Sweetwater High was the site for several outstanding performances over the years in the National City Junior Chamber of Commerce Relays and other events of distance, usually in early March.
Few of those individual or team marks were repeated or equaled, one of which drew the most attention and eventually called for surveyors and tape measures.
El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia took the national lead when he ran 4:07.2 in the invitational mile at the JC Relays. That Valencia did not come close to that time again, his best being 4:08.8 after his high school season had ended, probably set some coaches to thinking.
A few years later frustrated Sweetwater coach Dave Ashley had the school’s 440-yard layout surveyed and it was found to be more than a yard short, a distance of at least four yards for a four-lap race such as the mile.
Short tracks meant better but not accepted marks. How many tracks like Sweetwater’s were out there? At least two, Mount Miguel and El Capitan, also were found abbreviated. CIF Commissioner Don Clarkson said city schools tracks had been measured and met standards years before.
More on Valencia and competition in the mile as the season turned to May and the high stakes meets:
5/4/67
Lincoln coach Bobby Smith made a surprising announcement the day before the Eastern League trials. Lloyd Apgar, a potential state meet medalist in the two-mile run, was opting for the mile in the upcoming league and San Diego Section meets.
Apgar and teammate Otis Martin were favored to be the San Diego Section’s two qualifiers in the two-mile for the state meet in Balboa Stadium in June.
The local cognoscenti was surprised. Apgar, according to the track nuts and so-called experts, was making the wrong decision.
The Hornet senior’s best time in the mile was 4:17.3, which compared unfavorably to the 4:11.4 of Clairemont’s Thornton Bigley and the 4:07.2 at Sweetwater by El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia.
“I’m not going to criticize Lloyd for his decision,” said Smith. “I’m grateful for the contribution he’s made. He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever had.”
Apgar held school records in the Class C 660 (1:25.6) and 1320 (3:10.8) and Class B 1320 (3:07.9), plus the mile and a portion of the 440, 880, 1320, and mile distance medley (10:18.
(In 2009 Apgar’s daughter Elizabeth, running for Lincoln, won the San Diego Section 880-yard run in 2:12.16).
5/5/67
–Orange Glen’s Mike Quirk set three school records in a triangular meet with Escondido (66 points) and San Marcos (63). The Patriots scored 40.
Quirk ran wind-aided times of :14.5 in the 120-yard high hurdles, :20.1 in the 180 lows, and pole vaulted 13 feet.
–El Cajon Valley won its first outright league dual-meet championship since 1956 with a 75 ½-56 ½ win over Monte Vista.
The Braves’ Armando Valencia, running the last 880 of his high school career, clocked 1:53.4, fastest in the area, with Monte Vista’s Danny Ungricht second in 1:54.2, best mark of his injury-slowed season.
LEAGUE TRIALS
–Lincoln led with 22 qualifiers in the Eastern League, while Kearny topped the West with 17.
Most significant achievement was in the Eastern League mile, where Lloyd Apgar set a meet record of 4:17.
Lincoln and Morse sustained two significant losses. The Hornets’ Doug Jones, stumbled and crashed in the 180-yard low hurdles, and the Tigers’ Donald Anders, leading the area with a :09.8 100, pulled up lame in his heat.
5/12/67
LEAGUE FINALS
EASTERN, @BALBOA STADIUM
Lloyd Apgar, set a meet record with a 4:14.9 mile and teammate Otis Martin nailed a record 9:09.6 two-mile. San Diego high jumper Phillip Singleton cleared 6-6 to tie Eddy Hanks’ and Harold Greenwood’s record, set in 1964 and 1966, respectively.
Lincoln won the team championship with 76 points. San Diego followed with, 52, Crawford, 31, Hoover, 27, Morse, 22, and St. Augustine, 1.
WESTERN, @MADISON
–Kearny edged Point Loma, 74-70, for the team title. Madison and Clairemont each had 25, followed by La Jolla, 6, and Mission Bay, 2.
METROPOLITAN, @CHULA VISTA
–Mar Vista outscored Chula Vista, 57-38, trailed by Sweetwater, 31, Hilltop, 30, Escondido, 24 ½, Coronado, 23 ½, Castle Park, 4 ½, and Bonita Vista, 0.
Mike Griffiths of Mar Vista moved into the top five all time of County pole vaulters when he cleared 14 feet, 6 inches. Teammate Dan Helton put the shot 59-5, No. 9 all time.
GROSSMONT, @GRANITE HILLS
Granite Hills won the team championship with 52 points, followed by Grossmont, 47, El Cajon Valley, 33, Monte Vista, 32, Santana, 29, Mount Miguel, 26, Helix, 14, and El Capitan, 7.
The discus of Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington caught an early-evening breeze and the Eagles’ junior set a County record when his toss sailed 176 feet, 1 1/4 inches, bettering the 174-6 of Grossmont’s Richard Grise in 1964.
Wadlington, whose best in 1966 was only 127-3 and had a best of 167-10 coming into the meet, said, “I worked out well all week. I’m not lifting weights anymore, just doing isoes (isometrics). I felt a good throw.”
Brian’s teammate George Brown set a meet record with a 63-foot, 4 ½-inch shot put. Monte Vista’s Danny Ungricht blazed a 1:53.2 half mile. Armando Valencia of El Cajon Valley ran 4:16.4 to win the mile.
AVOCADO, @VISTA
Vista won the 880 relay in a school record 1:31.1 and claimed the team title, 46-42, over rival Oceanside. San Dieguito scored 35 points, followed by Orange Glen, 21, Carlsbad, 20, University, 19, Fallbrook, 11, and Poway, 5.
Bruce Burdick of Fallbrook cleared 13-4 ½ to win the pole vault and San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock won the shot put at 56-1 ½. Mike Turnipseed’s :09.9 100 was a league record and the Carlsbad runner returned with a winning, :22.5 220.
PALOMAR LEAGUE, @PALOMAR COLLEGE
Ramona’s Pat Hallman added more than seven inches to the high jump record when Hallman cleared 6-5, leaping past the 5-9 ¾ by two Carlsbad jumpers in 1964.
San Marcos ran away with the championship, scoring 106 ½ points. Marian had 41, Ramona 34 ½, and Army-Navy 16.
5/19/67
SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
Momentum in the mile was building
Clairemont’s Thornton Bigley, recovered from a mid-season attack of strep throat, narrowly nipped Lincoln’s Lloyd Apgar as both runners were timed in 4:12.9.
El Cajon Valley’s Armando Valencia, running unopposed in another heat, clocked 4:14.9.
“Aw, man, I am tired,” gasped Bigley. “Apgar’s so good. I just hope it’s a good race next week.”
–Granite Hills’ George Brown pushed the shot 62-4 ½ to break the meet record of 60-9 by Helix’ Doug Nelson in 1964.
–Season bests: Leonard Thompson, Orange Glen. :14.4 in 120-yard high hurdles. Hoover 880 relay, 1:28.9. Mike Turnipseed, Carlsbad, :21.8 220 on curve.
SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
5/25/67
Mike Robinson of Mount Miguel won the discus championship with a toss of 155-11 in Balboa Stadium. Pat Foley of Monte Vista was second at 153-4.
Favored Brian Wadlington of Granite Hills fouled on three of his seven attempts and was fourth at 145-10. Steve Burgesser of Monte Vista was third at 146-10, presumably giving the Monarchs seven points.
5/26/67
“The Battle of Balboa Stadium is in the books,” I wrote after the controversial finish to the mile.
Thornton Bigley, Lloyd Apgar, and Armando Valencia were virtually neck and neck as they turned for home and the final 100 yards to the finish line.
Bigley passed Valencia and at that point Valencia suddenly left the track and stumbled into the infield. Valencia quickly got back on the track, but Bigley finished first in 4:10.8 and Apgar nosed out Valencia for second in 4:11.8. Valencia was timed in 4:12.1.
The question was whether Valencia was bumped or pushed off the track, or did he jump?
Valencia claimed he was pushed.
NO FOUL
“We had three guys there from three different angles,” said Vernon Finch, the meet’s chief turn judge. “There was no contact.”
Two competitors from other schools said they saw Bigley’s arm hit Valencia in the side, causing the El Cajon Valley runner to stumble.
“He was running really close to the rail,” said Bigley. “I was watching that. I thought he jumped off. I didn’t touch him.”
El Cajon Valley coach Joe Brooks did not file a protest. Brooks was sitting on the other side of the stadium, where coaches gathered.
“I’ve never seen him lose his balance like that, but I was sitting clear over here and I didn’t see what happened,” said Brooks.
Even if Valencia hadn’t stumbled, it appeared Bigley would have won. Apgar’s second-place finish qualified for the state meet.
–Lincoln won the team championship for the fifth time in seven years with 30 points. Monte Vista scored 19, El Cajon Valley 16 ½, Orange Glen 13 1/2, Carlsbad 11, and San Diego 10. Twenty-eight schools scored at least one point.
With a virtual junior varsity relay team of Nate King, Melvin Maxwell, Ezell Roberts, and Willie Wilson, replacing Clarence Warren and Lewis King, Lincoln won in 1:29.8, its six points separating the Hornets from Monte Vista.
The Monarchs believed their seven points in the discus gave them a final score of 26, which would have had them in front of the Hornets entering the final event.
But the discus points did not count, said San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson, who noted that the CIF board of managers never had written the discus into scoring rules. Most leagues in the CIF did not have discus competition; points in the finals all came from Grossmont League throwers.
Lincoln’s Otis Martin set a meet record of 9:01 in the two-mile and Martin’s pace brought along Monte Vista’s Don Olsen, who ran 9:03.6, almost 16 seconds better than his career best of 9:19.
George Brown of Granite Hills set a meet record for the second week in a row with a shot put of 63-11. Bruce Ruff of El Cajon Valley was a double winner, :21.7 220 and :48.6 440.
Danny Ungricht of Monte Vista won a duel with Fallbrook’s Frank (Pancho) Enriquez in the 880 with a time of 1:53 to 1:53.8.
6/2/67
STATE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM
Danny Ungricht of Monte Vista won his heat in the 880 in 1:54.2. Thornton Bigley (4:15.2) and Lloyd Apgar (4:15.6) won their mile heats.
–Qualifying third in their competition was Granite Hills shot putter George Brown (63-11½), Lincoln long jumper Lewis King (24-2 ½), and the Hornets’ relay team, with Doug Jones replacing Nate King in the starting blocks, 1:28.6.
–Pasadena Muir’s Jerry Proctor was in four trials and won the 120 high hurdles in :13.9, 180 lows in :18.9, long jump (25-2), and ran the third leg for a relay team that was first in 1:26.4.
STATE FINALS
6/3/67
For the first time in the seven years of the San Diego Section there was no individual champion.
Thornton Bigley (4:13) was second and Lloyd Apgar (4:13.2) third in the mile, beaten by the 4:11.4 of Westminster’s Mike Solomon.
George Brown was third in the shot put at 63-6 and Lincoln’s Lewis King fifth in the long jump at 23-6 ¼. Otis Martin was fifth for the second year in the two-mile with a time of 9:16.6.
San Diego’s Philip Singleton was sixth in the high jump (6-7). Danny Ungricht (1:54.3) was seventh in the 880. Monte Vista’s Don Olsen was seventh in the two-mile in 9:17.
Lincoln was eighth in the 880 relay but its time, 1:28.3, was 11th all time in the County.
Pasadena Muir’s Jerry Proctor was the meet’s star, with Santa Rosa Montgomery’s Mel Gray a close second.
Proctor scored 19 of the Mustangs’ 24 points with wins of :13.7 in the 120 high hurdles, :18.7 in the 180 lows, 25-4 1/2 in the long jump and contributed a powerful third leg on Muir’s runner-up relay team, beaten in the stretch by Los Angeles Fremont’s 1:26.
Gray scored all 16 of his team’s points, tied the national record of :09.4 in the 100, set a national record of :20.7 for the 220 on a turn, and was second in the long jump at 24-1. He ran down a handful of runners after starting in last place in the relay but the Vikings were seventh in 1:27.7.
Attendance for the finals was 8,268 and state CIF Commissioner Bill Russell enthused that “this was the best (meet) we’ve ever had from the standpoint of organization, performances, the works.”
6/4/67
His high school career behind him, Armando Valencia finished sixth in a field of 16 that included some international competitors at the Rose Bowl Invitational in Pasadena with a time of 4:11.7.
6/10/67
Armando Valencia won the special high school mile in the San Diego Invitational, beating, among other New Jersey’s Martin Liquori, a future international star, with a time of 4:08.8, which, as it turned out, was Valencia prep career best.
Bigley finished behind Valencia in 4:11.
6/15/67
Bigley had a non-winning 4:11 clocking in the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento.
At the 1967 San Diego Invitational special high school mile Armando Valencia took the lead at the start and Thorn Bigley second followed by Otis Martin. Essex Catholic High Martin Liquori entered and won the open mile from future Villanova teammate Dave Patrick who was favored to win. Valencia won by a big margin as Bigley and Martin were still trying to recover from the State meet heats and the final. Australian Ron Clarke won open 2 mile in a meet record. I was there with Madison High temmates watching the whole thing.