1956 Track: 5 Stars Deliver in Five-Star State Track Meet
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 13th 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.
