1965 Track: Avocado League Chicanery?

A  North County dustup was decided in Oceanside’s favor when the Pirates won the Avocado League championship-deciding dual meet at Vista, 61-52.

The event, scheduled at Vista, originally was rained out several weeks before.

The schools, approximately 11 ½ miles and about 20 minutes apart along the State 78 corridor, could not agree on an agreeable makeup date.

I had a Tuesday column in the Evening Tribune called Track Topics and wrote a mostly Oceanside view of what became a neighborhood spat.

“He pulled a big stall and got away with it,” Oceanside coach Tom Shields said of Vista mentor Pepper Lysaker.

“We proposed two different dates, but evidently he had some injuries and wanted to wait until everyone was healthy,” said Shields, who was replaced by Lysaker when Shields left Vista for Oceanside this year.

“We’re in league preliminaries Friday and there’s a CIF rule that states a boy can’t change exponents in the same week,” said Shields.  “If he runs varsity on a Tuesday, he has to run varsity on Friday.”

The Pirates’ coach said he would not ask his Class B boys  to compete on the varsity level when their best chance in the upcoming CIF meets would be in the lower class.

Shields added, “They didn’t call us.  They sent us a post card last week saying today (Tuesday) would be a good day to hold the meet.”

Oceanside athletic director Don Huffman notified Vista honchos that “they had waited too long” to reschedule and that the Pirates were not going to participate. Avocado League bosses overruled Oceanside and declared the meet had to take place on the date of Vista’s choosing.

PANTHERS ALL WET?

Lysaker responded.

“Here’s what happened:  Our track was under water for a month during the rain.  It’s one of the lowest points in the city and everything drains on it.  It was in terrible shape and we just couldn’t run on it.”

“We offered to use our track,” said Shields.

Oceanside and Vista both dropped players into Class B when the teams finally met.

“We were fortunate,” said Shields.  “I think we would have won by the same score anyway. We lost about eight points, but they had to give away points, too.”