

—Scott Knox ran the 880 in 2:01.8 and anchored Coronado to a 1:32.8 and school-record-tying 880 relay victory in a 58-46 loss to Chula Vista.

3/14/61

Ed Speed set a County record of 61 feet, 6 ¼ inches in the shot put, his third meet with an attempt of at least 61 feet, and Bill Jones high jumped 6-5 in Grossmont’s 82 ½-21 ½ win over Granite Hills.

Granite Hills’ Ray DeBolt bettered two Grossmont runners with a 2:00.5 880.

—Vernus Ragsdale raced to a :09.9 100 and :51.6 440 and Del Cooper logged wins of :15 and :20.4 in the 120-yard high and 180 low hurdles, and Lincoln topped Kearny, 79-25.

Three Lincoln broad jumpers, Walter Scott (22-10) and sophomores Donell Belcher (22-8 ½), and James Kennedy (22-1/2) swept the event.

3/19/61

Grossmont (large schools), Lincoln (medium), and Mar Vista (small) were the division winners in the seventh annual National City Relays at Sweetwater.

Several outstanding running marks eventually were not recognized because the Sweetwater track was discovered to be yards short of a standard 440-yard oval.

3/24/61

“I just decided this morning,” said Point Loma coach Ed Thomas.  “I don’t think I’ve ever made a wiser choice.”

The Pointers boss had taken a gamble and inserted Steve Brown, a virtually unknown Class B 1320 runner into the Class A mile. Brown responded with a 4:42.3 victory, providing the pivotal points in the 55 3/5-48 2/5 win over Clairemont.

The dual meet victory would clinch the Western League championship and atoned for the surprising loss in the 1960 showdown with the Chieftains.

4/1/61

Steady breeze denied records at Sweetwater in the sixth annual Easter Relays.

Lincoln’s Del Cooper ran a heat in the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.4 and Lou White of San Diego won the final in :14.5.

Both marks would have exceeded allowable breeze of 4.47 miles an hour had a wind gauge been present. Same with the :09.7 100 by Lincoln’s Venus Ragsdale in the heats, but Ragsdale won the wind-allowable final in :09.8, ahead of San Diego’s Thomas Phillips and Escondido’s Dave Blunt.

Lincoln’s 1:28.8 in the 880 relay and San Diego’s :42.8 in the 440 were records but meaningless because the Sweetwater track was yards short of a regulation 440 yards.

—Coronado was second among 15 schools with 15 points in the Laguna Beach Trophy meet.  Islander Scott Knox won the 440 in :50.9 and Norm Alm the 880 in 2:03.8.

4/7/61

—Jeff Moran ran :21.9, the season’s fastest 220, and bettered the Mission Bay record of :22.2 by Jim Cerveny in 1957 in an 86-18 rout of La Jolla.

—Lincoln’s 75 ½-28 ½ win over Hoover was marked by broad jumps of 23-4 by Walter Scott and 23-¾ by Ed Goodman.

—Mike Rudd of Point Loma hurled the shot 54-2, breaking the school record of 52-3 1/4 by  William Bradford in 1958.

4/12/61

Lincoln still held sway over San Diego, despite the loss of academic casualties Vernus Ragsdale and Del Cooper.

The Hornets defeated San Diego, 57-47, and just missed closing out the meet with a victory in the 880-yard relay.

The San Diego team of Eddie Logans, Raymond Dixon, Eddie Frost, and Thomas Phillips raced to 1:28.5 with a Lincoln foursome of James (Preacher) Johnson, Walter Scott, Ed Goodman, and Curtis Meekins a tick behind at 1:28.6.

—Clairemont’s John Stancil, Larry Godfrey, John Swallow, and Tom Rutkoske ran a school record 1:29.9  in the Chiefs’ 84-20 rout of Kearny.

—Jack Wilson’s :51.3 set a Helix 440 record as the Scots remained undefeated in dual meets, 77-26 over Sweetwater.

—El Cajon Valley’s Larry DePaul “won” a shot put competition against Mount Miguel with a toss of 49-6.  Assistant Mount Miguel coach Dick Ridgway, official judge of the event, ruled the attempt a foul because the shot landed outside the throwing area boundary.

El Cajon Valley would win the meet if the throw were ruled legal. El Cajon Valley coach Joe Brooks protested.  Days later the issue still was not resolved after a meeting of the San Diego Track and Field Officials’ Association at the Breitbard Athletic Foundation office.

Metropolitan Northern Division honchos eventually and surprisingly ruled in El Cajon Valley’s favor and the Braves scored a 53 1/3-50 2/3 victory.

4/21/61

Helix ended Grossmont’s streak of 29 consecutive Metropolitan League dual meet victories, 55 2/3-48 1/3.

Déjà vu.

The Highlanders were the last team to beat the Foothillers, 56 1/3-47 2/3, in 1957.

This Highlanders team clinched the meet with a 1:32.5 triumph in the 880 relay.

Grossmont’s trio of shotputters, Ed Speed, Brad Baer, and Dave Eichorst, usually good for a 9-0 sweep, had to be satisfied with a 6-3 scoring advantage.

A huge crowd of spectators lined the area around the competitors and saw Speed win at 59-7 ¾, but the Highlanders’ John Pottinger set a school record with his second-place 57-9 ¾.

Bob Vezza won the 100 in :10, 220 in :22, and advanced the school record to 22 feet, 6 inches, in the broad jump, and ran a leg in the relay. Vezza, Jack Wilson, and Larry Aiken staked Charles Hahn to a 10-yard lead at start of the relay anchor leg.

Hahn, who earlier set a school record of :51.2 in the 440, managed to hold on for the relay victory despite an unofficial :21 flat anchor by Grossmont’s Steve Adams, who closed to within two strides of the leader.

—Dave Price a future 60-foot thrower with the collegiate and international, 16-pound implement, reached 54-4 in the shot put for Clairemont.

4/28/61

Mission Bay’s Jeff Moran ran a school-record :09.8 100 in the Buccaneers’ 78-26 loss to Clairemont. The Chieftains’ John Stancil edged Moran in a :21.9 220.

—Walter Scott broad jumped 23-9 and teammate Ed Goodman 23-3 as Lincoln wrapped  the Eastern League championship, 82 1/3-21 /2/3, over Crawford.

—Point Loma claimed the Western league dual title, 59 ½-43 ½, overcoming Komet Bob Richardson’s double in the low hurdles (:20.3) and high jump (6-3/4).

—Granite Hills’ Ray DeBolt won an 880 showdown with Mount Miguel’s Gerry Mavrinac, running a career best and besting his rival by 10 yards in 1:59.7.

5/2/61

Helix’ John Pottinger became the all-time, sixth 60-foot thrower in the area, reaching 60-1 ¾ with the 12-pound shot in a Southern Division dual at Mount Miguel.

5/5/61

Chula Vista’s Gary Coleman logged a 4:29.8 mile, but Helix, lifted by John Pottinger’s 59 3 3/4 shot put, won the dual meet, 66-37.

–Grossmont’s Ed Speed went 58-7 in the shot and the Foothillers raked Sweetwater, 94-10.

–Escondido won the Vista Relays with 54 points. El Cajon Valley’s Mike Graves, the area leader at 13-6 in the pole vault, did not begin competing until the bar was at 13 feet and missed all three attempts.

5/9/61

LEAGUE TRIALS

EASTERN, @CRAWFORD

Lincoln, the dual-meet champion, led with 15 qualifiers, followed by San Diego with 14, but the Cavemen sustained one of the day’s biggest setbacks.

Thomas Phillips, third in the Southern Section finals 100 in 1960, pulled a muscle winning his 100-yard dash heat in :10.1.

Phillips scratched from the 220 but hoped to run the 100 and relay in the league finals in three days.

San Diego’s Lou White ran a not-wind-aided season-best :14.6 In the 120-yard high hurdles.

WESTERN, @CLAIREMONT.

Clairemont led with 19 qualifiers eight more than runner-up Point Loma.

Best event of day was a 440 heat in which Point Loma’s Ron Steele (:50.3) edged Clairemont’s Larry Godfrey (:50.9).

5/9/61

METRO NORTHERN DIVISION, @EL CAPITAN

Escondido’s Dave Blunt, who turned out for track this season after playing baseball for three years, ran the 220 in :21.8 and won a 100 heat in :10.1.

“I think when he goes against some of those city sprinters he’ll improve even more,” said Cougars coach Charlie Bonebrake, whose squad qualified 14, behind El Cajon Valley’s 17.

Granite Hills’ Ray DeBolt, a favorite in the 880, with a best time of 1:59.7, switched to the mile and won his heat in 4:36.

DeBolt was the Southern Section champion in the Class B 660 in 1960  in 1:23.8.

METRO SOUTHERN DIVISION, @GROSSMONT

Helix and Grossmont each qualified 13 entries, but top mark went to Mount Miguel’s Gerry Mavrinac, who logged a 2:00.1 880.

AVOCADO LEAGUE, @VISTA

Scott Knox of Coronado raced to a :50.3 clocking in the 440 for the day’s top performance.  Teammate Norman Alm won an 880 heat in 2:04.7.

Knox and the Islanders led with 17 qualifiers.  Defending champion Mar Vista had 14.

5/12/61

FINALS

WESTERN LEAGUE, @LA JOLLA

Clairemont won the team title before about 1,500 persons at Scripps field on the Vikings’ campus.

John Stancil surprised teammate Larry Godfrey and Point Loma’s Ron Steele with a 440 win in :50.2 and Dave Price put the shot 54 feet, 2 ¾ inches.

The Chieftains outscored Point Loma, 63 1/2-51, although the Pointers’ Ray Alexander doubled in the 100 and 220 in :10.1 and :22.6 and anchored the winning 880-yard relay team to a 1:33.6 victory, and Steve Brown won the mile in a season-best 4:36.5.

EASTERN LEAGUE, @BALBOA STADIUM

Curtis Meekins’ :09.8 100, :22.2 220, and the last leg of a winning, 1:30.2 in the 880-yard relay led Lincoln to the team championship.

The Hornets outscored San Diego, 79 1/2-44 ½.

Hoover half milers John Garrison and Ralph Havens, ran 1-2 in the 880, Garrison winning in 2:00.4 to Havens’ 2:00.6.

Lou White ran :14.9 and :20 to win both hurdles races. White’s San Diego teammate Thomas Phillips, third in Southern California in 1960, was unplaced in the 100 but ran a leg on the relay despite a muscle pull sustained in Tuesday’s trials.

AVOCADO LEAGUE, @VISTA

Scott Knox logged a :50.0 quarter mile and Coronado outscored Mar Vista, 76 ½-56 ½, for the team championship.

Norm Alm won the 880 in 2:04.4 and the Islanders completed their domination with a 1:32.2 win in the 880 relay.

SOUTHERN PREP, @CAMP PENDLETON

Matt Burnett (:15.5, :19.9, 19-11 ½) won three events, highs and low hurdles and broad jump, to lead Army-Navy to the team title with 73 points to Ramona’s 49.

METRO NORTHERN DIVISION, @ESCONDIDO

Dave Blunt broke the oldest record on the books, running :21.4 in the 220, erasing the :21.5 by Oceanside’s Bill Huntales in 1937.

Blunt also won the 100 in :09.9 and anchored the host Escondido Cougars to a 1:31.8 win in the 880 relay.

El Cajon Valley’s Mike Graves, who couldn’t muster 13 feet in the Vista Relays one week before, cleared 14 feet in the pole vault, top mark in Southern California.

Escondido outscored El Cajon Valley, 59 3/4-56 ½, for the championship.

METRO SOUTHERN DIVISION, @Chula Vista.

Ed Speed of Grossmont and John Pottinger of Helix drew a crowd around the shot put ring.

Speed’s 60-10 effort had been bettered only by his 61-6 ¼ earlier this season.  Pottinger was second at 59-8 7/8.

Sixth-place Bill Burnett of Helix reached 52-5 1/8, which would have been first in the Eastern, Avocado, and Southern Prep leagues.

Grossmont edged Helix in the team race, 48 ½-45 ½.

5/19/61

SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @KEARNY

A sprint duel was promised when Lincoln’s Curtis Meekins won his heats in :09.9 and :21.6 and Escondido’s Dave Blunt won his in :09.9 and :21.7.

Coronado’s Scott Knox became the favorite when he ran the 440 in :49.7.  Point Loma’s Ron Steele won his heat in :50.7.

Casualties included San Diego’s 880-yard relay team, disqualified for passing out of its lane; Walter Scott, 23-10 broad jumper from Lincoln, and Mount Miguel half-miler Gerry Mavrinac.

Lincoln led with 13 qualifiers.  Clairemont was next with 8.

5/26/61

SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @KEARNY

Only one record was accepted in any sprint race as wind blew off the Kearny Mesa.

Escondido’s Dave Blunt won the 100 in a wind-aided :09.7 but his :21 flat 220 was under the legal limit of 4.47 miles an hour.

Scott Knox of Coronado won the 440 in :49.2, fastest ever in San Diego County, and bettered the school record of :49.5 by John Fawcett in 1937.

The day’s outstanding performance was the 14-foot, 3 ½-inch pole vault by El Cajon Valley’s Mike Graves, who also was competing on a runway that had the breeze at his back.

Lincoln won the team championship with 28 points to San Diego’s 22.

6/3/61

Three of the 12 San Diego entries, one for each event, scored in the morning-afternoon, 43rd state track meet at East Los Angeles College.

Mike Graves of El Cajon set a meet record of 14 feet, 2 ¼ inches, in the pole vault.

“I was pretty sure of myself,” said Graves.  “I wasn’t sweating too many people.   Figured once I got over 14 feet I could win it.”

Collectively this was the finest group of prep vaulters in one setting.  The next four tied at 13-10, marking the first time any group of five had gone that high.

Lou White of San Diego was fifth in :14.5 in the 120-yard high hurdles. Bill Jones of Grossmont tied for fifth in the high jump at 6-4.

None of the other San Diego competitors finished better than eighth (Crawford’s Bill Rainey, 1:58 in the 880).  Granite Hills’ Ray DeBolt ran his best time, 4:26.8 in the mile, but was ninth.

BETTER DAYS AHEAD

Escondido’s Dave Blunt was unplaced in the 100 trials in the morning and qualified at :21.5 in the 220, but was ninth in :22.2 in the final.

Blunt continued on in track at the University of Oregon and was one of the nation’s top 220 runners, finishing fourth in the national collegiate meet in 1965 with a wind-aided :20.7.

 

San Diego could have locked up another Southern California championship, but the Hillers, who had won team titles in 1929, ’38, ’41, ’42, and ’48, were outscored by a tall timber topper from Glendale Hoover.

Hurdler, jumper, and anchorman Jack Davis scored 19 of the Tornadoes’ 24 points, leaving the defending champion Hillers in second place with 16 points.  Third was Grossmont, with 13.

The 6-foot, 3-inch Davis, who earned Olympic silver medals in the 110 meters in 1952 and ’56, was a four-time national collegiate hurdles champion at USC and held the world record of :13.4 in 1956.

Davis became a real estate developer who also helped found the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista in 2007 and lived on Point Loma for many years before passing in 2012.

Meanwhile, coach Bill Patten’s San Diego squad and Jack Mashin’s Grossmont thinclads dominated the Coast League, and Sandy MacLaren’s La Jolla Vikings were a Metropolitan League power.

Grossmont’s Duane Pusey’s 13-foot, 3/8-inch pole vault was third highest in the country and Hal Norris’ 57-1 shot put was fifth.

2/24/49

Hal Norris of Grossmont put the shot 53 feet, 8 inches, and Hal Espy of San Diego ran the 100-yard dash in :10.1 in the first annual San Diego High Relays at Balboa Stadium.

Grossmont scored 56 points in Class A, 56 ½ in B, and 54 in C to sweep the field.  San Diego was runner-up in all three classifications with 41, 55 1/2, and 34, respectively.

3/4/49

Jerry Mock doubled in :10.2 and :23.5 in the 100 and 220 and Metropolitan League favorite La Jolla defeated Point Loma, 65 ½-38 ½.

3/15/49

Duane Pusey set a school record with a pole vault of 13 feet, 3/8 inches, and Hal Norris put the shot 53-1 ½ in Grossmont’s 81 2/3-22 1/3 win over Hoover.

The Foothillers won 11 of 12 events, with Alan Archard and Jim Weed doubling for wins in the hurdles and dashes, respectively.

Jerry Mock won the 100 in :10.5, 220 in :23.1, and the shotput at 46 feet in La Jolla’s 79 2/3-24 1/3 win over Sweetwater.

Ken Farnsworth ran :15.3 in the 120-yard high hurdles and :22 in the 180 lows, and Kearny outscored Escondido, 61-42.

3/18/49

Point Loma almost won out and wiped out Oceanside, 101-3, with a cumulative advantage of 248-19 in A, B (86-4), and C (63-12) in a Metropolitan League meet.

3/19/49

San Diego (34 ½) and Grossmont (21 ½) were 1-2 in large schools’ team scoring and La Jolla (35) won the small-schools competition in the 28^th Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach.

Charlie Davis won the 100-yard dash in :10.3 and contributed to the Hillers’ other first place, a 1:33.6 effort in the 880 relay.

Hal Norris was first in the shot put at 54-4 ¾ and Duane Pusey cleared 12-6 in the pole vault for Grossmont’s firsts.

La Jolla’s Jerry Mock won a 100 heat in :10.4.  Teammates Jesse Estrada, 880 heat in 2:02.3, and Riley, mile in 4:44.2, also were victorious.

3/27/49

San Diego beat visiting Compton 75 2/3-28 1/3, as Charlie Davis won three events with season bests, 10 seconds in the 100, :22.8 in the 220, and 22-6 ¾ in the broad jump.  Davis finished his day anchoring San Diego to a season best 1:32.9 relay.

John Davis of the Hillers reached 52 feet, 3 inches in the shot put and Albert Rodin cleared 12-8 in the pole vault.

3/29/49

Hank Cagle squeezed in between two Grossmont runners for second place in the 880 and that was the difference in San Diego’s 52 2/3-51 1/3 showdown dual meet victory over Grossmont.

The Cavers still had to win, as expected, in the 880 relay.  Charlie Davis, Herb McClister, Darnes Johnson, and Hal Espy clocked a season best 1:31.7.

Dick Swanson also came through for San Diego with a 4:38.9 mile. Hal Norris’ season best 55-1 ½ led the Foothillers. 

4/2/49

Jim Weed and Alan Archard combined to separate Grossmont from Compton in a 62-42 victory at the Northern school. The duo scored 23 points.

Archard doubled with wins of :20.5 in the low hurdles and 20 feet, 6 inches, in the broad jump, and was second in the high hurdles.

Weed won the 440 in :51.8 and 100 in :10.2.

–Fentriss Neal set a school record of :52.3 in the 440 but Chula Vista bowed to Point Loma, 58 ½-45 ½.  Homer Broome doubled in :10.3 and :22.6 in the 100 and 220 for the Pointers.

4/8/49

La Jolla swept Classes A, B, and C and improved to 6-0 in all three divisions in a Metropolitan League dual at Escondido.

The Vikings of coach Sandy MacLaren defeated the Cougars, 89-14, in A, 70 ½-24 ½ in B, and 45-32 in C on the Grape city team’s layout.  Escondido had been unbeaten in Class C.

Jerry Wood, Jesse Estrada, and Jerry Mock wheeled for six individual victories.

Wood won the 120-yard high hurdles (:15.6) and 180 lows (:21.6), Estrada the 880 (2:06.3) and broad jump (20-6 ½), and Mock the 100 (:10.1) and 220 (:23.1).

–Hoover dropped a Coast League dual at Compton, 69 ½-32 ½, but the Cardinals’ Malcolm Herbert turned in the best time of the season, clocking :15.2 in the 120-yard highs.

4/20/49

Alan Archard tied for first in the 120-yard low hurdles in :13.3.  Hal Norris hurled the shot 53-11 ½, and Duane Pusey pole vaulted 12-9 as the traveling Foothillers outscored Pasadena, 70 ½-32 ½, and Pasadena Muir, 92 ½-10 ½, in a Coast League triangular.

–San Diego dominated Hoover, 79 2/3-24 1/3, in a Coast League dual under the lights in Balboa Stadium.

Malcolm Herbert of Hoover ran the year’s fastest high hurdles race, :15.  Dick Swanson of San Diego ran the mile in 4:39.4.

4/21/49

Fentriss Neal won the 100 in :10.3 and set a school record of :22.7 in the 220 in Chula Vista’s 64-40 win over Kearny.  Ken Farnsworth doubled in the hurdles (:15.4 and :20.3) for the Komets.

4/22/49

With Grossmont out of the Metropolitan League and now a member of the Coast, the coast was clear for La Jolla and the Vikings made a clean sweep of dual meets.

La Jolla beat Oceanside, 93-11, in class A, 89-5 in B, and 57-20 in C to finish with a 7-0 record in all classes.

4/23/49

San Diego did not win an individual event but rolled with its winning relay team (1:31.7) and piled up seconds, thirds, and fourths, and took the championship with 43 ½ points at the Compton Gold Cup invitational.

Grossmont was fourth behind the Hillers, Compton, and Long Beach Poly, with 23 points. Hal Norris set a meet record of 56-4 in the shot put and Duane Pusey was first in the pole vault at 12-9.

4/27/49

Grossmont qualified 24 entries in Class A.  San Diego had 17, Compton 13 and Hoover 11 in the Coast League trials at San Diego State.

Malcolm Herbert of Hoover set a meet record of :20.1 in the 180 low hurdles and Hal Norris of Grossmont bettered the shot put record with a toss of 55-2 1/2.

4/28/49

La Jolla and Point Loma, 1-2 in the dual meet season, each qualified 13 entries in the Metropolitan League trials at San Diego State.

Chula Vista’s Fentriss Neal, one of the league’s best sprinters, was forced to withdraw because of illness, depriving a matchup with La Jolla’s Jerry Mock, who took the lead in the 100 with a time of :10.

4/30/49

COAST LEAGUE FINALS, @COMPTON

Coach Jack Mashin, aptly known as the Fox of the Foothills, saw his Grossmont High squad surprise in the Coast League finals with a team-leading 69 1/2 points.

San Diego, the regular-season champion and a one-point dual meet winner over Mashin’s group, was second with 52. Compton had 38 and Hoover 11 ½.

Grossmont’s Alan Archard set a school record of :15.2 in the high hurdles and won the lows in :20.1, each time defeating favored Armstrong of Compton and Malcolm Herbert of Hoover.

The Foothillers’ Hal Norris set a meet record with a shot put of 56-6 ½.  Teammate Jim Weed took the 440 in :51.2.  Class B shot putter, sophomore Clyde Wetter, posted a record 51-3 with the 10-pound weight.

SOUTHERN PREP FINALS, @VISTA

San Dieguito scored 122 1/3 points, with second-place Vista far behind with 70 points.

Jack Albrecht of Army-Navy put the shot 45-7 ½ and Williams of Ramona ran the mile in 4:58.2 for meet records.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE, @SAN DIEGO STATE

5/2/49

Eddie Davis of Chula Vista ran the mile in 4:35.7, breaking the school record of 4:39.2, set in 1946, but La Jolla continued its dual-meet dominance with 62 points and won the team championship.

Jerry Mock of La Jolla was a double winner at :10.2 in the 100 and :22.5 in the 220.  Ken Farnsworth of Kearny also doubled, winning the high hurdles in :15.5 and lows in :20.9.

5/7/49

San Diego led all qualifiers with 10 in the Southern Section Divisional trials at San Diego State.

The Hillers’ 880 relay team of Charlie Davis, Herb McClister, Darnes Johnson, and Hal Espy clocked 1:31.6, their best time of the year.

Charlie Davis edged La Jolla’s Jerry Mock in a :10.1 100 and Mock topped Davis with a :22.2 220.  The Hillers’ Rudy Graham won the broad jump at 21 feet, 6 inches.

Competition involved qualifiers from the Coast, Imperial Valley, Metropolitan, Southern Prep, and Sunset leagues.

5/14/49

Jerry Mock of La Jolla was a double winner in the Divisional semifinal meet at San Diego State, winning the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.2.

San Diego High was the unofficial team winner with 25½ points, Grossmont second with 19, La Jolla third with 18, and Compton fourth with 15.

5/21/49

San Diego’s defending Southern Section team champion finished second to Glendale Hoover, which had 24 points to the Hillers’ 16.  Grossmont was third with 13.

The meet at Long Beach Wilson saw the Tornadoes’ Jack Davis win the high hurdles (:14.5), lows (:19.2), finish second in the broad jump (23-7 ¼), and anchor the winning relay team (1:29.8) as Davis, trailing San Diego’s Hal Espy by two yards at the baton exchange, got to the tape two inches ahead of Espy, according to the report by the Los Angeles Times’ John De La Vega.

–San Diego had the same relay time as the winner.

–Jerry Mock of La Jolla was third and Charlie Davis of San Diego fifth in the 100, won in :09.9 by Russ Miller of Long Beach Poly.

–Eddie Davis of Chula Vista was third in the mile, won in 4:30.6 by Bob Simon of Pomona.

–Jim Weed of Grossmont was fifth in the 440, won in :50.6 by Jerry Borlin of Glendale Hoover.  Duane Pusey of Grossmont won the pole vault at 12-6 and teammate Dave Smith tied for third at 12 feet. Alan Archard was fifth in the 180 lows.

–Hal Norris of Grossmont was second in the shot put at 56-10 ½, won at 57-9 ¼ by future world record holder Parry O’Brien of Santa Monica.

–John Davis of San Diego was third in the shot put at 52-10. Hal Espy was second, four yards behind Miller of Long Beach Poly, who won the 220 in :21.5.

5/28/49

The 31^st state meet at the L.A. Coliseum was in the evening following afternoon trials.

–Hal Norris reached a career high of 57-1 in the shot put, ahead of Southern Section champ Parry O’Brien’s 55-2 3/4 and second to the 57-3 1/3 of Merced’s Elmer Wilhoite.

–John Davis of San Diego was sixth in the shot at 53-3 ¼.

–Norris was fourth at 45-9 1/2 and Davis fifth at 45-4 5/8 in the exhibition 16-pound shot, won by O’Brien at 47-11 ¼.

–Hal Espy of San Diego was fifth in the 220 in :22.1.  The 880 relay squads of San Diego and L.A. Jefferson were disqualified for lane violations in the trials.

–Duane Pusey was second in the pole vault at 12-9, won by Bob Widman of Harbor City Narbonne at 13-4 ½.  Grossmont’s Dave Smith tied for fifth at 12-3.

 

The thinclads were so good that several made national lists.

Roscoe Cook of San Diego High held the national record in the 100-yard dash, if only for a few days.  Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny came close to the national record in the 880-yard run.

Bobby Staten, Jim Wade, Luther Hayes, Ed Buchanan, and Dick Verdon also made their marks and would remain historic names.

San  Diego and Hoover still were entrenched powers in the City Prep League, but Lincoln, in its third year, established itself. County leagues Avocado and Metropolitan had their moments, but urban forces held sway.

The Cavemen of coach Birt Slater won the Southern California team championship for the first time since 1948, outscoring heavily favored Compton Centennial.

2/15/57

Lincoln announced itself as a City Prep League contender, winning 10 of 12 events in a 74-29 win at Chula Vista.

After the dual meet Tom Rice, the coach of the Spartans, requested that Lincoln coach Walt Harvey not report the results to the downtown newspapers.

Unbeknownst to the coaches, I was there as a representative of the Lincoln High Buzz and collected $5 for reporting the results to The San Diego Union.

It was my first newspaper reporting payday.

The small story included the byline By Ricky Smith, Lincoln High correspondent.

Rice. who passed away  in Coronado at  age 100 in 2023, was surprised and unhappy.  Harvey, after seeing the result published and hearing from Rice, gave me a very mild rebuke.

Chula Vista’s Ed Fabisak had the day’s best mark, a school record of 4:36.4 in the mile.

2/21/57

A show of City Prep League power:  San Diego rocked Grossmont, 76-28.

—Kearny defeated St. Augustine, 74-30.

—Hoover beat Sweetwater, 71 ½-32 ½.

—Mission Bay edged Oceanside, 58 ½-45 ½.

Roscoe Cook doubled in the 100-yard dash (:10.3) and 220 (:23.4) and got the Cavers off to a good start on the first leg of a 1:32.4 relay victory.

Dick Verdon pushed the shot 55-6 in Hoover’s win and Sweetwater’s George McElvain turned the 440 in :51.8.

2/26/57

Luther Hayes (6-foot, 2-inch high jump) and Russ Boehmke (:23.4 220) set school records as Lincoln beat El Cajon Valley, 70-34.

Jim Cerveny ran :51.7 in the 440 in Mission Bay’s 62-42 win over St. Augustine.

3/3/57

The ninth annual City Prep League relays were canceled because of wet grounds in Balboa Stadium.  San Diego High coach Birt Slater said the event would not be rescheduled.

3/5/57

Ed Buchanan, a junior at Kearny, raced himself into the sprint picture with a :09.7 in the 100 at Lincoln, which defeated the Komets, 62-42.

Buchanan returned to traverse the Lincoln curve in a eye-opening :21.2 220.

But the time for the race was exaggerated because there was no smoke from the starter’s pistol.  Smoke is seen before the sound, so timers, on the other side of the track, went with the delayed noise.

Hoover routed La Jolla, 92 ½-11 ½.  Dick Verdon pushed the shot a school-record 56 feet, 5 inches, almost an inch better than what Verdon reached in 1956.

3/8/57

More than 1,000 athletes in large and small schools divisions, including a sizable contingent of San Diego entries, converged on Huntington Beach High for the 36^th Southern Counties’ Invitational.

Rain had everyone running for cover after two events.  Compton Centennial’s Preston Griffin won the small schools 100 in :10 and Los Angeles Mt. Carmel Mike McKeever pushed the shot 55-9 ¼.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny and Jim Stewart of Sweetwater were second and third in the 100 and Larry Himmer of Sweetwater was fifth in the shot put.

The meet would not be rescheduled, according to Huntington Beach athletic director Alvin Reboin, former 1920’s star at Roosevelt Junior High in San Diego.

3/13/57

Ed Buchanan was not available, so Larry Ray took charge, winning the 100 in :10.3 and 220 in :22.6 and helped the winning relay team (1:35.2) as Kearny beat Point Loma, 68 1/3-35 2/3.

3/15/57

Dick Verdon set a County record of 60 feet, 10 inches, and led Hoover to an impressive 55-49 victory over Lincoln.  The score would have been 60-44 had not the Cardinals been disqualified for a lane violation in the relay.

“I didn’t think I was big enough to throw sixty feet,” said the 200-pound Verdon. In bettering his best of 56-5 1/8, Verdon served notice with practice throws of 58 feet.

Mike Madrigal and Denny Berg followed Verdon, giving Hoover a sweep and adrenaline charge early in the meet.  The Cardinals finished off the Hornets when Bill Stephenson and Chuck Hansen went 1-2 in the 180 low hurdles.

Despite the loss Lincoln still set three school records.  David Grayson won the 100 in :10.1, Bill Hultz the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.2, and Russ Boehmke the 220 in :22.7.

3/16/57

The third annual National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays were washed out by rain, joining the Southern Counties Invitational and City Prep League relays as weather casualties.

3/19/57

A triangular meet that had been scheduled at El Cajon Valley between the host Braves, San Diego, and Compton Centennial, which had come South for a dual meet with Grossmont in 1955, was postponed because of rain.

3/21/57

El Cajon Valley was not available, but San Diego and Centennial met in Balboa Stadium.

The Apaches won eight of 12 events and the meet, 60-44.  Roscoe Cook of the Cavers was second in the 100 and 220 and third in the broad jump.

Cook was stunned when he set a school record of 23-10 in the jump but was third, behind the 24-6 1/4 by Preston Griffin and 23-11 by John Blaylock of the visitors.

San Diego’s Bobby Staten won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.2 and added a strong anchor leg in the relay, although Centennial won in 1:28.8 to the Cavers’ 1:29.

San Diego’s other victories came in the shot put, in which Bobby Hatcher reached 48-5; mile, with Ralph Holt running 4:46.5, and high jump, with Andrew Willis tying three Centennial jumpers at 6-feet, 2 inches.

Cook and the Cavemen would get another shot at Griffin and Centennial later.

3/23/57

Kearny’s Ed Buchanan posted the fastest 220 of the season, :21.5 on the Chula Vista straightaway and Kearny won, 83-21.

Sweetwater’s Jim Stewart logged a :09.9 100 and :22.7 220, but Helix hung on to win, 54-50, after a sweep and 9-0 start in the 120-yard high hurdles, paced by Gael Barsotti’s :15.8.

Larry Himmer set a Sweetwater record of 50 feet, 1/2 inch in the shot put.

Hoover routed Point Loma, 86 ½-17 ½, as the Cardinals’ Chuck Hansen ran :14.9 in the high hurdles and Bill Stephenson :19.5 in the lows. Dick Verdon got to 57-3 in the shot put.

3/26/57

Wendell (Bill) Ernest set a school 220 record of :22 and Larry Williams bettered the shot put record with a 51-6 ½ heave in Helix’ 69-35 win over defending Metropolitan League champion El Cajon Valley.

3/27/57

Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny ignored his favored 880 and set Mission Bay records of :22.2 in the 220 and :49.6 in the 440 in the Bucs’ 58 2/3-45 1/3 win over Point Loma.

3/29/57

Sixteen-year-old Jim Wade, 6 feet, 5 inches, 210 pounds, hurled the shot 58-6 ½ after reaching 60 feet in practice and Grossmont went on to a 79-25 win over Chula Vista.

3/30/57

Lincoln stunned San Diego, 56-43, winning seven of 12 events.  The Hornets also finished first in the 880 relay but both teams were disqualified because of lane violations.

Luther Hayes doubled for Lincoln at 6-1 1/4 in the high jump and 23-3 in the broad jump. Scott Archibald set a Lincoln record of 50-5 ½ in the shot put.

3/31/57

Six meet records were bettered in the South Bay Relays at Sweetwater, where a carnival of events’ results were mostly team cumulative.

Helix’ Bill Ernest topped Sweetwater’s Jim Stewart in the featured 100-yard dash in :10.1.

Grossmont was the team leader with 36 ½ points, followed by El Cajon Valley,  29 ½.

4/5/57

Helix trailed, 46 2/3-42 1/3 with two events remaining against Grossmont, but sophomores Morris Nunez and Vic Berg led a 1-2 Highlanders finish in the mile and Bill Ernest anchored the Scots to a 1:32 flat win in the 880 relay and Helix had its first dual meet win over Grossmont, 55 1/3-47 2/3, clinching a tie for the Metropolitan League championship.

San Diego bombed Point Loma, 88-16, and, after winning the 880 relay, extended the race for another 880 yards, timing 3:01.9.

The eight runners were Fred Jackson, Art Buchanan, Richard Engler, Earl Kellough, Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, Roscoe Cook, and Bobby Staten.

El Cajon’s Max Cheney ran a 1:59.4 880 but Hoover won the dual meet, 68 1/3-35 2/3.

4/9/57

The gap between the City and the Metropolitan League was glaring as Hoover won nine of 12 events and tied for first in another, and eased past Helix, 68 ½-36 ½.

4/12/57

City competitors were warming as was the weather.

Jim Cerveny took the national lead in the 880 with a 1:55.9 clocking.  San Diego’s Roscoe Cook ran :09.9 in the 100 and Bobby Staten :21.4 in the 220.  Lincoln’s Luther Hayes broad jumped 23 feet, 4 inches.

Cerveny and Mission Bay were on the receiving end of an 86-18 loss to Hoover, Kearny of a 79-25 loss to San Diego, and Grossmont of a 67 1/3-36 2/3 loss to Lincoln.

Curtis Tucker set a Lincoln record of :10 in the 100 and anchored a 1:30.7 record relay victory. Bill Hultz (:15) and Ronnie Grey (:19.5) also set school records in the 120-yard highs and 180-yard low hurdles.

4/26/57

Cleavon Little, destined for Hollywood and a legendary role in the movie “Blazing Saddles’, was credited with a broad jump of 23-4 in the Komets’ 61-38 win at La Jolla.

Bob Reynolds of Kearny became the sixth pole vaulter in county history to clear 13 feet.  Reynolds thrust was measured at 13-1/8.

El Cajon Valley’s Bill Logan cleared 13-6 in 1956, preceded by four San Diego High athletes:  Bill Hubbard, 13-2, 1926; Bill Miller, 13-3, 1929, Bob Henderson, 13-0, 1936, and Bobby Smith, 13-2, 1947.

—San Diego routed Hoover, 65 1/3-38 2/3 and created a three-way tie with Lincoln for the CPL dual-meet championship.

Roscoe Cook won the 100 (:09.9), broad jump (22-3), and ran a leg on the Cavers’ relay team that won in 1:29.9.

“I’ve always thought San Diego had the best team, even though it lost to Lincoln,” a perspicacious Hoover coach Raleigh Holt told Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union, before the meet.

—Don Magoffin set an El Cajon Valley shot put record of 49-4 ½ and the Braves defeated Chula Vista, 69-35.

—Grossmont’s Jim Wade hit a career shot put high of 59-11 ¾ but Sweetwater won, 64-40, as George McElvain led the way with a :51.4 440.

—Bill Ernest doubled in :09.9 and :22.2 in the 100 and 220 and Helix whipped Mission Bay 67 1/3-36 2/3.  Jim Cerveny stepped up to the mile for the Buccaneers and logged a CPL best 4:33.7.

4/30/57

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Ed Buchanan ran the 220-yard dash on the Balboa Stadium curve in a record :21.6. San Diego’s Bobby Staten ran :21.8 in the previous heat, which also had bettered the mark of :21.9 by Grossmont’s Bert Kohnhurst in 1952.

Buchanan and San Diego’s Roscoe Cook earlier had tied the 100-yard dash record of :09.9, set by the Cavers’ Herman Thompson in 1954.

The :19.3 clocking in the 180-yard low hurdles by Staten tied Thompson’s 1954 record.

San Diego led qualifiers with 14, followed by Lincoln, 11, and Hoover, 8.

Helix qualified 17 in Metropolitan League trials at El Cajon Valley, followed by Sweetwater, Chula Vista and El Cajon Valley with 11 each.

Coronado qualified 12 and Oceanside 11 to lead Avocado League entries at Vista.

5/3/57

CPL FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego was first six times, tied for first in another event, and scored in 9 of 12 races and field events to win the team championship in the  with 59 points.

Lincoln had 44 ½ points and Hoover 43.  Kearny followed with 19 ½, Mission Bay with 10, La Jolla with 8, and Point Loma with 7.

Five meet records were set or tied:

–Lincoln’s Bill Hultz ran the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.8, topping :14.9’s by Hoover’s Bernie Nelson in 1953 and San Diego’s Leonard Kary in 1955.

–San Diego’s Roscoe Cook tied the often-equaled :09.9 100-yard dash and Bobby Staten equaled the 180-yard low hurdles record of :19.3.

Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny ran the 880 in 1:55, fastest in the nation, and bettered by two seconds the record Cerveny set in 1956

–Luther Hayes of Lincoln broad jumped 23 feet 10 ¾ inches, improving on his 23-9 ½ in 1956.

–The San Diego 880-yard relay quartet of Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, Cook, and Staten ran 1:28.3, bettering the 1:30.1 of Hoover in 1955.

Lincoln led the Cavers until Cook passed David Grayson coming off the turn on the third leg.

Staten was a double winner, topping 100 runner-up Ed Buchanan in a  :21.8 220.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

El Cajon Valley edged Helix for the team title, 56 ¼-49 ¾.

Jim Wade of Grossmont set a shot put record of 61-2, third best in the country. The league record was 59-8 ¼ by Grossmont’s Dick Bronson in 1954 and Bronson had broken the record of 57-3 by another Foothiller, Clyde Wetter in 1951.

AVOCADO LEAGUE

Coronado won the relay in a meet-record 1:32 to claim the team title with 39 points.  Oceanside had 38, as did Vista.

Ron Sjoberg of Vista set a record of :15 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

5/11/57

Five-hundred athletes from the City Prep, Metropolitan, Avocado, Southern Prep, Sunset, and Rio Hondo leagues, and independent St. Augustine were prepared to compete in the CIF Divisional meet at San Diego State, but were rained out.

5/14/57

Three days later the venue was Balboa Stadium.   Lincoln led with nine qualifiers, followed by San Diego and Hoover with six each.  El Cajon Valley had five.

Best mark of the day was a :19.2 in the 180-yard low hurdles by Bobby Staten of San Diego.  Grossmont’s Jim Wade hurled the shot 59-5 /34 and beat Hoover’s Dick Verdon, who reached 57-9 ¾.

5/21/57

El Monte Arroyo was site of a Divisional semifinal meet that was almost as good as a championship.

—Jim Cerveny had launched a chase of the national record of 1:52.3 in the 880 and set a CIF record of 1:53.9, better than the 1:54.7 of Claremont’s Ernie Cunliffe in 1955.

—Roscoe Cook, a :09.7 sprinter a year ago, finally got below :09.9, winning his heat in a season best :09.8 and defeating Alhambra’s Rusty Weeks, who ran :09.6 in another divisional the previous week.

—Hoover’s Dick Verdon won a shot put duel with Grossmont’s Jim Wade, reaching 59-10 ½.  Wade was second at 59-1/2.

—An unheralded Lincoln relay team of Russ Boehmke, David Grayson, Ronnie Grey, and Curtis Tucker also qualified in 1:29.2.  San Diego won its heat in 1:28.3.

There was elation and disappointment for Lincoln hurdlers.

Football and basketball standout Leonard Burnett, lowered his best time from :15.1 to :14.8 and qualified for the finals in the 120 highs.  Bill Hultz ran :14.7 in another, faster heat but was third and nonqualifying.

Cook and Bobby Staten each showed their competitiveness and savvy against Jerry McCullough of Riverside Poly, Carl Skavarna of Ontario Chaffey, and Rusty Weeks, who were favored in the 100, 220, and 180 low hurdles because of their times during the season.

Up ahead was the CIF finals with the imposing Preston Griffin, who ran :09.5 in the other divisional today and who would lead favored Compton Centennial.

5/26/57

Also Search 1957: Cook’s and Cavers’ Great Day.

San Diego outscored Compton Centennial, 19 ½-16 ½, for the CIF team championship, coming up tough against the Apaches’ Preston Griffin.

Griffin was favored in four events, 100 (tied by Roscoe Cook), 220 (edged Bobby Staten), 880 relay (beaten by San Diego), and broad jump, defeated by Lincoln’s Luther Hayes, who had a season best 23-11.

6/1/57

Jim Cerveny again was dominating, setting a state record of 1:52.7 in the 880 and topping the 1:52.9 by Don Bowden of San Jose Lincoln in 1954 but falling short of Bowden’s 1:52.3.

Luther Hayes of Lincoln won the broad jump at 23-8 ½. Jim Wade was third in the shot put at 60-7 ¼ and flashed potential in a post-competition exhibition, going 50-6 with the 16-pound shot.

The state wouldn’t not become a two-day meet until 1963. The morning-afternoon format was not good for San Diego.

Roscoe Cook and Bobby Staten were required, in a space of a few hours, to run several races.

Bobby Staten had virtually no rest, with only a five-minute interval after the 220-yard dash, and pulled out of the 180 lows.

Cook was third in the 100 in :09.7 to Griffin’s :09.6 and :09.7 by Taft Union’s Doug Smith.  Ed Buchanan of Kearny was fourth in :09.7 and fifth in the 220 in :21.7.

Staten was third in the 220 in :21.4 and ran a tremendous anchor leg in the relay, almost catching Berkeley’s Fred DeWitt, who brought the Yellowjackets home in 1:27 to the runner-up Cavers’ 1:27.2.

San Diego and Centennial tied for second with 10 points each, behind Berkeley’s 22.

Track and field made a  leap with multiple outstanding performances in several events. All five area qualifiers scored points in the greatest state meet in history, witnessed by about 4,500 persons on a 100-degree day in Chico.

—Coach Raleigh Holt’s Hoover Cardinals won another City Prep League championship with depth in every race, jump, and throw, headed by miler Bob Monzingo, who finished third at the state meet with an all-time County best of 4:20.7.

Monzingo and Lincoln’s Luther Hayes, Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny, El Cajon Valley’s Bill Logan, and Sweetwater’s Bill Walters were among state leaders and earned national rankings.

—El Cajon Valley, following Helix’ 1951 beginning, took a sizeable chunk of Grossmont talent and produced a first-year power that won the Metropolitan dual-meet championship and lost only to Hoover.

3/2/56

The eighth annual City Prep League Relays had a change of venue, moving from Balboa Stadium to Kearny, but the result was much the same as in 1955.

Hoover outdistanced San Diego with 66 points to 38 in  Class A, was runner-up to Lincoln in Class B, and dominated Class C.

Individual winners were La Jolla’s Lucian (Junior) Jackson in the 120-yard high hurdles and San Diego’s Roscoe Cook in the 100-yard dash.

Jackson tied the record of :15.1, set by the Vikings’ Jerry Wood in 1950, and Cook was first in :10.0.

Cook also ran the leadoff leg, connecting with Essex Hutton, Willie Jordan, and Bobby Staten, as San Diego raced 880 yards in 1:31.8, breaking the record of 1:32.2 by San Diego in 1951.

3/6/56

Dick Verdon pushed the 12-pound shot 55 feet, 4 ¾ inches, bettering his school record of 54-4 ¾ in 1955.

Verdon and his Hoover teammates eased past San Diego for the third time in four years, 60 ½-44 ½, winning seven of the 12 events and sweeping four.

Luther Hayes, who started at Lincoln in 1955, transferred to San Diego and was fourth in the Southern California broad jump, was back at Lincoln and jumped 22 feet in his first meet, an 82-22 victory over Point Loma.

3/10/56

LARGE SCHOOLS

Hoover’s Bob Monzingo smashed a 28-year-old mile record in the Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach High.

Monzingo covered the distance in 4:28.1, compared to the 4:29.4 by Santa Ana’s Harold Breeding in 1928.

Defending state 220 champion Bob Poynter of Pasadena won the 100 in :09.7, with San Diego’s Roscoe Cook second in 09.8.

Poynter returned to run :20.9 in the 220 with San Diego’s Bobby Staten second in :21.7.

Wes Hill of Point Loma broke the 880 record with a time of 1:59.8, better than the 2:00.5 by Bob Suess of the host school in 1952.

San Diego was seventh in team scoring with 19 points

SMALL SCHOOLS
First-year El Cajon Valley was second with 34 points to Compton Centennial’s 46. Lincoln was third with 13.

The Braves’ Max Cheney won one of two 880 races in 2:02.7 and Bill Logan was first in the pole vault at 13 feet.

Jack Ratelle finished second in :50.5 in one 440-yard dash and La Jolla’s Mike McCartney was third in another in :51.4.

3/13/56

Roscoe Cook ran the 100 in :09.9 and Bobby Staten the 220 in :21.9 as San Diego outscored visiting Sweetwater, 64 1/3-39 2/3.

Sophomore Windell (Bill) Ernest ran :10 flat in the 100 and :23.2 in the 220 and Helix topped Point Loma, 67-36.

3/16/56

Roscoe Cook logged :09.9 in the 100 and Bobby Staten doubled, winning the 220 in :22 and the 180-yard low hurdles in :20, but Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny made the big news with a school record, 4:37.7 mile.

San Diego won the City Prep League dual, 69 ½-35 ½.

3/18/56

Grossmont’s Jim Griswold ran 4:28.6 in the mile, but upstart El Cajon Valley outscored seven other teams at Sweetwater in the second annual South Bay Relays, a meet that copied the format of the CPL Relays.

The Braves scored 41 points, Grossmont 35, Helix 26 1/2, Chula Vista 23, Lincoln 20 1/2, Sweetwater 8, Mar Vista 6, and Coronado 2.

Griswold’s time was third fastest of the season in Southern California.

3/23/56

Bill Walters’ departure from San Diego High was even more acute.  Imagine an 880 relay team with Roscoe Cook, Bobby Staten, Walters, and Willie Jordan or Essex Hutton?

Walters became one of the fastest sprinters in Southern California after transferring to Sweetwater for his junior year in 1955.

That was punctuated by Walters’ :09.8 100-yard dash in the Red Devils’ dual meet with rival Grossmont.

There were six watches on Walters and all agreed on :09.8, according to Sweetwater coach Dick Coxe.

The visiting Foothillers won, 54-50, overcoming an 18-0, Walters-led Sweetwater sweep in the sprints.

Grossmont’s Jim Wade hurled the shot 51 feet, 8 1/2 inches, and Sweetwater’s Keith Luhnow broad jumped 21-7.

Walters also won the 220 in :22.1 and anchored a 1:32.6 win in the 880 relay.

4/6/56

El Cajon Valley, spoiling for success, knocked off Grossmont, 60-44, in a stunning statement of first-season success.

The triumph, coupled with Helix’ 68 ½-35 ½ win over Sweetwater, set up a Friday the 13^th dual meet for the Metropolitan League title.

Grossmont was feeling the effects of losing several Class B and C performers to the Braves of coach Joe Brooks.

The pain was similar to what the Foothillers felt when Helix opened in 1951 and took several stars and prospects in the realignment of enrollment boundaries.

Surprise of El Cajon Valley’s diversity was a :51.9 victory in the 440 by Lester Hudson, who was expected to run the 880.

Sweetwater expected to battle Helix on more even terms but 440 star and sprinter George McElvain, with a best of :51.5, was declared out for the season with an intestinal ailment.

The Red Devils’ Bill Walters won the 100 in :10 and the 220 in :21.7 in a pair of duels with Helix sophomore Bill Ernest.

Charlie Love won the 120-yard high hurdles (:16.3), 180 lows (:21.1), broad jump (19-2), and ran a leg on the winning relay (1:37.9) for 16 ¼ points in Coronado’s 77-27 win over San Dieguito.

4/10/56

Bobby Staten’s :19.5 in the 180-yard low hurdles was second fastest in Southern California and San Diego’s 1:30.2 in the 880 relay was third.

San Diego won a 71-33 dual-meet decision over La Jolla.  Staten also won the 220 in :22 and Roscoe Cook took the 100 in :10, while La Jolla’s Mike McCartney ran the CPL’s quickest 440, :51.1.

4/16/56

Third-year Lincoln was getting better but not ready for prime time.

The Hornets extended San Diego but the Cavers wrapped a 55-49 dual meet victory by winning the 880-yard relay in 1:30.6.

Luther Hayes was first in the broad jump, edging San Diego’s Roscoe Cook, with a 22-3 effort and the Hornets’ Benny Sanders set a school record in the mile, 4:39.1.

4/18/56

Jack Ratelle of St. Augustine lowered his County-leading 440 time to :50.1 in a meet at Sweetwater. Surveys years later determined the Red Devils’ track was about three yards short of a full quarter mile.

Sweetwater won the triangular meet with 51 1/3 points to 33 1/3 for St. Augustine and 19 for La Jolla.

4/20/56

T.C. Johnson of Kearny and Jim Cerveny of Mission Bay set school records in Kearny’s 53-51 victory.

Johnson high jumped 6 feet, 3 1/8 inches, and Cerveny ran 1:59.3 in the 880.

Hoover shaded El Cajon Valley, 57 ½-46 ½ in a dual of arguably the best teams in San Diego County.

The Braves’ Doug Benson tied his school record of :09.9 in the 100.

Charlie Love of Coronado won the 120 high hurdles in :15.2 and set a school record of :20 in the 180 lows in the Islanders’ triangular triumph, 52 1/3 points to Escondido’s 44 5/6 and Oceanside’s 31 2/3.

4/23/56

El Cajon Valley won the Grossmont League showdown with visiting Helix, 58-46, to earn at least a tie for the Metropolitan league dual-meet title.

Helix sophomore Bill Ernest tied his school record of :09.9 in the 100 and set a school record with a :22.1 220.  Ernest also anchored the Scots to a school-record 1:33 in the 880 relay.

Ernest’s teammate, Gael Barsotti, also ran a leg on the relay and set a school record of 5-11 in the high jump.

4/24/56

Roscoe Cook logged :09.9 in the 100-yard dash and Bob Waterhouse broad jumped 22-3/4 as San Diego scored a 72-32 win over St. Augustine.

4/26/56

Don Brizendine’s :51.8 in the 440 broke the Chula Vista record of :52.3, set in 1949 by Fentriss Neal.  The Spartans beat Helix, 55-49.

4/27/56

Hoover wrapped a 6-0, City Prep League season with an 88-16 win over Mission Bay, which could point to an emerging Jim Cerveny, who set an 880 school record for the second time, 1:57.5.

Bob Waterhouse broad jumped 22 feet, 7 ¾ inches, taking the team lead from Roscoe Cook, who earlier had jumped 22-6 ½ as San Diego defeated Kearny, 70-34.

Had he not transferred back to Lincoln, Luther Hayes would have made it a trio of outstanding jumpers at San Diego.  Hayes set a Lincoln school record with a jump of 23-5, best in the County since John Parker leaped 23-9 1/2 at San Diego in 1951.

Sweetwater tied a school record of 1:31.5 in the 880 relay but Grossmont won the Metropolitan loop dual, 69-35.

5/1/56

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln was a surprise leader with 15 qualifiers, followed by Hoover, 13, San Diego and La Jolla, 8 each, Kearny, 5, and Mission Bay, 3.

San Diego’s Bobby Staten tied the 100 record of :09.9 record, set in 1954 by the Cavers’ Herman Thompson.

The Cavers’ scoring chances in Class A were diminished when Roscoe Cook moved down to Class B, in which he set a record of :10 in the 100, bettering Cook’s and Bill Walters’ :10.1 in 1955.

Chuck Hansen of Hoover ran :09.1 in the 70-yard high hurdles and Lincoln’s Eddie Hartman logged 1:24.9 in the 660.

Cook returned to run :22 in the 220, a B record for the Balboa Stadium curve.  Alfred Woerner of San Diego ran :21.6 on the Kearny straightaway in 1955, aided by over-the-limit wind.

Kearny’s George Williams leaped 21 feet, 11 inches in Class B.  Field event finals were in B and C.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE TRIALS @SWEETWATER

Grossmont’s Jim Walton hurdled the 180-yard lows in :19.6, bettering the :19.8 by La Jolla’s Art Barnard in 1947.

Eight records were set in Classes B and C which held finals in field events.

 CLASS B

Armstrong of Grossmont went 52-1 in the 10-pound shot put, topping his record of 51-3 ½ in 1955.

Doug Benson of El Cajon Valley equaled the 100 record of :10.2, set in 1948 by Jerry Weed of Grossmont and equaled by Grossmont’s Jim Walton in 1955.

CLASS C

Jerry Carlton of Grossmont hurled the eight-pound shot 56-10, topping a mark of 50 feet in 1950.

Joe Rubidoux of El Cajon Valley’s :13.9 in the 120-yard low hurdles bettered a :14.1 from 1939 and his 20-2 1/8 broad jump improved on a 20-1 1/2 in 1937. Teammate Wendell Maize ran 1:28.7 in the 660.

An :18.7 in the 180-yard dash by Paul Adams of Helix smashed a record of :19.7 in 1948. Jim Stewart of Sweetwater ran :10.1 in the 100, breaking a 19-year-old record.

5/4/56

Laguna Beach won the eighth annual Vista Relays, outscoring a field of 12 teams with 41 points.  Vista was second with 36 ½, followed by Tustin, 32 ½, Escondido 28, and St. Augustine 26.

Also in the Vista field were Valencia, Army-Navy, Ramona, Fallbrook, San Dieguito, Oceanside, and Mar Vista.

5/6/56

AVOCADO LEAGUE FINALS, @ESCONDIDO

Charlie Love did all he could but Vista won the team title with 56 7/10 points to Coronado’s 49.

Love tied the meet record with a :15.5 triumph in the 120-yard high hurdles, set a meet record of :19.9 in the 180 lows, won the broad jump at 20-1 ¼, and anchored the Islanders’ 880 relay team to a record 1:34.3.

Five other meet records were set, including a 51-foot shot put by Coronado’s Jon Crawford and 2:03 880 by Vista’s Knox.

The high jump saw five contestants in an event won at 5-9 ½ tie for third, resulting in points rounding out to tenths.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS, @CHULA VISTA

Coach Tom Rice’s Chula Vista Spartans were surprising winners of the team championship, outscoring dual meet champion El Cajon Valley, 42 3/8-42 1/8.

Sweetwater’s Bill Walters came from behind to top Helix’ rising sophomore Bill Ernest in a :09.9 100 and won the 220 by 10 yards in  :21.6.

Walters’ 100 was off the meet record of :09.8, set by Oceanside’s Bill Huntales in 1937.  Walters also came close to the 220 record, held by Point Loma’s George Able, who ran :21.5 in 1938.

Wendell Maize of El Cajon Valley topped the record he set in the Class C trials with a 1:27 in the 660.  Max Cheney of the Braves lowered the B 660 to 1:26.3 and Bill Hudson the B 1320 to 3:19.7.

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Dual-meet champion Hoover needed a sweep of the mile and victory in the 880 relay to pass Lincoln, 50 points to 42, and win the team title.

Bob Monzingo bettered the meet record of 4:31.8, set by Kearny’s Jim Weir in 1954, with a time of 4:30.1, leading teammates John Thinnes and Bob Larsen.

The Cardinals also won the 880-yard relay in 1:32.2.

Luther Hayes’ 23-foot, 9 1/8-inch broad jump bettered the record of 23-6 by John Parker of San Diego in 1951.

Jim Cerveny’s 1:57 880 lowered the standard of 1:58.9 by Grossmont’s Jim Giyer in 1954, and McCartney’s 50-second 440 erased the :50.7 by Lee Buchanan of Kearny in 1954.

Point Loma’s Wes Hill set a fast pace with a :56 first quarter, but Cerveny pulled even in the final 200 yards and ran down Hill coming home, with the Pointer second in 1:57.4.

Roscoe Cook equaled his :10 flat 100 and anchored a 660 relay that tied the Southern California record of 1:07.  Cook’s teammates included Essex Hutton, Jiro Sato, and Willie Jordan.

Chuck Hansen of Hoover tied his Class B 70-yard high hurdles record of :09.1 and the 120-yard low hurdles record of 13.3 by Kearny’s John Rushing in 1951.

5/14/56

SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL, @SAN DIEGO STATE

Grossmont’s Jim Griswold was timed in 4:27 in the mile and finished third to Fullerton’s Grady Neal (4:25.7) and Hoover’s Bob Monzingo (4:26.3).

SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL SEMIFINALS, @ONTARIO

Roscoe Cook bettered Southern Section Class B records with a :9.7 100 and :21 flat 220 at Chaffey High, but the century record was disallowed because of a 5 miles-per-hour tail wind.

Cook, with an allowable breeze less than 4.447 m.p.h., took down the 220 record of :21.6 by Hoover’s Clyde Yakel in 1937.

San Diego’s 660-yard relay team bettered the CIF record with a time of 1:06.8 but was disqualified because Cook was judged to have cut in too soon on a Montebello runner.

Sophomore Windell (Bill) Ernest surprised with a :09.7 100 that edged San Diego’s Bobby Staten and Sweetwater’s Bill Walters.  Only two advanced in each race.

Walters came back to win his 220 heat in :21.1.

5/28/56

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS, @INGLEWOOD

For a while it appeared San Diego had earned at least a tie for the Class B title after Roscoe Cook’s :09.8 and :22 flat sprint victories and a third in the 100 by Essex Hutton.

But a post-meet review of film of the race showed that a Long Beach Poly runner had earned a fourth in the 100-yard dash and the Jackrabbits won the championship with 14 1/2 points. San Diego and Rosemead had 13 each.

Cook was the only winner from San Diego, but Luther Hayes tied for first with Compton’s Bobby Smith at 22-9 ¾ in the broad jump.

Hayes was hampered by the extremely short broad jump runway at Inglewood High, forcing Hayes to start his approach beside an adjacent fence.

6/2/56

STATE MEET, @CHICO

Bill Logan of El Cajon Valley upset the field with a 13-foot, 6-inch pole vault, tying for first place after finishing second in the Southern Section the week before at 13-3 ½.

Bob Monzingo of Hoover ran 4:20.7 and was third behind Ron Larrieu of Palo Alto (4:20.1) and Grady Neal of Fullerton (4:20.6) in the mile.

Luther Hayes was fourth in the broad jump at 24 feet, 1/8 inch and Jim Cerveny tied for fifth in the 880 at 1:54.4, joining Monzingo as County record holders.

Sweetwater’s Bill Walters was fourth in the 220 in :21.3.

All five San Diego-area qualifiers earned points.

 

 

The lower classifications held sway.

Grossmont was the Southern Section team champion in Class B and most of the area’s future Class A champions were underclassmen, at least a year or two away.

Hoover was enjoying a period of dominance in CPL dual meets, routing San Diego, 64 1/3-39 2/3.  Grossmont also defeated the Cavers, 79 5/6-24 1/6.

Birt Slater took over for the retired Bill Patten as coach at San Diego High, destined to excel in this role and as a future head football coach at Kearny.

San Diego lost the potential for a big finish in the championship meets when Bill Walters, outstanding in the short races as a sophomore in 1954, transferred to Sweetwater and was the County leader with a :09.9 100-yard dash.

3/3/55

Two future stars, sophomore sprinters Bobby Staten and Roscoe Cook of San Diego, ran 1-2 in the 100-yard dash, but Hoover ran, jumped, and tossed its way to first place in the annual City Prep Relays in Balboa Stadium.

The Cardinals were first in the combined, three-man broad jump, shot put, and mile relay, showing strength on the track and in the field events.

Hoover scored 65 points to San Diego’s 45, and Kearny’s 44. La Jolla followed with 17. Lincoln and Point Loma had 10 each and Mission Bay 8.

Staten beat Cook in a :10.2 100 and teammate Leonard Kary topped La Jolla’s Junior Jackson in a :15.2 120-yard high hurdles race.

Hoover jumpers Denny Hill, Choc Sportsman, Jr., and Rod McMillan combined to reach a record 62-3 ¼ in the broad jump. Hill had the best jump, 21-3 ¼.

3/5/55

SOUTH BAY RELAYS

The first annual at Chula Vista High was similar to the established City Prep League Relays. Totals were combined for three-man events.

Bill Walters, who showed promise at San Diego High as a sophomore, was outstanding for Sweetwater, his new school.

Walters won the individual 100-yard dash in :10 and anchored Sweetwater to wins in the 440 and 880 relays.

Grossmont won the team title with 68 points, followed by Chula Vista, 38, Sweetwater, 36, Helix, 17, and Mar Vista, 5.

Grossmont’s Rene Rogers won the individual mile in 4:48.8 and teammate Jerry Kocourek the 180-yard low hurdles in :20.8.

3/9/55

Hoover’s Bob Monzingo beat Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny in a 4:47.6 mile in a race of future stars.

Hoover had most of the stars, winning 92 1/3-11 2/3.

La Jolla was losing a huge link to talent in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach as Mission Bay would fill out a senior class in the next school year.

But not yet. The Vikings socked Point Loma, 71 ½-32 ½, behind a couple diverse performers.

Mike McCartney won the 440 in :55, the 180 low hurdles in :20.8, and was third in the broad jump. Junior Jackson won the 120 high hurdles in :15.5 and the shot put at 46 feet, 1 inch.

McCartney and Jackson ran the last two legs of the relay, which Vikings won in 1:35.3.

3/10/55

Bernard Harrod won the 220 in :22.3, 440 in :51, and anchored the winning relay (1:33.8) but San Diego claimed the dual meet, 54 ½-49 ½.

3/12/55

Bill Walters of Sweetwater split races with Compton Centennial’s Ken Dennis, winning the 220 in :21.4 after Dennis took the 100 in :09.9 in the 34^th Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach High.

Rene Rogers of Grossmont won one of the mile races in 4:31.

San Diego’s Leonard Kary was second in high and low hurdles races that were won in :15 and :19.7.

Hoover’s John Haley was second in an unofficial :21.6 to the 220-winning time of :21.5 by Joe Graham of Pomona.

North Phoenix pole vaulter Lee Bullard cleared 13-5 1/8, breaking the record of 13-3 by San Diego’s Bill Miller in 1929.

Sophomore Jim Brewer, Bullard’s teammate, cleared 13-0 and two years later would become the first prep to top 15 feet.

Walters joined San Diego’s Jimmy Willson (1929), Morris (Mushy) Pollock (1933), and Darnes Johnson (1950) in a group that had traversed the furlong in :21.4.

San Diego’s Glenn Willis (1942) and Grossmont’s Bert Kohnhurst (1952) ran :21.5.

Another San Diego runner, Harold Miller, clocked a wind-aided :21.2 in 1947.

3/17/55

Hoover stood only 5-16-1 since 1932, when the dual meet series started, after its 64 1/3-39 2/3 win over San Diego, but the victory was the Cardinals’ second in the last three seasons.

Leonard Kary of San Diego ran :14.8, the fastest 120-yard high hurdles of the season.  Kary also won the 180-yard lows in :20.2.

Hoover’s John Haley doubled in the sprints (:10.2, :22.7) and anchored the fastest 880-yard relay of the season, 1:31.7.

3/18/55

Lincoln outscored Point Loma, 57 ½-45 ½, in its CPL opener and celebrated its first-ever dual meet win after a 0-5 debut in 1954

Charlie Cox doubled in :10.3 and :23.8 in the 100 and 220 for the Hornets.

–John DeMarco flirted with the all-time CPL record, 12-foot, 5 1/16 inches by Helix Jim Terry in 1952.

The Kearny pole vaulter went over 12-3 1/8 in a 62 ½-42 ½ loss to La Jolla.

3/26/55

La Jolla won 5 of 12 events but was buried under an avalanche of Hoover depth, 71-33, in a meeting between unbeaten squads.

Bob Monzingo set a Hoover record of 4:34.2 in the mile and sophomore Dick Verdon set a shot put record of 54-4 ½, beating his older teammates, Tony Procopio and John Adams.

–Grossmont swarmed Mar Vista, winning the varsity dual, 97-7, Class B, 89-8, and Class C, 72-5.

3/30/55

Leonard Kary ran :14.8 in the 120-yard high hurdles and :20.6 in the 180 lows in San Diego’s 78-26 win over St. Augustine.

Alfred Woerner defeated sophomore teammate Roscoe Cook in a :10.1 100, won the 220 (:23.5), and hooked up with Cook as part of a 1:32.6 triumph in the 880 relay.

4/1/55

Grossmont took on Compton Centennial, a second-year school which already had already had won CIF Southern Section championships in track (1954) and football (1954) and would win this season in track.

The Apaches of coach Bill Gill won eight events and the dual meet at Grossmont, 59 ½-45 ½.

The Foothillers’ Rene Rogers logged a 4:30.9 mile, tops in the area this year.

–Darrel Sager’s 1:59.8 in the 880 and George McElvain’s :51.8 in the 440 set school records and McElvain was part of a foursome that included Eddie Vega, Waco Thrower, and Bill Walters that set a standard of 1:31.5 in the relay

–Lincoln was improving.  The second-year school was an 88 1/3-15 2/3 victim of powerful Hoover, a better result  than 1954’s 99-4 Hoover victory.

John Adams, Hoover’s 205-pound football star, equaled a City Prep League best when he clocked :10.2 in the 100. Adams returned to win the 220 in :22.6.

–Gil Bartell’s 2:03.4 880 and Jim Cerveny’s 4:45 mile set Mission Bay records, although La Jolla won the CPL dual, 74-28.

 

4/15/55

Grossmont and Sweetwater headed for a Metropolitan League collision, both undefeated after impressive victories.

The Red Devils defeated Chula Vista, 73-31, as Bill Walters won the 100 in :09.9, the 220 in :22.2, and anchored a 1:32.2 victory in the 880 relay.

Darrel Sager broke the school record in the 880 for the sixth time in the last two seasons, recording a 1:59.4 clocking.

–Hoover clobbered Point Loma, 94 2/3-9 1/3, as John Haley became the first CPL competitor  this season to run the 100 in 10 seconds.

4/22/55

Grossmont stunned Sweetwater, 75 ½-28 ½, in the big Metropolitan League dual, with Jerry Koucerek leading the way.

Koucerek won the 120 high hurdles in :15.4, 180 lows in :20.5, broad jump at 21 feet, 2 inches, and was a member of the school-record 880 relay squad that finished in 1:32.

Rene Rogers set another Grossmont record, winning the mile in 4:26.0 and bettering the all-time County best of 4:26.8 by San Diego’s Al Heredia in the 1939 state meet.

4/26/55

San Dieguito lost the relay as Vista set a school record of 1:36.4, but the Mustangs had enough points before the race and clinched the Avocado League dual-meet championship, 52 2/3-51 2/3.

Mustang Phil Medina won the high hurdles (:16), broad jump (19-7) and 440 (:53.1).

4/27/55

Denny Hill took the County lead with a 22-foot broad jump and Hoover completed an undefeated season with a 79-25 win over Kearny.

4/28/55

Bob Coon set a Chula Vista record of 2:01.3 in the 880-yard run, but the Spartans took an 80-24 licking from undefeated Grossmont in the season’s final dual.

Darrel Sager set another record for Sweetwater, but not in the 880.  So named “The Stork”, Sager strolled the mile in 4:34.3 and the Red Devils defeated Mar Vista, 86 2/3-13 1/3.

4/29/55

Luther Hayes, a sophomore mid-semester transfer from Lincoln, knocked Hoover’s Denny Hill from his two-day lead in the broad jump, reaching  22 feet, 1 inch, in the final dual meet of the season.

Hayes also won the 440 in :54.4 and ran a leg on the winning relay team (1:33.6) as San Diego defeated Point Loma, 72-31.

5/3/55

LEAGUE TRIALS

Sweetwater’s Bill Walters ran :21.5 in the 220 in the Metropolitan League preliminaries at Chula Vista.

Grossmont sent 41 entries in Varsity, Classes B, and C to the finals. Chula Vista actually had more varsity qualifiers, 16 to the Foothillers’ 14.

Jerry Koucerek tied a Grossmont record of :15.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

THOSE KEARNY MESA BREEZES

San Diego’s Alfred Woerner ran the 100 in :10 and 220 in :21.6, marks that would have set CPL Class B records but were aided by the usual wind at Kearny.

Hoover led all varsity qualifiers with 17, followed by La Jolla, 11.

San Diego’s Roscoe Cook (:10.1) and Bobby Staten (:22) had faster 100 and 220 times in Class B than that of varsity heat winners.

5/6/55

CPL FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Hoover romped to the team championship with 78 points to 36 for La Jolla, but the action was in Class B.

A team of Roscoe Cook, Dennis Russell, Alfred Woerner, and Bobby Staten covered the 660 relay in 1:07, setting a CPL record and tying the Southern Section meet record.

Hoover’s Bob Monzingo ran the B 1320 in 3:15.6, which tied the CIF meet record but was short of the City Prep League mark of 3:15.1 by Grossmont’s Rene Rogers in 1954.

CIF records could be set only in divisional or championship meets.

The Hoover quartet of Willie Kaufman, Bob Agnew, John Adams, and John Haley covered the 880 relay in 1:30.1, better than the 1:30.6 by San Diego in 1954.

La Jolla’s Cookie Taylor, with an all-time best of 6-4 in the high jump and the 1954 Southern Section Class B champ, did not qualify for the Divisional meet the next week.

T.C. Johnson of Kearny won at 5-9 ¾ and Taylor had more misses than the two jumpers with whom he tied for second.  Three qualified in each event.

AVOCADO FINALS, @ESCONDIDO

San Dieguito, with 45 ¾ points, took the team title in the first-year league.

Charlie Love of Coronado was a triple winner, :15.5 in the 120-yard high hurdles, :52.3 in the 440, and 20-5 ½ in the broad jump.

METROPOLITAN FINALS, @CHULA VISTA 

Grossmont swept all three classifications and qualified 46 entries in next week’s CIF Divisional meet.

Rene Rogers’ 4:24.3 mile smashed the record of 4:35.7, set by the Foothillers’ Jim Giyer in 1953 and bettered Rogers’ 4:26 County record.

Another Grossmont mid-distance runner, John Kershaw, won the 880 in 1:57.9.

Chula Vista’s Bob Coon trailed Rogers with an unofficial time of 4:33.

5/14/55

Hoover (15) and Grossmont (12) led in varsity qualifying on a cold, blustery Divisional day at San Diego State.

La Jolla’s Mike McCartney won a 440 heat in :51.5.  John Kershaw of Grossmont and Bob Gallaher of Hoover won 880 trials in 2:01.3 and 2:01.4, respectively.

Leonard Kary of San Diego (: 15, :20.3) and Junior Jackson of La Jolla (:15.3, :20.4) were winners in heats of the 120-yard high hurdles and 180-yard lows.

Ray Hiscock of St. Augustine led shot putters at 53-8 ½, and Hoover ran 1:30.7 to lead the 880 relay.

5/17/55

Rene Rogers became the Southern California leader with a 4:21.7 mile in the Divisional semifinals at Huntington Beach.

Rogers’ time threatened the CIF meet record of 4:21.2 by Torrance’s Louie Zamperini in 1934.

Grossmont placed 13 athletes in Classes A, B. and C for the championship meet later in the week.

Bill Hammond of Grossmont set a Class B pole vault record at 12 feet, 11 inches, and teammate Jim Walton set a school record of :13.3 in the 120-yard low hurdles.

San Diego’s Roscoe Cook won his 100-yard dash heat in :10.2 and teammate Bobby Staten rook a 220 race in :22.2.  Both ran on the wining, 1:07.8, 660-yard relay squad.

Hoover’s Bob Gallaher qualified at 1:58.8 in the 800 and Bob Monzingo won his 1320 heat in 3:14.6.

Leonard Kary of San Diego set the pace in the Class A hurdles, winning in :14.6 and :19.4.  Hoover’s relay team won in 1:30.2.

5/21/55

Gorgeous, perfect weather at Ontario Chaffey for the CIF championships.

Junior Jackson was fifth in the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.7, one tenth of a second off the school record of :14.6 by Jerry Wood in 1950.

Compton Centennial’s future San Diego Chargers great Paul Lowe won a tight duel with San Diego’s Leonard Kary, tying the meet record of :18.9 in the 180 low hurdles, with Kary nosing out Lowe’s teammate Ken Thompson for second in :19.

Rene Rogers of Grossmont led until tying up in the final 180 yards in the mile.  Newport Beach Newport Harbor’s Tod White came on to win in 4:23.2 and Rogers barely hung on for second in 4:25.9.

Sophomore Luther Hayes, who was running 440s for Lincoln early in the season and before transferring to San Diego, was fifth in the broad jump at 21-9, off his County-leading 22-1.

St. Augustine’s Ray Hiscock was fifth in the shot put at 55-1, a school record.

Riverside Poly won the 880 relay in 1:28.2, with Hoover third in 1:29.0.

FOOTHILLERS EXCELL

Grossmont won the Class B championship with 18 points, ahead of Compton Centennial, 17, and San Diego, 13.

Jim Wade won the shot put at 52-10 ½, with teammate Armstrong third at 50-11 ¼.  Bill Hammond was first in the pole vault at 12-9 and teammate Bill Logan tied for second at 12-6.

Bobby Staten of San Diego won the 220 in :21.8, followed by the Cavers’ Alfred Woerner. Roscoe Cook was third in the 100 and fifth in the broad jump at 21-3 ¼.

Hoover’s Bob Monzingo was second and Mission Bay’s Jim Cerveny third in the 1320, behind the record 3:11.9 of

Newport Beach Newport Harbor’s Don Beatty.

San Dieguito tied for fifth with 9 points in Class C as Funaki tied the 1938 meet record of :13.4 in the 120-yard low hurdles and was third in the broad jump at 20-9 ¼.

5/28/55

STATE FINALS @LOS ANGELES COLISEUM

Area representation could not have been thinner in the 35^th state meet at the Los Angeles Coliseum, scoring only from San Diego hurdler Leonard Kary.

Kary won his heat in the 180 lows in :19.3 in the morning trials and was third in the afternoon final in :19.4, behind Compton Centennial’s Paul Lowe (:19.2) and Los Angeles Jefferson’s Willie White (:19.3).

Grossmont’s Rene Rogers was a non-scoring sixth in the mile and Hoover was eliminated in its heat in the 880-yard relay.

San Diego High bounced back with a 7-0 dual-meet record after a mediocre season in 1953 and finished fourth in the CIF Southern Section championships.

It was a fitting farewell for coach Bill Patten, whose teams annually were among the best in Southern California since he became head coach in 1944.

Patten’s teams posted a 61-6-1 record in dual meets and from 1946, when postwar competition lengthened the season, through 1954 the Hillers finished at least in the top five in team scores at the Southern Section championships every year but 1953.

San Diego was second three times, third twice, and fourth once.  They won the team championship in 1948 and thought they were first in 1951 until a film review changed the final score.

FASTER, FURTHER

Times and distances were improving each year.

Herman Thompson of San Diego ran the first :09.7 100-yard dash and the first :19.2 180-yard low hurdles, although by all accounts Thompson received too much aid from a tailing wind.

Grossmont’s Dick Bronson set a record and ranked high nationally with a 60-foot, 4 1/2-inch shot put.  Jim Giyer of Grossmont was the first to shade 1:58 in the 880-yard run and Giyer and Jim Weir of Kearny ran the first sub-4:30 miles since 1939.

3/3/54

Darrell Sager of Sweetwater began what would become a frequent assault on the school record in the 880-yard run when he logged 2:07 in a 74 ½-29 ½ dual meet win over Escondido.

Grossmont coach Jack Mashin talked shotputting with Dick Bronson, Mel Kemp, and Richard Loftus (from left).

3/5/54

San Diego’s Herman Thompson won the individual 100 in :10.1 and Ron Wade of Grossmont took the 120-yard high hurdles in :16.0 in the City Prep League Relays. Other races and field events were scored by the teams’ three-man, combined efforts.

Thompson, Ardell Finley, and Bill Walters averaged 20 feet 8 inches, and won the broad jump.  Three Grossmont shot putters, Dick Bronson, Richard Loftus, and Mel Kemp, averaged 53 feet, 8 inches.

Grossmont won the team championship with 65 points to San Diego’s 45.  Hoover had 32 points, Kearny 27, Point Loma 20, and Helix 9.  La Jolla and Lincoln were shut out.

3/9/54

Grossmont made its CPL intentions even more clear when it topped defending dual-meet champion Hoover 67 ½-36 ½, and middle distance runners Jim Giyer and Rene Rogers pushed weightmen Dick Bronson, Mel Kemp, and Richard Loftus off center stage.

Giyer set a school record of 1:58.4 in the 880 and Rogers set a school mile record of 4:33.5.  Bronson won the shot at 55-1 ½.

La Jolla’s Billy (Cookie) Taylor set a school record of 6 feet, 4 inches, in the high jump, competing with the Class B squad, as La Jolla nipped Helix, 56-48.

Darrell Smith won the 800 in 2:00.5 and Vista beat San Dieguito, 61-43, in Metropolitan League dual competition.  Mark Shearer won the 100 (:10.5), 220 (:23.8), and anchored the Panthers to a 1:36.4 win in the 880 relay.

3/12/54

Darrell Sager’s Sweetwater school record in the 880 was lowered a third time from 2:05 to 2:04.8 and the Red Devils edged Coronado, 53-51.

3/14/54

Twenty-seven large schools, including San Diego, Hoover, and Grossmont, entered the 28^th annual Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach High.

Twenty-seven small schools, including Kearny, Vista, San Dieguito, Army-Navy, Fallbrook, La Jolla, and Coronado also were scheduled to compete.

Grossmont led a group of almost 100 entries from San Diego with 27.  Two-time small schools defending champion Kearny had 19.

3/15/54

Bolstered by Jim Giyer’s 4:29.9 mile, fastest of the season in Southern California, coach Jack Mashin’s Grossmont Foothillers were third.

The Foothillers scored 26 2/13 points, trailing Riverside Poly, which had 35, and Santa Ana, 27 2/13.

Grossmont’s power in the weigh event was prevalent as Dick Bronson won the shot put at 57-6 ¼, followed by Richard Loftus, third at 52-11 ½, and Mel Kemp, fourth at 52-6 ¾.

Rene Rogers was third to Giyer with a 4:31 mile and Parker Damon was second in the pole vault at 12-9.

Herman Thompson of San Diego finished second behind the :09.6 100-yard dash of Santa Ana’s Bill Swisshelm and Leonard Kary was second in the 120-yard high hurdles.

KEARNY FIRST, AGAIN

Kearny won the Southern Counties team title for the third consecutive year with 24 2/3 points to Hawthorne’s 19.

Charlie Cota won the pole vault at 12 feet, and Jim Weir took the mile in 4:34.  Paul Rushing was fourth in the 100 and Lee Buchanan third in the 440.

3/19/54

Grossmont took a rare trip to Long Beach Wilson for a triangular meet with the host Bruins and Santa Barbara.

Rene Rogers set a school record of 4:30.4 in the mile and Jim Giyer ran the 880 in 1:58.7 as the Foothillers won with 64 ¼ points to Wilson’s 55 ¾, and Santa Barbara’s 9 ½.

3/21/54

Don Wells set a school record of 50-1 in the shot put and miler Jim Weir showed what he could do at a shorter distance, running the 880 in 2:03.3 in Kearny’s 80-23 win over Lincoln.

4/2/54

It wasn’t raining but the wind blew and Herman Thompson flew at Point Loma, where San Diego was more hard-pressed than expected in a 60 ½-43 ½ dual meet victory.

Thompson set San Diego school records of :09.7 in the 100-yard dash and :19.2 in the 180-yard low hurdles.

Thompson also won the broad jump at 21 feet, 2 1/2 inches, and anchored the Hillers to victory in 1:33.5 in the 880-yard relay.

That Thompson was so significant did not go unnoticed by Point Loma officials, who were unhappy and had suspected San Diego High influence when Thompson transferred to the Hillers before his senior year.

Point Loma’s Tom Gueston set a school record of 6 feet, ¾ inches in the high jump and Ray Blasingame was second to Thompson’s windy low hurdles in :19.5.

Grossmont’s Jim Giyer ran the Southern California season’s fastest 880, logging a school record 1:58 in a 73-31 win over La Jolla.

George Paddick of Grossmont took the County lead with a 21-9 ½ broad jump. Rene Rogers added a 4:32.5 mile and Dick Bronson a 56-9 ½ shot put.

Lincoln, which in years to come would be a power throughout the state, was feeling the struggle of growing pains.

Hoover came up one point short of a century in the carnage of a 99-4 rout of the Hornets.

There was no third-place scorer in the pole vault, denying the Cardinals, who had two entered in the event and Lincoln none, a 100^th point…and saved the Hornets from historic embarrassment.

4/6/54

Herman Thompson won three events and was part of a fourth as San Diego defeated Grossmont, 66 1/2-37 1/2.

Thompson ran the 100 in :10, 220 in :21.9, broad Jumped 21-6, and ran the anchor leg of a winning relay team (1:32.5).

La Jolla’s Cookie Taylor high jumped 6-4 in an 83 1/2-20 1/2 win over Lincoln.  Kearny’s Jim Weir logged a school-record, 4:29 mile and Don Wells joined Weir with a 51-9 1/2 shot put in a 60-44 win over Hoover.  Ed Perkins’ :10.1 100 tied Helix’ school record but Point Loma won the dual, 66-38, as Ray Blasingame cleared the 120 high hurdles in :14.8.

4/23/54

Grossmont coach Jack Mashin assayed the end of the shot put competition, in which Dick Bronson, a mid-40-feet tosser as a sophomore two years before, became the fifth U.S. prep to reach 60 feet, according event guru and historian Mashin.

The national record was set by Ontario Chaffey’s Don Vick at 62-5 ¼ in 1953.
Bronson’s throw, during Grossmont’s 73-31 win over Point Loma, was accompanied by George Paddick’s County-leading, 21-11 ¼ broad jump.

La Jolla’s Cookie Taylor won a duel with Kearny’s T.C. Johnson by clearing 6-3 in the high jump, but the Vikings lost, 63 2/3-40 1/3.

C.R. Roberts won his usual, unique triple in Oceanside’s 67-37 loss to Sweetwater.  Roberts clocked :10.8 in the 100, broad jumped 20-1 ¼ and claimed a personal best of 45 feet in the shot put.

4/26/54

Chula Vista earned its third consecutive Metropolitan League championship, 67 2/3-36 1/3, over visiting Vista.

The Spartans saved the best for last as a team of Benny Martin, Bill Lancaster, Don Moore and Wayne Eisenman set a school record of 1:33 in the relay.

Spartans coach Tom Rice said the relay win was “by one deep breath,” as Vista’s Mark Shearer almost caught Eisenman, who was staked to an eight-yard lead, according to Rice, when teams passed the baton for the final time.

Shearer set a Vista record of :10.2 in the 100 and won the 220 in :23.

4/30/54

Grossmont edged Kearny, 56 ½-47 ½, for second place and a 6-1 record in the CPL standings, but the Komets’ Jim Weir routed the Foothillers’ Jim Giyer and Rene Rogers, who had been unbeaten in the mile.

Weir’s time was 4:31.9 and his rapid pace took the finishing kick out of Giyer’s, who was second about 15 yards behind.

San Diego whipped Helix, 76-28, to clinch the dual-meet championship with a 7-0 record.  It was the last dual that retiring Bill Patten would coach.

Herman Thompson sat out the 100, won by Ardell Finley in :10.1, but won the 180 low hurdles in :19.5 and minutes later turned in the season’s fastest 220, :21.8, on the Helix straightaway.

5/8/54

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Herman Thompson was party to three of eight records starting with his :09.9 100 that bettered Thompson’s :10.0 in the CPL trials earlier in the week.

Thompson set a record of :19.5 in the 180 low hurdles in the trials and returned to negotiate the stadium curve and break the record again with :19.3.

Lee Buchanan of Kearny ran :50.7 in the 440, bettering a record of :51.5 by Buchanan and Point Loma’s Jesse Denny in the trials.

Jim Giyer of Grossmont ran the 880 in 1:58.9, better than his 1:59.9 in the trials.  Giyer’s mile record of 4:32.4 in 1953 was broken by Kearny’s Jim Weir, 4:31.8.

Dick Bronson heaved the shot 59-8 ¼, better than Clyde Wetter’s 57-3 in 1951, and teammate Parker Damon cleared 12 feet ¾ inch to top the pole vault record of 11-10.

Thompson anchored a team that also included Ardell Finley, Lloyd McKinney, and Atron Gentry and set a third standard with a 1:30.6 win in the 880 relay.

San Diego won the team championship with 51 points.  Grossmont had 36, Point Loma 30 ½, Hoover 29, Kearny 22, Helix 16, and La Jolla 7.  Lincoln did not have a participant.

SOUTHERN PREP, @FALLBROOK

Army-Navy scored 72 ½ points, host Fallbrook 63 ½.

Darrough of Ramona ran 4:51.7 in the mile, better than the 4:56.2 by Wilson of Vista in 1951.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE, @ESCONDIDO

Sweetwater’s Darrell Sager ran the 880 in 2:00.3, bettering the oldest meet record, 2:02.4 by La Jolla’s Earl Russell in 1934.

Mark Shearer of Vista was the meet’s only double winner, in the 100 (:10.3) and 220 (:22.7) and anchored the winning relay (1:35.8).

Chula Vista won the team title with 53 points, to Vista’s 37, followed by San Dieguito, 23, Sweetwater, 21, Coronado, 18, Oceanside, 17, and Mar Vista, 9.  Escondido did not score.

5/15/54

SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL, @SAN DIEGO STATE

San Diego led all Class A qualifiers with 12 on a day marked by rain, cold, and blustery wind at San Diego State.

Santa Ana had 11 qualifiers, Point Loma, 9, and Grossmont 7 in a competition featuring advancers from the San Diego City Prep League, Imperial Valley, Sunset, and Orange league championships.

San Diego’s Herman Thompson won a 100-yard dash heat in :10.4.  CIF favorite Bill Swisshelm of Santa Ana won his in :10.

Lee Buchanan of Kearny and Charlie Love of Coronado were heat leaders in the 400 in :51.7 and :52.9, respectively.

Darrell Sager of Sweetwater (2:06.4) and Jim Giyer of Grossmont (2:01) set the pace in 880 trials.

Thompson qualified second in the 180-yard low hurdles in his best event, won by Jim Trainor of Laguna Beach in :20.2.

Mark Shearer of Vista won one of the 220s in :22.7 and Jim Weir of Kearny was first in a mile test in 4:30.  Dick Bronson of Grossmont, followed by teammates Mel Kemp and Richard Loftus, led shotputters at 59 feet, 9 ½ inches.

5/18/54

SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISONAL SEMIFINALS, @PICO EL RANCHO

Competition moved to the Division semifinals at El Rancho High in Pico (eventually renamed Pico-Rivera) and at Carpinteria.

Pole vaulter Leon Doxey discovered that he left his implement at home when he arrived.

The San Diego High athlete borrowed a pole and cleared 12 feet, 4 inches, a lifetime best, and was one of five Hillers to qualify for the CIF finals a week later at Excelsior High in Norwalk.

Doxey’s teammate, Herman Thompson, advanced in the 100 and 180-yard low hurdles, second in the former and leader at :19.5 in the latter.

 

5/22/54

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS, @NORWALK EXCELSIOR

San Diego was a surprising fourth in the Southern Section finals with 10 ½ points.  Grossmont’s double first places put the Foothillers fifth with 10.

Thompson was second to Laguna’s Jim Trainor’s :19.7 in the 180 lows, an event that could have been disastrous.

Trainor was a clear winner.  Going over the last barrier Thompson, Whittier’s Mickey Machamer, and Compton Centennial’s Paul Lowe were “dead even,” according to John De La Vega of the Los Angeles Times.

Trainor’s three pursuers “bumped, all were thrown off stride and it’s a miracle nobody fell,” De La Vega wrote.

Thompson was awarded the runner-up spot after a review and Lowe was third.

FOOTHILLERS FIRST

Grossmont’s Jim Giyer won the 880 in 1:59.1 and Dick Bronson took the shot put at 59-5 1/8.

San Diego also got points from high jumper Don Strickland, tied for third at 6-1 ¾, and broad jumper Alex Hudson, fifth at 21 feet, 7 inches.

Kearny’s Jim Weir was second to the 4:25.8 mile of Bellflower’s Ty Hadley.  Cookie Taylor of La Jolla won the Class B high jump at 6 feet, 1 3/4 inches, and Helix’ Bob Withem won the 10-pound Class B shot with a put of 52-6,

5/29/54

STATE TRACK FINALS, @EDWARDS FIELD, BERKELEY

Dick Bronson of Grossmont won a tight competition with Dan Everage of Los Angeles Jordan in the state meet at Berkeley.  Bronson’s winning toss was 59-7 1/8 to Everage’s 59-5 7/8.

San Diego’s Herman Thompson was fourth in a morning 100 trial, won by Delano’s Leamon King in :09.9, and unplaced in the final.

Thompson was second to Kingsburg’s Rafer Johnson, who ran :19 in Thompson’s heat. Thompson was fourth in :19.5 in the final, won by Piedmont’s Monte Upshaw in :19 after Upshaw set a national record of 25-4 1/4 in the broad jump.

Grossmont’s Jim Giyer ran a career best 1:57.6 in the 880 but finished sixth.