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Mt SAC History 1983-1988-1993
25-20 and 15 years ago at Walnut!!
Doug Speck - Editor DyeStatCal
 
photos by Doug Speck
Jesus Gutierrez and Jimmy Ortiz and Joni Mooney and Chantal Plante battled in the 1983 Sweeps Races
Read on---
A bit of History from Mt. SAC - 25 (1983) - 20 (1988) and 15 (1993) years ago
For those of us who have been around for a few decades following the sport sometimes it is interesting to take a look back at affairs from the past, with this weekend’s Mt. SAC Invitational having a deep history. As long as the site is used for the Southern Section Championships it will have a huge draw, with the huge weekend of action tough to equal during the regular season as far as excitement. We thought we would take a look back as far ago as a quarter decade, twenty-five years, and review three of the competitions in five year increments (1983-1988-1993). Remember, those were the years of a course at Mt. SAC that was a bit longer, and ran at least 15 seconds slower, with the trails not nearly as well manicured as today.
1983
 
photos by Doug Speck
(left) (L-R) Marcia Escobosa (El Dorado, Placentia) - Sylvia Mosqueda (San Gabriel) -
Maura Daly (Mission Viejo) battle in Girls Individual Sweeps (right) Martin Sandoval (Monte Vista)
Spring Valley) won the Team Sweeps 1983 event in 15:21
1983 was prior to the State Meet in the sport, with the Section competitions leading on to the individual “Kinney” (today Foot Locker) series in those days. The sport was strong, but the State meet, 1987 onward really added to depth of interest and natural comparisons on and off the course from far and wide that helped to build the sport into what it is today. The 1982-83 school year had been a very good one for Californians, with six Golden State Boys in the 1982 Kinney Nationals, Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) a winner there by fourteen seconds, with the Girls five Californians in that 1982 National Championship run, led by Corey Schubert (Del Mar, San Jose) who finished in third. Among the crew was current Santa Monica HS Coach Tania Fischer (Chaminade, Canoga Park). Jesus Gutierrez (Pasadena), coached at Bulldog-land by current Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans, was seventh as a junior in the 1982 Kinney National Championships, and he was 9:01.83 for two miles that 1983 spring, with Calvin Gaziano (Castro Valley) 9:03.38 for two miles as a soph to lead the nation for his grade in 1983, and Jim Ortiz (Barstow) 9:04.01, as they made up three of the top four in the nation back for the 1983-84 school year. All would be in the Mt. SAC Individual Sweeps event that 1983 Fall! There would be a fine team battle in the Boys’ sweepstakes event, with the Girls a couple of very strong teams along for their end of the action.
That Boys’ Individual Sweeps race had a 4:41 first mile, with Jesus Gutierrez and Jim Ortiz edging away from Calvin Gaziano over the switchback hill loop. Off the final Reservoir Hill it was Ortiz who moved out into the lead, with Gutierrez, who ran with a quick, rhythmic stride, edging past down the airstrip to his 14:49-14:53 victory. The clocking made Jesus the #3 performer in course history, with Ortiz coming in with the fourth time ever run on the layout. Gaziano finished in a fine 15:01 and was in the top dozen ever here.
The Men’s Sweeps event would feature some powers of the time, with the a couple ending up under the magic 80 minute mark on the old course. It was Jesuit (Sacramento), coached by current mentor Walt Lange, who steadily moved up and past strong Arroyo (El Monte), coached by current Mt. SAC Invitational Meet Director Tim O’Rourke, and Monte Vista (Spring Valley) squads for a 70-95-104 win. Jesuit rode the power of fine soph twins Mark (15:43) and Eric (15:47) Mastalir to their win, with the 78:08 CR set by Helix in 1977 appearing in possible trouble down the road off the Jesuit 79:48 run this day.
Mark and Eric Mastalir
The Tustin Girls would eventually be judged the State’s best in post-season rankings with the squad rolling to a 95:20 team clocking while romping over the Girls Sweepstakes field with 64 points. This was the #8 mark in course history. The individual race there featured Joni Mooney (Vacaville) and Chantal Plante (Arroyo Grande), who had battled at Stanford and were separated by a second there. The powerful Mooney loved the Mt. SAC hills, racing away at “poop-out” just before two miles and rolling to a 17:58-18:21 win over Plante. Mooney’s clocking was the #11 mark All-Time here and the #2 from out of the Southern Section to that point in history. El Dorado (Placentia), coached by recently retired Corona AD Don Chadez, was the Individual Sweeps winners at 96:57, with Sylvia Mosqueda (San Gabriel) an 18:13 winner there, with Mosqueda still out on the roads with quality runs a couple decades later today.
Barstow would end the State’s top ranked Boys’ team at the end of the 1983 season, with Henry Morton from the team dropping from 17:38 (bad dental problems) in the Invite to 15:40 in the Section Finals at Mt. SAC with the team a 78:39 team time in the Section Finals (#3 AT at that time). Jesuit ended second, Clovis third, and Arroyo fourth in pre-state meet final rankings. Mosqueda and Plante would qualify on to the Kinney Nationals, with Calvin Gaziano also moving to that national level meet in December.
1988
    
(L-R) - Ashley Black (Palos Verdes) led the nation's #1 Ranked Squad in 1988 - Karen Hecox (South Hills, West Covina) took the Friday Sweeps at Mt. SAC in 1988 - Kira Jorgensen (Rancho Buena Vista, Vista) came to the 1988 Invite as the National Champion - Kevin Holbrook (Vacaville) latest of Coach Mike Larson's stars took the 1988 Individual Sweeps race at 15:02 - Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks) was the Team Sweeps winner at 15:01
1988 the State had a Championship competition, with an affair like Mt. SAC taking on a whole different light, with squads during the regular season north and south looking for big competitions to measure themselves against each other. A great program from back east, Christian Brothers of Lincroft, New Jersey, currently in 2008 working on the longest prep dual meet winning string at about 297 wins and still coached by Tom Heath 20 years laster, traveled in for the Boys’ sweeps. The Palos Verdes girls had been judged #1 in the nation the year previous with plenty back and would be here. State Champions from 1987 Bryan Dameworth and Deena Drossin (Deena Kastor the Olympic level marathoner today) from Agoura returned, as did Kira Jorgeensen (Rancho Buena Vista, Vista), and local star Scott Hempel (Walnut), and they would all be here! Jorgensen had won the Kinney National Championship in 1987!
The Friday, smaller school portion, seemed to grow in statute with the state meet, and the McFarland Boys crew under legendary Coach Jim White rolled in and took that day’s best contest 61-84 over St. Anthony of Long Beach. Maranatha (Sierra Madre), under crafty Coach Ken Cronquist, took the Girls’ Friday Sweeps event 61 to 84 over St. Joseph (Santa Maria). Karen Hecox (South Hills, West Covina), eventually an NCAA Champ at UCLA and today married to Vista Murrieta Head Football and Track Coach Coley Candaele, with Karen involved in the program there, was the nation’s top returning two miler (10:19.74c) runner from 1987, and she had easily the day’s quickest winning time Friday at 18:37 for the Girls.
The Saturday Boys’ Team Sweepstakes event had super teams and individuals. Christian Brothers has distinctive blue uniforms, and we went by and visited with them Friday evening, and they were a great group of people. Their 1988 spring track team had five milers at 4:22 or better, with some of them graduating, but they had tremendous tradition. John Coyle was a strong team leader for CBA (Christian Brothers) who would run 9:08 the next winter for two miles, and he was out near the lead with Bryan Dameworth, soph Luis Quintana (Arroyo Grande), and Mike Williamson (Thousand Oaks). Dameworth and Quintana, who would both be Kinney National Champs individually during their careers, moved to a slight lead over the first two miles, and on the team front the Christian Brothers group looked to be in the leaders over Camarillo and Corona del Mar. Over the final mile it was the surprising Williamson who led Coyle into the lead, with the New Jersey star not quite able to catch the flying Californian, Williamson a 15:01 (#8 All-Time) to 15:03 winner. CBA took the team title with 96 (79:28) over Camarillo 124 (80:07). The Holmdel course used for championship competitions in New Jersey was compared to Mt. SAC by the visitors with that Jersey layout still today legendary in the minds of back east types who race over it, the kind of mystique Mt. SAC has in many westerner’s psyches.
The Girls Team Sweeps event had Palos Verdes clicking on all cylinders, with the nation’s top ranked squad from 1987, which included a big win in the Eastern States Race at the Manhattan College Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City and kind of started the tradition of California teams traveling out of state, here in style. Deena Drossin had been injured, with the PV back out ahead of her and Charger teammate Tiffany York. Ashley Black won for PV in 18:18, with the Sea Kings scoring 22 points and a 94:03 team time, the #5 effort ever here, and better than the 1987 National Champ PV group had run at the end of the season (94:12 87 best).
Coach Mike Larson’s latest star, Kevin Holbrook (Vacaville) would take the Boys’ Individual Sweeps event, racing 15:02 over Jimmy Rodriguez (Santa Ana Valley) 15:10 and Scott Hempel 15:20.
Kira Jorgensen (Rancho Buena Vista, Vista), the Kinney National Champ, blasted out in the Individual Sweeps event, and though stating a bad ankle bothered her some, cranked 17:32 to win here, just short of the 17:27 she ran in 1987 on the way to her national title. Jamie Park (Santa Barbara) was second in a fine 17:48 (top twenty all-time on the old course).
1993
 
photos by Keith Conning and Elaine Rosenfield
Julia Stamps (Rincon Valley JHS) - Matt Farley (Jesuit, Sacramento)
Sweeps winners 1993
By 1993 the State Cross-Country meet was up to four divisions and Mt. SAC attempted to match, with races for each level in addition to their Saturday Individual and Team Sweeps events for those who wanted in there. Some interesting folks were traveling in and their races were much aniticipated. Kate Landau (Tri Valley HS, Grahamsville, NY), from a school of 219 students, had set a National soph class record for two miles of 10:20.3 with her team coming out for Friday’s action. Julia Stamps (Rincon MS, Santa Rosa), was a ninth grader, but in those days the Santa Rosa High Schools were three grades,and as a frosh she was a middle-schooler, but could race in prep events. Stamps had run under 5:00 for a mile and 11:00 for two miles in the eighth grade, and she would be in Saturday’s Team Sweeps where it was felt she could find the best competition. Unfortunately, Saturday broke very warm and the heat definitely affected times as the morning went along, up into the 80's and very dry.
Landau was amazing on Friday's cool late afternoon, blasting to a near two minute win at 17:27, the equal number nine time ever run on the course, with her team the winners also in the Division IV Sweeps race at 36 points and a 98:10 team time. I think we figured with 100 girls in the school that meant that 1 out of every 20 females at Tri-Valley HS could run Mt. SAC in 20 minutes or better, a pretty impressive number and tribute to Coaches Joe and Missy Iatauro. Stamps had won at Stanford in 17:40, with that course seeming to run pretty close to Mt. SAC timewise, the Palo Alto run raising eyebrows with her forty-three second margin of victory over Foot Locker (name change from Kinney eventually) finalist Courtney Dunscombe (Bend, Oregon). A big showdown was missed with Foot Locker National third placer Amy Skieresz (Agoura) coming up sick just before the 1993 Mt. SAC competition. As it was, Stamps raced away early from the field in the Saturday Girls Sweeps event, blasting to a thirty second win over Peninsula’s Molly Mehlberg with her 17:57. Current Vacaville HS Coach Kay Nekota was third for Agoura.
   
photos by Doug Speck - Elaine Rosenfield - Phil Enbody
(L-R) Carrie Garritson (Buena Park) battles with Claire Becker (Bonita Vista) - Jeff Fischer and Keith O'Doherty (Thousand Oaks) of #4 ranked nationally Thousand Oaks - Brett Strahan (Hart, Newhall) was second in the Sweeps race at 15:13
Also, at Stanford, defending State 3200 champ (9:04.39) Matt Farley (Jesuit, Sacramento) had nipped Hart (Newhall) junior Brett Strahan, who had run a 4:13 1600 as a soph in 1993, by two seconds 15:04-15:06. The nation’s #4 ranked Boys’ team, Thousand Oaks, with the program really rolling under Coach Jack Farrell, was the big favorite here, and they romped to the team win with 84 points and an 80:10 team time. The great individual dual had Strahan lead down on to the airstrip, but Farley struggled by from there on in to a six second win 15:07-15:13. Friday’s Division III Boys' Sweeps had Coach Hal Daner’s Gunn (Palo Alto) squad win over St. Augustine on the sixth runner rule after the two tied at 155, with McFarland's Boys coming for its annual Division IV victory with 37 points (83:26). Santa Margarita won the Girls Division III contest over Corona del Mar 60 (99:49) to 78 (100:46), the latest of the running Ebiner family, Annie (St. Lucy’s, Glendora), the winner at 18:38.
Carrie Garritson (Buena Park), part of the famed running family from Orange County, won the Girls’ Individual Sweeps in Saturday’s heat over Nicole Silva (Aptos) 18:25-18:46.
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