Arnold Tripp took charge early in the Southern Section championships  at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium when he upset hometown favorite Dee Andrews of Long Beach Poly in the broad jump, then followed with a second in the 100 to San Bernardino’s John Howard, and ran down Howard in the stretch  of the 220-yard sprint, bettering the national record with a time of :20.5, although the mark was disallowed because of a trailing wind.

It was one of the greatest performances ever by a San Diego athlete.  Tripp became the second from the area to win two individual events at the Southern meet. San Diego’s Jimmy Willson won the 100 and 220 in 1929.  Several athletes had multiple firsts as part of an 880-yard relay team.

Tripp’s 14 points, by himself,  was good for third place in the team race, won by Poly with 24, followed by San Bernardino with 15.

Tripp was positioned to make another spectacular effort at the afternoon-evening 41st state meet at Bakersfield College the following week, but there was a vague warning sign when it was mentioned in the newspaper mid-week that the Colts senior had been bothered recently by shin splints.

Whether it was the effect of shin splints or, as written by the Evening Tribune‘s Paul Cour after the meet, that Tripp was slowed by by an old groin injury, the big Crawford senior experienced a disappointing finish to his high school  career.

Tripp qualified in the 100 in :09.9 and 220 in :21.5 in the trials but was seventh in :10.1 and eighth in :22.3 in the 220.  He managed a measurement of 21-10 3/4 in the broad jump.

Tripp went on to UCLA and was the 100 (:09.6) and 220 (:21 flat on the curve) champion in the 1962 conference finals.

Tripp wasn’t done.  He also was drum major at Bruins football games.

4/3/59

El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson staked his claim as the County’s premier middle-distance runner, racing to a :50.2 clocking in the 440-yard dash in the Braves’ 62-42 loss to Grossmont.

Hudson, who held the school 440 record of :51.1, also ran 1:55.9 to win his race in the Southern Counties’ Invitational at Huntington Beach 11 days before and looked to improve his mile time of 4:24.3.

Lincoln’s Charlie Meekins, who ran :50.4 in a dual meet with San Diego in March, had been the County leader in the one-lap race.

El Cajon Valley’s David Landis lowered his school record in the 120-yard high hurdles from :15.1 to :14.7

—Arnold Tripp won three events, :09.8 100, :21.8 220, and 22-10 3/4 broad jump, but San Diego defeated the Crawford, 63-41.

—Lorenzo Buchanan of Point Loma won the 100 in :10.1 and 220 in :22.7 but Point Loma claimed a 53-51 victory only when Mission Bay runners who finished 1-2 in another race were disqualified for lane infractions.

Bill Gould of Mission Bay doubled with victories of :15.6 and :20.1 in the high and low hurdles.

4/10/59

San Diego whipped Mission Bay, 66 1/3-37 2/3, highlighted by the hurdles duels between the Cavers’ Thurman Pringle and the Bucs’ Bill Gould, who won the 120 highs in :14.9 but was beaten by Pringle’s :19.8 180 lows.

—Kenny Tucker broad jumped 23 feet, 3 inches, in Lincoln’s 76-28 win over La Jolla.

—Dewey Taylor hurled the shot 57-8 ½ in Grossmont’s 80-24 rout of Mount Miguel. Teammate Jerry Halterman tied with a Mount Miguel high jumper at 6-1 ¾, and Grossmont’s Dick Cooksey broad umped 22-2 ¼.

–Kenny Griffin of Kearny won the high hurdles in :15.6, was second in the lows and won the broad jump at 22-2 1/8, but Point Loma won the dual meet, 64 2/3-39 1/3.

4/14/59

Arnold Tripp ran the 100 in :09.8 and set a Crawford record of :49.8 in the 440 in the Colts’ 57 1/2-46 ½ loss to Mission Bay. Kenny Tucker broad jumped 23-7 ¼ as Lincoln beat Point Loma, 59-45.

4/17/59

Dewey Taylor’s 59-2 7/8 shot put took the national lead and was fourth longest in San Diego County history.

Taylor took the lead over Billy Joe of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, (59-1) and George Buehler of Whittier (59-3/4).  Joe and Buehler were future pro players, Joe a running back with the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, and Buehler a lineman for the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns.

Taylor’s effort was third best in Grossmont history, behind the 61-5 ¾ of Jim Wade in 1957 and 60-4 ½ of Dick Bronson in 1954.

Grossmont clinched a tie for the Metropolitan League dual-meet championship, outscoring Chula Vista, 54-45. Both teams were disqualified in the 880-yard relay.

The Spartans’ Jay Dunn ran the 880 in 2:01.3 and teammate Chuck Schertzer won the 440 in :51.8.

–Bing Howe of Escondido took the County lead with a 12-foot, 8-inch pole vault in a 81-23 loss to Mount Miguel.  Jack Thoreson vaulted 12-3 ¼ for Carlsbad in the Lancers’ 54-45 win over Fallbrook.

4/24/59

Kenny Tucker won the broad jump at 23-3 and anchored a 1:30.5 victory in the 880 to secure Lincoln’s 55-49 win over Crawford.  Tucker was second to Arnold Tripp’s :09.8 100, and edged Tripp in the jump and held off the Colts’ sprinter in the relay.

—San Diego wrapped a second consecutive unbeaten dual-meet season, 98-15 over St. Augustine as Kent Williams ran :51 in the 440 and Ed Ott took the 880 in 2:02.  Albert Watson doubled in the high jump (5-11 1/2) and broad jump (21-5) and Thurman Pringle doubled in the hurdles (:15.4 and :20).

—Grossmont won the big meet in the foothills, 58-46, over Helix as David Nunez ran :14.9 and :19.9 in the hurdles, Paul Thoryk vaulted 12-4, and Dewey Tylor put the shot 56-11 ¾.

4/28/59

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego led with 13 qualifiers, followed by Point Loma and Mission Bay with nine each.

Bill Gould of Mission Bay turned in the day’s best performance, running :14.6 and :20 in the hurdles.  San Diego’s Thurman Pringle won both of his heats in :15.2 and :20.

Crawford’s Arnold Tripp won a 100 trial in :09.9 and a 220 in :22.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE TRIALS, @EL CAJON VALLEY

Chula Vista sent 14 qualifiers to the finals, followed by Mount Miguel and Helix with 11 each. Dual-meet champ Grossmont had nine.

Five records were set in Class B, none in varsity. Most notable were El Cajon’s David Landis, who ran :08.9 and :13.3 in the 70 high and 120 low hurdles. Brian Ross of El Capitan hurled the 10-pound shot 53-3.

4/30/59

AVOCADO LEAGUE TRIALS, @MAR VISTA

David Rightmer of San Dieguito doubled with a :10.4 victory in the 100 and :23.2 in the 220.

—On the day before the league finals City Prep League officials changed the score of the Point Loma-Mission Bay dual meet, originally favoring the Pointers, 53-51, to a 52-52 deadlock.

Mission Bay had protested a third-place disqualification in the mile.  As a result, Point Loma and Mission Bay finished in a tie for third, each with 5-2-1 records, behind San Diego and Lincoln.

5/1/59

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego ran away with the team championship, scoring 56 ¾ points to the 24 ¾ of Crawford and Mission Bay. Hoover trailed with 21 ¾, followed by Lincoln (18), Point Loma (17 1/2), Kearny (10), La Jolla (10), and St. Augustine (8).

Jeff Dragila of La Jolla ran the mile in 4:28.9 to break the record of 4:30.1 by Hoover’s Bob Monzingo in 1956.

“Mike ran three or four days a week for the past two summers to improve himself (after unsuccessful tries at the Class C 660 and B 1320) and came on to set a city record in cross country and take third in the small schools CIF meet last winter,” Vikings coach Sandy MacLaren told Paul Cour of the Evening Tribune. 

Jack Woy of Point Loma cleared 12-3 5/8 to better the 12 feet, ½ inch of Kearny’s Bob DeMarco in 1955. Arnold Tripp of Crawford was a triple winner, :09.8 in the 100, :21.7 in the 220, and 22-10 1/4 in the broad jump.

A San Diego foursome of Emile Wright, Bill Dentham, Kent Williams, and Richard (Prime) McClendon won the 880-yard relay in 1:30.1. Harold Valderhaug’s 1:58.2 in the 880 did not set a record but was more than two seconds faster than he had run.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE, @CHULA VISTA

Grossmont edged Chula Vista with 56 points to 54 ½ as David Nunez doubled in the 120-yard high hurdles (:14.8) and 180 lows (:20.2), and Dewey Taylor won the shot put at 56-2.  Don Hamlin won a miss-measured 100-yard race that was 110 yards in :11.2 and took the 220 in :22.4.

Chula Vista’s Jay Dunn joined a group of Southern California leaders with a 1:58 effort in the 880-yard run.  Teammate Chuck Schertzer won the 440 in :51.2.

Jack Hudson of El Cajon Valley, gearing for a possible challenge to national leader Dale Story of Orange, won the mile in 4:24.4.

AVOCADO LEAGUE, @MAR VISTA

John Fousatt Oceanside pole vaulted 12-5 ¼ and Larry Plew of Vista ran the mile in 4:42 for records in the meet won by Coronado with 49 ½ points.  Mar Vista had 41.

SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE, @CAMP PENDLETON

Army-Navy won a three-way battle with Ramona and Mountain Empire, scoring 57 ½ points to 54 ½ to 52, respectively. Rich Keagy of Army-Navy (:23.5 220 and 20-7 broad jump) was a double winner as was Dave Shipley of Mountain Empire (:10.3 100, :21 180 lows).

Qualifiers from the four San Diego leagues, City Prep, Metropolitan, Avocado, and Southern Prep, were to join those from the Imperial Valley, Freeway, Orange and Sunset leagues in the next step of eliminations.

5/9/59

CIF DIVISIONAL, @KEARNY

Wind blowing off the mesa on which Linda Vista and Kearny High sit deprived Crawford’s Arnold Tripp of a near-record run.

Tripp ran the 100 in :09.7 and 220 in :20.7 but was aided by an estimated eight-miles-an-hour breeze, above the allowable limit of 4.473 in the furlong.  Tripp also was the leading broad jumper at 22 feet, 7 inches.

Orange’s Dale Story and El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson fought the wind and Story set a Southern Section record of 4:20, erasing one of the oldest, the 4:21.2 or Torrance’s Louie Zamperini in 1934.

Hudson ran his best time of the year and won his heat in 4:22.3.

Mike Kellough of San Diego stood out in Class B, running wind-aided :09.8 in the 100 and :21.4 in the 220.

5/16/59

DIVISIONAL SEMIFINALS, @BELLFLOWER

The real racing and field competition began in this event as 33 San Diego athletes faced two heats in flat races in which the top two finishers in each heat would move on and the top four in the field events would qualify for next week’s finals.

Seventeen qualified.

Mission Bay’s Bill Gould won a 120-yard high hurdles heat in :14.6 and Grossmont’s David Nunez ran :14.6 and was second in his race.  Thurman Pringle of San Diego was second to Gould in :14.7.

Pringle made the cut, finishing second in :19.5 in the 180-yard lows.  Gould ran :19.6 in another heat but did not advance.

Arnold Tripp of Crawford doubled in the sprints in :09.7 and :21.1, setting up a clash with San Bernardino’s John Howard, who ran :09.7 and was runner-up to Thermal Coachella’s Gary Crystal, who timed :21 flat.

Dale Story set another record in the mile, 4:16.9.

Jack Hudson of El Cajon Valley ran the fastest mile in San Diego County history, 4:19.9, which would have broken Story’ CIF record of the previous week and was better than the 4:21.7 of Grossmont’s Rene Rogers in 1955.

Jay Dunn of Chula Vista, improving almost every week, won a heat in the 880 in 1:55.7.  Dewey Taylor, battling back problems caused by a leg injury, was first in the shot put at 55-9.

Bing Howe of Escondido led pole vaulters by clearing 13 feet, 4 3/4 inches.

San Diego’s Mike Kellough won his Class B sprints in :10 and :21.6. Gary Todd of Crawford won a 1320 race in 3:14.7.

5/24/59

CIF FINALS, @LONG BEACH VETERANS’ STADIUM

Which was more impressive? Arnold Tripp’s two firsts and a second, or Jay Dunn’s perceived super upset in the 880-yard run?

Tripp heard a resounding roar from the crowd of about 4,000 when he sped down the broad jump runway on his first attempt, hit the takeoff board in the middle, and soared 24 feet, 9 inches.

Southern Section commissioner Ken Fagans came out of the stands to officiate the measurement, which bettered the Southern Section record of 24-6 ¼ by Steve Turner of Glendale in 1950.

Tripp was second in the 100 in :09.9 to the :09.7 of San Bernardino’s John Howard and then took down Howard in the stretch run of the 220, coming from a yard back to win in :20.5 to :20.6, Tripp’s time bettering the national record but disallowed because of a wind of 7 miles an hour, over the 4.473 limit.

Favored Dee Andrews of Long Beach Poly could not catch Tripp in the jump, runner-up with a personal best of 24-2 ½, and Lincoln’s Kenny Tucker, who fouled on several attempts, was a surprise third at 24-1/4 on his final try, breaking the school record of 24-1/8 by Luther Hayes in 1957.

Undefeated for two years, Dick Davis of Poly was the unanimous favorite in the 880, but Chula Vista’s Jay Dunn, coming on in the last month, jumped the Jackrabbits runner heading into the final turn and won in 1:54.7 to Davis’ 1:55.1.

Jack Hudson of El Cajon Valley ran with Orange’s Dale Story and then gassed out when he attempted to pass Story on the backstretch of the final lap in the mile and Story won going away by about 30 yards in 4:17.7.  Hudson’s time was 4:24.1 in second.

Grossmont’s Dewey Taylor was second in the shot put with a toss of 56-3 and teammate David Nunez was fifth in the high hurdles in :14.8.

By himself, Tripp scored 14 points, which earned Crawford third in the team race, behind the 24 of Poly and 15 by San Bernardino. Tripp’s Class B teammate, Gary Todd, was third in the 1320 in 3:16.4.

Mike Kellough of San Diego was second in :09.9 in the 100, third in the 220 in :22, and anchored the Cavemen to a 1:06 victory in the 660 relay. The Cavers were second to Pasadena Muir’s 15 points with 12 in Class B team standings.

41st STATE MEET, @BAKERSFIELD

Arnold Tripp qualified in the sprints  in the afternoon trials but  never was a factor in the 100, 220, or broad jump in the evening finals.

Jay Dunn was running with the leaders as the field reached the end of the first lap, where Dunn was jostled off the track by another runner, and the shaken Dunn pulled out of the race.  No foul was called.

Jack Hudson set a pace of 2:05 in the 880 but still was second in 4:16.7 to the national record mile of Dale Story, who ran 4:11.

Bing Howe was second in the pole vault at 13-5 ¾ and Kenny Tucker second in the broad jump at 23-1 ¾.  Grossmont’s Dewey Taylor, withdrew from the shot put, after a leg injury contributed to back problems in the last month.

Always striving for higher, faster, further, San Diego -area track and field competitors delivered a bevy of outstanding marks and a consensus that Lincoln, in its fourth season, could become the Southern California team champion, following San Diego’s 1957 championship.

The Hornets didn’t make it, their season ending in disappointment.  Lincoln’s troubles in the Southern Section finals at El Monte’s Arroyo High School are told below.

COLTS QUICKLY GET A KICK

Crawford, a first-year school in East San Diego, took a large parcel of students from nearby Hoover.

One of those students, football-track athlete Arnold Tripp, had shown promise the year before as a sophomore at Hoover, so much that Cardinals track coach Raleigh Holt visited the Tripp family and entreated Arnold and his parents that he stay at Hoover.

Crawford would open in the fall of 1957 with students in grades 10 and 11.  Holt believed Tripp resided in an optional enrollment area.

Tripp apparently liked the idea of being on the ground floor and building a new tradition.  He opted for Crawford, depriving Holt and Hoover of two sub-10-seconds sprinters (Tripp and Larry Fischer) who would help keep the Cardinals among the elite programs.

4/8/58

Eight City Prep League meets were postponed during a rainy March and school bosses considered making them up with triangular meets or canceling as the calendar moved into the second half of the season.

4/12/58

Three El cajon Valley runners  scored 13 1/2 points to finish seventh as a team in the 32nd Chaffey Invitational in Ontario. Jack Hudson was first and no-relation Bill Hudson third in one of the mile races, with Hudson’s 4:27.1 best of the evening.

Wendell Maize was second in 1:59.2 to the 1:58.2 of a Norwalk Excelsior runner in one of the 880-yard races.

4/15/58

Kearny’s George Williams broad jumped 24 feet and won the 440 in :51.8, and teammate Ed Buchanan won the 100-yard dash in :09.9 and 220 in :21.8, and then made up about 15 yards on the anchor leg to deliver a 1:30.3 victory in the 880-yard relay.

Outstanding performances, but the Komets didn’t come close at San Diego.  The Cavemen won, 61-43, their eighth City Prep League win against no losses.

Coach Birt Slater’s team, with no real stars but deep and resourceful, won 7 of 12 events, including double hurdles victories by Thurman Pringle (:15.3, :19.9) and a County-leading 6-foot, 4-inch high jump by Andrew Willis.

—George Clause won the 100 in :10 and 220 in :22.6 for St. Augustine but Mission Bay was a 73-31 winner.

—Helix’ Bill Ernest doubled in :09.9 and :22.6 but Chula Vista, behind school-record performances by Oakley Ostrander (22-6 ½ broad jump) and Art Johnson (:15.5 120-yard high hurdles), was a 67 1/3-36 1/3 winner.

4/18/58

Arnold Tripp was a triple winner but Crawford dropped a 54 1/3-47 1/3 decision to Mission Bay.  Tripp won the 100 (:10.2) and 220 (22.2) and the broad jump (21 feet, ½ inch).

—Jay Dunn of Chula Vista set a school record of :50.4 in the 440 and El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson ran the 880 in 1:58, fastest of the season.

–Walter Williamson broad jumped 22-11 ¾ as San Diego defeated Hoover, 68-36, and closed the dual-meet season with a 9-0 record.

4/25/58

Lincoln clinched second place in the CPL, 53 5/6-50 1/6, at Kearny, despite Ed Buchanan’s :09.6 100, :21.3 in the 220, and come-from-behind anchor leg in the relay, when Buchanan ran down the Hornets’ Charlie Meekins and the Komets hit the tape in 1:29.5.

4/28/58

CITY PREP LEAGUE TRIALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

San Diego outflanked Lincoln and Kearny with 14 qualifiers to the Hornets’ nine, and the Komets’ seven.

Lincoln’s Albert Groff (:15.3, :20.1), Bill Hultz (:15.2, :20.4), and Ronnie Grey (:15.3, :19.9) won all six hurdles heats.

METROPOLITAN @GROSSMONT

El Cajon Valley’s Wendell Maize ran the 880 in 2:00.0 and teammates Jack Hudson and no-relation Bill Hudson won mile heats in 4:32.3 and 4:44.6.

AVOCADO @ESCONDIDO

Dennis (Swede) Grimaud of Coronado was pleased with a :22.2 heat victory in the 220 and disappointed after his winning, :10.5 time in a heat of the 100.

Meet officials then discovered that the race had been inaccurately measured and was 105 yards.

5/2/58

CITY PREP LEAGUE FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln had lost the dual meet to San Diego, 52 ½-51 ½, but the Hornets won a tight race for the team title, outscoring the Cavemen, 40-37 3/5.  Kearny had 26 ½.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny set a meet record of :09.7 in the 100 and won the 220 in :21.6.

Bill Hultz of Lincoln set a meet record of :14.3 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

Hultz’ teammate Ronnie Grey was second in the highs in :14.5 (Albert [Grasshopper] Groff made it a Hornets sweep, third in :14.7) and won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.3.

Grey was on a team with Charlie Meekins, Hultz, and Russ Boehmke which ran the 880-yard relay in 1:28.6, fastest of the season in Southern California.

Mission Bay’s Pat Shea put the shot 55 feet, 9 ¼ inches, second longest toss by an athlete from within the San Diego city limits.  Charlie Powell of San Diego went 57-9 ¼ in 1951.

METROPOLITAN, @GROSSMONT

Grossmont scored 56 points, edging El Cajon Valley, which had 54 ½, followed by Helix, 25. The Foothillers won six events, including the 880-yard relay in 1:31.1.

Bill Ernest was a double winner in the 100 (:10.2) and 220 (:22.5) for Helix.

–Host  Escondido won the Avocado League with 38 points to Oceanside’s 32 ½. Army-Navy had 63 points and Mountain Empire 50 5/6 in the Southern Prep.

5/9/58

Qualifiers from the City Prep, Metropolitan, Avocado, Southern Prep, Imperial Valley, Orange, and Sunset leagues, latter two from  Orange County, prepared for the Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State.

5/10/58

Lincoln positioned itself as a contender for the team championship when the Hornets qualified seven plus a relay team for the semifinals in the Divisional at blustery San Diego State.

Bill Hultz (:14.6, :19.3) won his hurdle heats and Ronnie Grey was second in the high hurdles and won a race in :19.2 in the lows.  Charlie Meekins ran a season-best :50.7 in the 440 and the Hornets clocked 1:29.3 to win one of the 880 relay heats, with San Diego (1:30.2) taking the other.

Ed Buchanan of Kearny doubled in a :09.8 100 and :21.7 220 and Crawford’s Arnold Tripp won his heats in :10.1 and :21.9. Tripp also led broad jumpers with a career best 23-9 ¼.

5/17/58

Action moved to the Divisional semifinal at Huntington Beach and Lincoln continued to stake a bid for the team championship.  Other San Diego athletes also came up strong.

Bill Hultz topped teammate Ronnie Grey in the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.3 and Grey led Hultz to the finish line in :19.1 in the 180 lows.  Unheralded Orlee West of Kearny, also qualified, second in his heat in :19.5.

Helix’ Bill Ernest and Crawford’s Arnold Tripp ran 1-2 in a 100 heat in :09.8 and Ed Buchanan won the other 100 in :09.8.  Tripp qualified in the broad jump, third at 23-3 ½.

Lincoln coach Dick Coxe withdrew Charlie Meekins from the  440 after Meekins tied for second, so Meekins could concentrate as leadoff man in the relay the following week.  Lincoln’s 1:29.5 was fastest of the day. San Diego won the second race in 1:30.

5/24/58

Lincoln’s bid for a team championship did not get off to a good start and would not get better at Arroyo High in El Monte.

Ronnie Grey was spiked on his hand during the 120-yard high hurdles, first running event of the day.  Grey finished a non-scoring sixth.

Grey, looked strong and was closing fast, almost even with Pasadena Muir’s George (Jo Jo) Williams and leader Bennie Sankey of Compton Centennial in the 180-yard lows, when Grey stumbled and fell at the next-to-last hurdle.

“I looked over at that old boy ahead of me (Sankey) and said to myself, ‘I’ve got you now’, then wham, I hit the hurdle,” Grey said to Paul Cour of the Evening Tribune.

“I was overstriding when I fell,” Grey said.  “I never had this trouble in the lows before, but this was tough race.  It just wasn’t my day.”

The Hornets, one of the favorites in the 880-yard relay, fell far behind after legs by Meekins and Grey.

Hultz ran a terrific third leg but anchor Russ Boehme was mired in traffic and the Hornets finished fifth in a photo finish with Compton and Pasadena Muir, according to results in the Los Angeles Times.

The Special Dispatch from El Monte to The San Diego Union was garbled but listed San Diego fifth.  The Evening Tribune  declared the Cavers fifth.

The Times reported there would be a film review for third,  fourth and fifth places between Muir, Compton, and Lincoln.

San Diego’s team of Richard (Prime) McClendon, Willie Jordan, Charles (Sugar Jet) Davis, and Chuck Johnson ran their best race, 1:28.5, after twice losing to the Hornets during the season.

A loss to San Diego would be the final insult for Lincoln before a crowd of 4,000 on this warm afternoon.

No results were published or if an actual review took place, but Muir, thanks to Mel Clipper’s great anchor leg, officially became third and the Mustangs would be the final Southern Section representative in that event in the state meet.

The winner was Long Beach Poly (1:27.9) with Glendale Hoover second and Compton fourth.

–El Cajon Valley’s Jack Hudson, a slight but tough 110-pound junior, was second in the mile in 4:24.5, behind the 4:22.1 of Compton’s Woody Covington.

—Bill Ernest of Helix was runner-up  in the 100 in :09.8, ahead of Kearny’s Ed Buchanan, and behind the :09.7 of  Muir’s Mel Clipper.

—Buchanan was third in :21.2 in the 220, edged by Crawford’s Arnold Tripp, whose :21.1 followed Clipper’s :20.6 national record on the Arroyo High straightaway, with Bill Ernest fifth.

—Tripp was fourth in the broad jump at 22-11 ¾ in an event won by Steve Rogers of Brawley at 24-6 ½.

—Kearny’s Orlee West, running in the shadow of the Lincoln hurdlers all season, got up for fourth in the 180 lows, won by Compton Centennial’s Bennie Sankey in a wind-aided :18.8. West’s time was :19, a tick behind the third-place :18.9 by Lincoln’s Bill Hultz.

—Grossmont’s Roger Olander cleared a personal best 13-5 ¾ for second place  in the pole vault behind the 13-9 1/4 by Glendale Hoover’s John Rose.

BEES AND CEES STAND OUT

Chula Vista’s Jay Dunn was timed in 1:20.8 in the B 660-yard run, bettering the record set a week before by an Ontario Chaffey runner, who clocked 1:21.6.

—Point Loma’s Cecil Scott broad-jumped 22-3 ¼, breaking the Class C record of 22-1, set in 1950.

—Hoover’s Larry Fischer was a double winner, setting a school record of :09.9 in the 100, and his :21.4 in the 220 was a Southern Section Class B and school record.  The Cardinals’ Clyde Yakel ran :21.6 in a Divisional meet at Glendale in 1937.  Lincoln’s Louie Tucker was fifth in the 100.

—Kenny Tucker of Lincoln Tucker won the B broad jump at 23-3 ¼.  Claudell Howard of Kearny was second.

—San Diego High won the B 660-yard relay in 1:06.8.

—Benny Lewis of San Diego won the Class C 100 in :10.1 and was second to a :17.7 180 by Brady of Ontario Chaffey.

—Dunn of Point Loma bettered the Class C 660 record of 1:24.8 but his 1:24.6 was second to the 1:24.3 by McNeill of Compton Centennial.

—Schuerman of Chula Vista tied for first in the B high jump at 6 feet.

5/31/58

40^TH STATE TRACK MEET, @LONG BEACH VETERANS’ STADIUM

None of San Diego’s six entrants in the morning-afternoon 40^th state track meet at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium captured a gold medal.

Jack Hudson of El Cajon Valley ran second in the mile to Compton’s Woody Covington, as he did in the previous week’s Southern Section meet at El Monte Arroyo.

Covington was timed in 4:23.7, Hudson in 4:26.7 for the San Diego area’s highest finish.

—Lincoln’s Bill Hultz was third in the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.1 to winner East Bakersfield’s Dave Douglas in :19.  Hultz’ qualifying time in the morning was :19.7.

—Hultz, the Southern Section winner at :14.3 in the 120-yard highs, was last after banging into the first, third and final hurdle. He had qualified in the morning in :14.4.

—Ed Buchanan of Kearny was fifth in :10 in the 100 after qualifying fourth in his trial in the same time. Helix’ Bill Ernest also qualified fourth in :10 but was sixth in the finals. First place was :09.6 by sophomore Hubie Watson of Los Angeles Jordan.

—Buchanan’s :21.2 was third fastest in the trials and Arnold Tripp of Crawford was fifth in :21.4.  Buchanan was fifth in the final in :21.4 and Tripp seventh.  First was :20.7 by Pasadena Muir’s Mel Clipper.

—Grossmont’s Roger Olander was out of the money in the pole vault. Fifth place was 13 feet, 1 inch.

TRIALS

EVENT	NAME	SCHOOL	PLACE	FOURTH
120 HH	Bill Hultz	Lincoln	4th	:14.4
100	Ed Buchanan	Kearny	4th, tie	:10
	Bill Ernest	Helix	4th, tie	:10
220	Buchanan		3rd	:21.2
	Arnold Tripp	Crawford	5th	:21.4
180LH	Hultz		3rd, tie	:19.7

FINALS

100	Ed Buchanan	Kearny	5th	10.0
	Bill Ernest	Helix	6th	—
220	Buchanan		5th	:21.4
	Arnold Tripp	Crawford	7th	—
120HH	Bill Hultz	Lincoln	8th	—
180LH	Hultz		3rd	:19.1
Mile	Jack Hudson	El Cajon Valley	2nd	4:26.7
Pole Vault	Roger Olander	Grossmont	8th	—

The season was outstanding, perhaps the best ever overall in San Diego, but the section was a legislative loser.

San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson made a request to the state CIF during a meeting in Berkeley the week of the state meet.

Clarkson asked that his section be allocated three berths in each event at future state meets.  The section was allowed one berth in 1961 and ’62 and that number was raised to two in 1963.

CIF officials said no. The bosses declared it was a matter of student enrollment, in which the San Diego Section lagged when compared to other sections, according to Clarkson.

Track and Field News’ Fran Errota provided an interesting observation after the meet, when he computed scoring on the percentage of each section’s entries.

The Southern Section, with five entries, scored 37.3 per cent of the points.  The Central Section, with three entries, scored 28.9 per cent.  The San Diego Section, with its two entries, was third with 23.3 points.

The locals outscored the Los Angeles City and North Coast sections, each with four entries, and the three-entry Central Coast and Sac-Joaquin sections.

It would be years later, in 1980, but San Diego eventually was granted three.  By the decade of 2010-19 the rule became three entries plus anyone who met a CIF-imposed standard for each event.

5/2/68

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson announced he had chosen the mile over the two-mile for the big, late-season meets and ran 4:14.6 in the shorter event as the Braves subdued Granite Hills, 90-46.

Davidson had set a state-leading mark of 9:02.2 in the two-mile at the Mt. San Antonio Invitational in Walnut on April 27.   “He’s got stars in his eyes for the mile and I know he’ll do a good job,” said Braves coach Joe Brooks.

Jim Cochran, Davidson’s teammate, upped his pole vault best to 14-8 ¼, close to the county record of 14-9 by El Capitan’s Andy Steben in 1965.

–Monte Vista’s Dave Carter won the mile in 4:22.8, but will move to the two-mile.

–Larry Gillham logged a 1:57.8 in the 880 and outran Monte Vista’s Steve Gillean’s 1:58.2, but Gillean and teammates scored a 70-66 win over Grossmont.  The Monarchs got a double win from shot putter-discus ace Pat Foley, who hurled the 12-pound ball 56 feet, ¾ inch and wafted the 3.9-ounce platter 163-4.

–Coach Ed Teagle’s Mar Vista Mariners, claimed the Metropolitan League dual-meet championship, 69-49, at Castle Park as Dan Helton shot putted 58-2 and teammate Wolfgang Weichert 57-2.

TRIALS

WESTERN LEAGUE, @KEARNY.

Steve Becker’s 4:21.1 mile broke Thornton Bigley’s 1967 record of 4:22.1 and Becker and his Kearny teammates led qualifiers with 27.

Becker’s teammate Dennis Downes covered the 120-yard high hurdles on the Kearny track in :14.8, tying Dee Hayes’ 1965 standard. Downes also was first in a :20.4 180-yard low hurdles heat.

Komet Seneca Godwin doubled (:50.1 440 and 22 feet, 2 inches long jump).  Vincent Breddell won heats in the 100 and 220 (:10.1, :23.1).  Craig Campbell led shot putters with a toss of 54 feet. High jumper Bob Fulbright and vaulter Carl Geisser also tied for first in their events.

Clairemont’s Larry Castillo won an 880-yard run heat in 1:58 and Point Loma’s Rick Kaye took the other in 1:58.5.

EASTERN LEAGUE, @BALBOA STADIUM

Marion Franklin was one of 20 Lincoln qualifiers and had the day’s best mark, :14.4 in the 120 high hurdles.  Hoover’s John Talbot and Lincoln’s Melvin Maxwell won 100 heats in :10.

5/7/68

AVOCADO LEAGUE, @SAN DIEGUITO

“I had a hunch I was going to do something,” said San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock who had “been in a slump, but I had a pretty good practice last week and things were falling into place.”

Shmock was speaking with Evening Tribune reporter Bill (Biff) Weurding after setting a County record of 64 feet, 11 inches, in his home ring.  Shmock improved on his previous best of 63-3.

Oceanside’s Ed Johnson won his heat in the 120 high hurdles in :14.9 and led broad jumpers at 22-4. Johnson was recovering from a pulled muscle sustained in a 66-52 dual meet win over San Diego April 16.

(Three days earlier than the dual-meet victory, Johnson and Oceanside teammates Sporty Willis, Willie Buchanon, and Larry Crayton stunned Lincoln with sizzling :41.5 and 1:27.1 victories in the 440 and 880-yard relays, and Johnson won the high hurdles in :14.2 in the San Diego Relays).

GROSSMONT LEAGUE, @EL CAJON VALLEY

Helix had 34 qualifiers to Grossmont’s 19.  El Cajon Valley and Mount Miguel followed with 17.  Best mark was the 174-3 discus throw by Monte Vista’s Pat Foley.

5/10/68

LEAGUE FINALS

METROPOLITAN, @MAR VISTA

Mar Vista’s Ralph Lopez was named the meet’s outstanding performer after running the two-mile in 9:32.2 as Mar Vista ran away with the team title with 78 points to 34 for runner-up Castle Park.

“He weighs just 106 pounds,” Mariners coach Ed Teagle said of Lopez, “but he’s the guttiest kid I’ve ever had.”

Mar Vista shot putters Dan Helton and Wolfgang Weichert held sway, with Helton reaching a career high 58-5 ½ and Weichert heaving 56-8.

Chula Vista’s Randy McNabb broke 50 seconds for the first time, at :49.9 in the 440.

EASTERN LEAGUE, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln won its fourth consecutive team title with 84 points to San Diego’s 56, and the Hornets served notice to California with outstanding performances in the relays.

With Therlee Murphy anchoring in :47.2 the Hornets raced to a 3:17.4 clocking in the mile after Murphy finished a :41.7 440.

Sophomore Milton Mitchell, who won the 880 in 1:55.9, ran :49.2 on the first leg of the mile, followed by Clive Carrero (:51.4) and Albert Fennell (:49.8).                                                                                                                                                                                                    Long Beach Millikan (3:18.5) and Compton Centennial (3:18.9) were closest to the Hornets in the long race and Los Angeles Fremont, the presumed leader of the L.A. City Section, was disqualified in its league meet because of a lane violation.

Lincoln was sandwiched between Centennial (:41.3) and Los Angeles High (:41.9) in the short race, all seemingly headed for a showdown three weeks later in the state meet in Berkeley.

“I like our chances in the mile, but we’re going to get better in the 440, too,” said the Hornets’ first-year coach, Darryl Nelson.

Lincoln’s Doug Jones bettered defending champion Phillip Singleton with a 6-5 ½ high jump. The San Diego high jumper’s 6-4 wasn’t close to his career best of 6-9 ¼ in 1967.

Singleton’s teammate, James (Bouncy) Moore won the long jump at 24 feet.  Lincoln’s Herman Woods stunned teammates Marion Franklin and Doug Jones by winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.4.

Marion Franklin won the 180-yard low hurdles in :19.6.  Therlee Murphy contributed to the Hornets seven first places by running :49.2 in the 440.

John Phillips and John Talbot made the 100-yard dash a 1-2 finish for Hoover, with Phillips winning in :09.8 and he repeated in the 220 in :22.1.  The Cardinals’ Lloyd (Brick) Burrows won the shot put at 55-1.

WESTERN LEAGUE, @KEARNY

Dennis Williams set a meet record of :09.9 in the 100, won the 220 in :22.5 and anchored the 440-yard relay team to a first-time-run, record :43 as Kearny scored 90 points and outdistanced Point Loma (41), Clairemont (39), and Madison (32).

The Komets’ Steve Becker improved on his mile record from the league trials, lowering the mark to 4:20.3; Craig Campbell put the shot 57-1 ¾, breaking the record of 56-4 by La Jolla’s Holland Seymore in 1963, Seneca Godwin’s 22-9 long jump topped Komet Bobby Johnson’s 22-7 ¼ in 1964.

GROSSMONT LEAGUE, @EL CAJON VALLEY

Bruce Ruff’s :10 and :22.1 victories in the 100 and 220, Tom Davidson’s record, 4:13.4 mile, and Jim Cochran’s record 14-7 ¼ pole vault, plus a 22-6 ½ long jump by Ron Gillilan were the difference as El Cajon Valley’s 68 points won the team championship over Helix, which had 63.

Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington won the discus at 173 feet, 8 ½ inches, and El Capitan’s John Robbins led shot putters with a 57-5 effort.  Helix’ Allen Stevenson anchored 440 (:43.2) and mile relay wins (3:25.6), and won the 440 in :49.9.  Teammate Roy Gayhart was a :14.9 winner in the 120 high hurdles.

PALOMAR LEAGUE, @SAN MARCOS.

San Marcos scored 91 points, Ramona 59, Ramona 22, and Army-Navy 21.

SOUTHERN PREP LEAGUE, @Camp Pendleton

Cruzet of Borrego Springs, competing independently, won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.4.  San Diego Military won the team segment with 46 points.  La Jolla Country Day had 41, San Miguel School 38, and Julian 18.

AVOCADO LEAGUE, @SAN DIEGUITO

Ed Johnson was ailing, but Oceanside won the team championship with 70 points to Vista’s 59.

Johnson, state meet fourth-place finisher in the 180 low hurdles in 1967 at Grant High in Sacramento, and a champion Oceanside runner in the lower classes as a freshman and sophomore, injured his right leg, a second, disappointing setback for the talented senior.

Johnson still competed in four events, anchoring the Pirates to a :43.1 victory in the first-time-run 440 relay, winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.5, and was third in the 180-yard low hurdles and broad jump.

Whether Johnson would be recovered by the CIF Trials in one week was a question coach Tom Shields couldn’t answer.

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock won the shot put at 62-11 and Johnson’s teammate Larry Crayton was timed in :18.7 in the 180 lows, which would be a County record but disallowed. Timers, across the field, heard only the delayed report of the starter’s pistol and saw no smoke, from which they begin clocking.

5/16/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION DISCUS FINALS

Monte Vista’s Pat Foley fouled on five of his six attempts, but his first throw was good, Foley setting a CIF meet record of 175 feet, 1 inch, in his home ring.

Foley Bettered the 170-5 mark by Grossmont’s Richard Grise in 1964. Defending champion Brian Wadlington of Granite Hills, who had beaten Foley four times in five meetings this season, was second at 169-9.

Wadlington, who also qualified for the state meet in Berkeley, set the County record of 176-1 in 1967.

5/19/68

Lincoln, seeking its sixth tile in the eight years of the section, qualified 14, tying Kearny.

Oceanside would send 12 to the following week’s finals but all-around star Ed Johnson, plagued by leg problems, qualified in the high hurdles in only :15.1 and did not make the finals in the 180-yard low hurdles, in which Johnson was fourth in the 1967 state meet.

Oceanside led Lincoln at the anchor exchange in the 440 relay, but Therlee Murphy caught Johnson and the Hornets won by four yards in :41.6, second fastest time in the state, to Oceanside’s :41.9.

Murphy came within one-tenth of tying the meet record of :48 in the 440 and also finished the mile relay as Lincoln qualified in an eased-up 3:19.3. Doug Jones ran :14.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

Among the casualties was Hoover’s John Phillips, the Eastern 200 champ at :09.8, disqualified after two false starts.

Best in the Class B was Oceanside high jumper Jerry Culp, who cleared 6-5 ½, bettering the mark of 6-5 by Doug Jones in 1966.

5/24/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION FINALS, @BALBOA STADIUM

Lincoln set meet records of :41.5 in the 440 and 3:16.8 in the mile relay and Doug Jones doubled, winning the 120 high hurdles in :14.3 and the high jump at 6-6 ¼.

But Oceanside, which trailed the Hornets, 45-33 in team scoring, had the evening’s top performer.

Larry Crayton won the 100 in :09.7, the 180-yard low hurdles in :18.9, and was second to James (Bouncy) Moore’s 24-2 ½ long jump at 23-1 ½.

“This should have been our year,” said Crayton to Bill (Biff) Weurding of the Evening Tribune.  “I’ve been waiting four years for this one.  I can’t stand to see the CIF go like this.  This is torture.”

Crayton’s pain was the pain of Ed Johnson, who was heavily taped but managed to bring Oceanside home second in the 440 relay.

“His injury cost us a first in the highs, a second in the lows, a third in the long jump, and probably a first in the 440 relay, “said Crayton.

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson won the mile in 4:09 and Jerry Culp upped his Class B high jump record to 6-6.

5/31/68

STATE TRIALS, @EDWARDS FIELD, BERKELEY

Therlee Murphy’s :47.2 anchor lap saved Lincoln from disaster in the mile relay.  The Hornets had a qualifying time of 3:20.4, ninth fastest in the three heats, and they got another day.

Murphy took the baton in fifth place and ran down two runners to claim the qualifier.

Lincoln also advanced at :42 in the 440 relay and Oceanside, with a not-100-per-cent Ed Johnson, was seventh in :42.5.

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock was second in the shot put at 62-1. Oceanside’s Larry Crayton was third with a :19.2 180-yard low hurdles but did not qualify after a :10.0 100.

El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson was fourth fastest with a 4:14.6 mile. Marion Franklin of Lincoln tied for fourth at :14.4 in the high hurdles.  Doug Jones of Lincoln hit hurdles, stumbled and finished last with a time of :15.5 but was among many who qualified at 6-5 in the high jump.

James (Bouncy) Moore was fourth in the long jump at 23-4 ½ and El Cajon’s Jim Cochran and Ron Gillihan were in a parade of 13-6 pole vaulters.

Granite Hills’ Brian Wadlington, the County recordholder at 176-1 in1967, was out of the discus after reaching only 159-2.  Pat Foley of Monte Vista qualified seventh at 166-11.

6/1/68

The San Diego Section, with just two entries in each event, came up strong, although it did not produce a gold medal. Scoring was on a point basis of 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.

–Pete Shmock won the shot put with a throw of 63 feet, 11 inches, and Mar Vista’s Dan Helton was a non-scoring eighth at 58-5.

–El Cajon Valley’s Tom Davidson was leading the mile when he tied up and within feet of  the finish line, finishing second in 4:09.5 to Sacramento Kennedy’s Clifton West’s 4:09. Kearny’s Steve Becker was sixth in 4:16.7.

–Lincoln was third in the 440 relay in :41.7 and third in the mile relay in 3:15.5.

Compton Centennial won the short relay in :41.3 followed by Oakland Castlemont (:41.6).  Los Angeles Dorsey was fourth in :41.8.  Oceanside was seventh in :42.

Centennial won the mile in 3:14.3.  L.A. Fremont, disqualified for a lane violation in its league meet, was allowed to continue by the L.A. City Section and the Pathfinders finished ahead of Lincoln in 3:14.6.  San Bernardino trailed the Hornets in fourth place at 3:15.9.

Edesel Garrison anchored Centennial with a :46.6 lap.  L.A. Fremont’s John Smith, a future world recordholder, his team home in :46.8 and Murphy’s :46.9 anchor saved third for Lincoln.

–Bouncy Moore was third in the long jump with a best of 24 feet.  Larry Crayton tied for third in the 180 lows in :19.1.  Jim Cochran was third in the pole vault, going over the bar at an all-time County high 14-10 ¾.

–Lincoln’s Doug Jones cleared a personal best of 6 feet, 8 inches and tied with five others at third place but placed eighth on the basis of more misses in the high jump. After clearing 6-8, Jones passed at 6-9 and almost made 6-10 on his first attempt.

Marion Jones of Lincoln was seventh in :14.3 in the high hurdles.

–Bruce Ruff’s :22.2 220 and Ron Figueroa’s 1:54.9 880 were eighth, respectively, as was the 9:13.9 San Diego’s John Jacobsen in the two-mile.  Dave Carter of Monte Vista was ninth in the eight-lap race in 9:22.2 and teammate Pat Foley 10^th in the discus at 155-10.

6/20/68

San Dieguito’s Pete Shmock completed an outstanding career by setting a County record of 64 feet,11 inches, in the Golden West Invitational.  Shmock, headed to the University of Oregon, set a nother County record of 53-1/4 in the National Junior Championships on Aug. 15 in Eugene, Oregon.

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 11^th 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.

Happy trails, Victory League.

A bi-product of World War II, gasoline rationing, security scares, and travel restriction, the league served its purpose for four calendar years (search 1943: V is Key) as school bosses and students strived for normality.

San Diego and Hoover, which joined teams in the Metropolitan League in1942 and again when the Victory was formed, returned this season to the Coast League, in which the Hilltoppers first rolled in 1923 and which Hoover had joined in 1937.

The Compton Tarbabes, little brothers to the Compton College Tartars, united with San Diego, Pasadena, and Pasadena Muir in a revived Coast League, while smaller city schools and suburbans were back in the Metropolitan League, back in business following four years in drydock. The remaining few  took seats in the Southern Prep League.

Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles and Ernie Smith of San Diego the broad jump in the Southern Section finals.  Each was a  runner-up in his event in the state meet.

2/28/47

San Diego opened the season with a 77-27 dual meet victory at Grossmont.

3/6/47

Jack Littler, not as well known as his golf champion brother Gene, won the 100-yard dash in :10.8 and the broad jump at 19 feet, 11 inches, as La Jolla won a dual meet, 73-27, over visiting Vista.

3/7/47

Graydon Calder high jumped 6-1 and Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12 feet as San Diego beat the host Long Beach Wilson Bruins, 63-41.  Ernie (Bud) Genet tied with Bob Van Doren for first at 45-9 in the shot put and won the broad jump at 20-3.

–Grossmont beat Sweetwater, 72-32, and La Jolla, with Art Barnard winning the 100 in :10.3 and 220 in :23, swamped Escondido, 90-14, and Kearny beat Coronado, 77 1/3-26 2/3 in opening Metropolitan League dual meets.

3/13/47

Jack Lucas set a La Jolla record of 2:06 in the 880 and Art Barnard tied his school record with a :10.3 100 as the Vikings defeated Sweetwater, 70-34.  Grossmont beat Point Loma, 77-27, and Escondido defeated Coronado, 66 1/3-37 2/3.

3/14/47

Bryan Benson went 48-6 ½ and Volney Peters 48-6 ¼ in the shot put as Hoover won a Coast League dual at home, 69-35, versus Long Beach Wilson.

3/20/47

Art Barnard set a La Jolla school record with a :22.6 220 and Jess Estrada tied Jack Lucas’ recent school record of 2:06 in the 880 in the Vikings’ 57 1/2-46 ½ win over Point Loma on the Vikings’ track.

3/21/47

Sophomore Gene Sieben doubled in host Sweetwater’s 84-20 win against Coronado, winning the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.7 and 180 lows in 21.4.

3/22/47

Team champion Redondo Beach Redondo Union scored 30 points to San Diego’s 29 1/5 in the Southern Counties Invitational at Huntington Beach.

Hoover and Grossmont were fourth and sixth with 14 and 8 ½ points each.  La Jolla was second with 18 points in the small schools’ division, won by Fullerton with 19. Point Loma was 13^th with 5 points and Coronado did not score.

Hoover’s Bob Lange and San Diego’s Bobby Smith tied for first in the pole vault at 12 feet, 3 inches.

3/25/47

Brown Military scored 47 ½ points to San Dieguito’s 43, and host Ramona’s 12 1/2 in a Southern Prep League triangular meet.  Miller of Brown won the 100 in :10.8, 220 in :23.3, and broad jump at 20 feet, 5 inches.

3/27/47

Jess Estrada set a La Jolla record of 2:04.2 in the 880 and Art Barnard won the 100 in :10.1 and 220 in :22.7, but San Diego claimed the nonleague dual meet, 70-34, in Balboa Stadium.

4/10/47

Hoover and San Diego were favored to fight it out for the Coast League dual-meet championship, but Compton beat both in their triangular showdown on the San Diego State oval.  The Tarbabes scored 51 ½ points to San Diego’s 43 and Hoover’s 36 ½.

Bill Fell was a double winner in the 100 (:10.1) and 220 (:22.6), Jerome Walters won the 880 (2:00.4), and Chuck Kohl took the mile (4:33.7) for the visitors.

Joe Azevedo put the shot 51 feet, ½ inch, Bobby Smith pole vaulted 12-3, and the Hilltoppers won the 880-yard relay in 1:31.1.

Ernie Smith of San Diego and Jack Razzeto of Hoover tied for first in the high jump at 5-11 ½. Karl Preibisius won the 120-yard highs in :15.8 for the Cardinals.

–Grossmont defeated La Jolla, 60-44, in the Metropolitan League’s big one.  Top mark was Foothiller Joe Page’s 6-2 ½ high jump.  Art Barnard doubled in the sprints in :10.1 and :22.6 for the visiting Vikings.

–Gene Sieben won the 180-yard lows in :20.7 and Bill Ellis logged a :52.6 440 as Sweetwater beat Kearny, 54-50. Point Loma topped Escondido, 81 ½-22 ½.

4/15/47

Hoover stepped out of the Coast League and dominated Metro power Grossmont, 72-32. Jack Razzetto and Grossmont’s Joe Page tied for first in the high jump at 6-1 1/4.

Hoover’s Karl Preibisius won the high hurdles in :15.7 and teammate Don Donnelly took the 180 lows in :21.2.  The Cardinals’ Bill Kirby won the 440 in :51.5.  Bryan Benson led a 1-2 Hoover finish with Volney Peters in the shot put at 49-2 ½.

4/16/47

Hoover won the 880 relay in 1:31.8, capping a 69 1/6-34 5/6 victory in a rain-makeup meet with La Jolla at Hoover.  Chuck Whitmarsh won the 100in :10.2 and 220 in :22.6 for the Cardinals.

4/18/47

A San Diego quartet of Cleo Williams, Charles Davis, John Holloway, and Harold Miller ran a season-best 1:30.1 in the 880 relay and brought San Diego to victory and a 52-52 deadlock with Hoover before an estimated 2,200 persons in Balboa Stadium in the first-ever night meet between the rivals.

Bill Kirby set a Hoover record of :50.9 in the 440. Chuck Phillips ran 2:03.1 in the 880, and Jack Razzeto high jumped 6-1.  Joe Azevedo put the shot 50-8, Bobby Smith vaulted 12-4 ¾, and Harold Miller won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.7 for San Diego.

–Ray Oyos turned in the season’s best broad jump, 22-3 ¼ in Grossmont’s 85-19 win at Coronado.  Joe Page high jumped 6-1 3/8 for the Foothillers.

–Gene Sieben rook the 100 in :10.8 and 180-yard lows in :20.5 as Sweetwater forged a 52-52 tie with Kearny.

4/25/47

Joe Page bettered his school record with a 6-foot, 3-inch high jump as Grossmont wrapped the Metropolitan League championship, 90-14, over Escondido. Bob Mahan won the 120 low hurdles in :13.9 and 120 highs in :15.5, and added a 19-7 ½ broad jump as Point Loma won at Kearny, 76-28.

–Joe Azevedo reached 51-6 ½ in the shot put and Ernie Smith went 22-1 ½ in the broad jump and San Diego routed Pasadena and Pasadena Muir in Balboa Stadium, 91 ½ to 30 ½ to 9, respectively.

4/30/47

Dick Straub won the 100 in :10.2 and 220 in :22.8 and Hoover also scored a multiple win, winning a three-way meet at Pasadena.

The Cardinals outscored the host Pasadena Bullpups, 78 1/10-38 9/10, and the Muir Mustangs, who scored 14 points.

Bill Kirby ran the 440 in :51.4 for another Hoover victory.

5/2/47

Art Barnard of La Jolla won the 120-yard high hurdles in :15 and 180-yard low hurdles in :19.8, fastest ever run by a San Diego County athlete, but Grossmont ran away with the team championship in Class A, B, and C in the Metropolitan League meet at San Diego State.

Coach Jack Mashin’s Grossmont squad scored 62 ½ points each in A and B, and 50 points in Class C.

–Bob Mahon of Point Loma, second to Barnard in both hurdles races, won the broad jump at 21 feet, 11 ¼ inches.  Grossmont’s  Joe Page high jumped 6-1.

5/5/4

Compton edged Hoover, 58 ½-58, for the team championship in the Coast League championships at Compton College.

Hoover would have 10 entries for the CIF Southern Section Divisional meet as Bill Kirby and Don Donnelly qualified in two events each.

Kirby won the 440-yard dash in :51.2 and third in the 100 to the :10.1 of Compton’s Bill Fell, who also won the 220 in :22.5. Donnelly was third in the high jump and third in the 180-yard low hurdles.  Kirby also participated in the 880 relay, won by Hoover in 1:32.

San Diego qualified four, shot putters Joe Acevedo and John Davis, jumper Ernie Smith, who won the high jump at 6-3 and the broad jump at 21-9, and pole vaulter Bobby Smith, first at 12 feet.

Compton won Class B with 67 ½ points to San Diego’s 41, Hoover’s 23 ½, Pasadena’s 23, and Pasadena Muir’s 8.  San Diego scored 59 ½ points in Class C, Hoover 51, Compton, 12, Pasadena, 4 ½, and Muir, zero.

5/10/47

Hoover outscored Grossmont, 36 1/2-36, followed by San Diego, 22 ½, Point Loma, 22, La Jolla, 18 ½, Sweetwater and Brawley, 13, El Centro Central, 5, Kearny, Brown Military, 4, Kearny, 2 ½, and Coronado, 1, in the CIF Divisional meet at san Diego State.

Art Barnard of La Jolla was a double winner, :14.8, fastest ever in the 120-yard high hurdles by a County athlete, and :20.1 in the 180-yard low hurdles.   Joe Page of Grossmont high jumped 6-2.  San Diego’s Joe Acevedo won at 51 feet, 1/8 inch in the shot put and teammate Ernie Smith at 21-9 1/2 in the broad jump.

5/17/47

Art Barnard won the 120-yard high hurdles in :14.6 and Ernie Smith of San Diego took the broad jump at 22-6 ½ in the CIF finals at breezy Oxnard High. Barnard was fourth in the 180 low hurdles and Smith tied with Grossmont’s Joe Page for fifth in the high jump.

–Failing to qualify for the finals,  Bobby Smith entered the high school portion of the West Coast Relays in Fresno. San Diego High reported that Smith cleared 13 feet, 2 inches, eight inches better than his previous best, and one inch below Bill Miller’s 1929 school record of 13-3.

Smith was the son of Ralph and nephew of Harry Smith, Hilltoppers vaulters of the 1920s, and later was head coach at Lincoln and San Diego City College.

5/24/47

Art Barnard was second to the winning :14.5 of Los Angeles Washington’s Hugh McElhenny in the 120-yard high hurdles in the 31^st state meet at the Mineral Bowl in Visalia.

McElhenny also won the broad jump at 22-10 ½, with San Diego’s Ernie Smith second at 22-6 ¼.

Bill Kirby of Hoover was unplaced in the 440-yard dash and Joe Acevedo of San Diego did not place in the shot put.

 

San Diego High, led by quartermiler Norman Stocks, sprinter-broad jumper Jimmy Barrera, hurdler Harry West, shot putter Joe Acevedo, and half-miler Harry Taylor, among others on a deep and talented squad, was in full force, posting an 8-0 record in dual meets, winner of 16 in a row, and 20-2 since Bill Patten became coach in 1944,  their only losses, 54-50 to Grossmont, and 55-48 to Hoover, in Patten’s first season.

The CIF Southern Section meet, held in Balboa Stadium for the first time,  could have been a reference point for when the San Diego Section won the right to host the 1967 and 1975 state meets.

The Stadium configuration, which did not provide a straight distance for races of 220 yards, eventually proved to be an Olympic-style  model.  Starting in 1967, all 220-yard events were on a curve, according to track historian Russ Reabold.

The season of 1946  also was the last in which the 220-yard hurdle race was contested.  The CIF reduced the distance to 180 yards in 1947. The CIF would reduce the 120-yard high hurdles clearance from 42 inches to 39 inches the following year.

3/1/46

San Diego won a 65-38 decision against La Jolla, with Norm Stocks setting the pace by winning the 440 in :51.6 and taking the baton to the finish line of a 1:32 victory in the 880-yard relay.  Bobby Smith pole vaulted 11 feet, 6 inches, for the Hilltoppers and George Pinnell had a 48-9 shot put for La Jolla.

3/8/46

A Hoover team of John Mhoon, Chuck Whitmarsh, Rudd Hanna, and Kempton Blair ran the relay in 1:35.5 and its winning five points allowed the Cardinals to deadlock Grossmont, 52-52, in a controversial Victory League dual at Hoover.

Chuck Evins of Grossmont won the 220-yard low hurdles but was disqualified when Evins drifted into another lane on what an Evening Tribune reporter described as poorly marked boundaries.

Grossmont’s Duane (Bud) Close staggered and fell across the finish line in the 440-yard run.  Officials ruled that Close had breasted the tape first in :53.6, although had he not fallen Hoover’s Kempton Blair would have won.

—Norman Stocks won the 100 in :10 and 440 in :50.3, and broad jumped 21 feet, 10 inches, as San Diego whipped Point Loma, 74-30. Stocks teamed with Harry West, Cosimo Cutri, and Jimmy Barrera in a 1:31.9 Hilltoppers relay victory.

Bobby Smith of San Diego pole vaulted 12 feet and Harry Taylor of the Hilltoppers logged a 2:04.3 880.  Point Loma’s Bob Smith ran a 4:44 mile.

3/15/46

Writer Norrie West of the Evening Tribune noted that Point Loma’s 53-51 dual meet victory over Hoover was result of the Pointers’ 1:36.2 triumph in the 880-yard relay final event, traversed on the peninsula team’s 330-yard oval.

But West credited the Point Loma victory to John Chasey, who scissored 5 feet, 9 inches, on his third and final try in the late-finishing high jump.  The second-place and three points by Chasey narrowed a Hoover lead to 51-48 heading into the relay.

–San Diego’s Harry West covered the 220-yard hurdles in :25.5 and teammate Fred Deewall ran the 220 in :22.8, and the Hilltoppers won all 12 events in the 89 ½-14 ½ rout at Sweetwater.

–Bud Held’s 12-2 ½ pole vault was instrumental in Grossmont’s 89 ½-14 ½ win over Kearny.

3/19/46

A “gooey track and half-hour downpour” didn’t make the Balboa Stadium layout unusable, while other Victory League duals were postponed in what had become a wet spring.

San Diego loafed to a 93 ½-10 ½ win over Coronado. Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 21-8 into a messy pit.  Norman Stocks jogged to a :54.8 win in the 440, and anchored a 1:41.6 victory in the relay.  Stocks and his three associates ran the race without removing their sweat suits.

3/20/46

Grossmont won all 12 events and the meet, 85-19, at Sweetwater despite losing its top sprinter, Dick Johnston, who pulled a muscle in the 100-yard dash.

3/22/46

More than 100 athletes from Victory League schools Grossmont, Coronado, Point Loma, San Diego, Hoover, and Coronado converged on Huntington Beach High with 34 other schools for the 25^th Southern Counties’ Invitational.

Grossmont took large school honors with 21 1/5 points to San Diego’s 20 1/5. Redondo Beach Redondo Union was third with 16 and Hoover fourth with 14.

Ish Herrera of Grossmont won the high jump at 6-1 and Chuck Evins was clocked in :25.4 by coach Jack Mashin for third place in the 220 hurdles.  Bud Held tied with four others for first in the pole vault at 12 feet. Harry West of San Diego was second to Bob Bacon of Redondo in the lows.

Norman Stocks of San Diego and Bud Close of Hoover each won one of the two 440-yard dashes, Stocks finishing in :51.4 and Close in :53.1.  Stocks anchored the Hilltoppers’ 1:32 win in the relay.

Hoover’s Earl Caldwell was second in :15.5 to the :15.2 in the 120-yard high hurdles by Redondo’s Bob Bacon.  Rolland Nelson won the mile in 4:42, followed by teammate Paul Juette.

Wally Hawke of Coronado pole vaulted 11-4 for first in the small schools competition.

3/26/46

Graydon Calder of San Diego high jumped almost a foot over his head when he cleared 6 feet, 3 inches, in the Class B meet with visiting La Jolla.

The 5-foot, 5-inch Calder bettered the CIF Southern Section B meet record of 6-1 ¾ by a Santa Ana jumper in 1938.

San Diego won the varsity portion of the Balboa Stadium event, 83-21.  La Jolla’s Art Barnard edged Norman Stocks in a :10.3 100, but Stocks came back to run the 220 in :22.4 and Harry Taylor posted the season’s best 880 time, 2:02.4.

—Hoover won its first dual meet, 64-40, although visiting Sweetwater’s Bob Tomlinson cleared 11-5 in the pole vault and 5-8 ½ in the high jump, and Cy Young beat favored Bobby Rodriguez in the 880 in 2:05.8.

3/30/46

Grossmont’s Bud Held cleared 12 feet, 4 7/8 inches in the pole vault and teammate Ish Herrera cleared 6-1 3/4 in the high jump at the San Diego State Aztec Relays.

4/5/46

San Diego won the battle of Victory League heavyweights, defeating Grossmont, 61-43, as Norman Stocks and Jimmy Barrera scored two victories each.

Stocks ran :10.4 in the 100-yard dash and :50.2 in the 440.  Barrera broad jumped 21-4 ½ and ran :23.3 in the 220.

Grossmont’s Franklin (Bud) Held pole vaulted 12-1 3/8 and Chuck Evins set a school record of :15.9 in the 120-yard high hurdles.

–George Pinnell hurled the shot 49 feet, 6 inches, but Hoover beat La Jolla, 68-36.

4/10/46

John Janney posted a win-aided :10.0 in the 100 and Maurice Lawford logged a 2:06.5 880, but Grossmont swept the late-finishing high jump and eked out a 52 ½-51 ½ victory over host Point Loma.

4/11/46

Joe Vargas and Brown Military held sway in the CIF Group 12 League finals at San Dieguito. Vargas was reported to have run :10 in the 100 and :22.5 in the 220, and was third in the shot put for a total of 21 ½ points. Brown scored 76 ½, followed by San Dieguito, 65 ½, Vista, 53, Escondido, 45 ½, Oceanside, 28, and Fallbrook, 7 ½.

4/12/46

Norman Stocks’ :10.2 100 and :50.8 440 and Jimmy Barrera’s :22.7 220 and 21-7 ½ broad jump were augmented by Joe Acevedo’s 49-6 ½ shot put and 2:06.5 880 by Harry Taylor in San Diego’s 73-31 win over Hoover.

Half-miler Taylor also joined Stocks, Barrera and John Holloway in a 1:31.3 880 relay victory

Hoover’s only victories came from Earl Caldwell’s :16.2 in the 120 high hurdles and Paul Juette’s 4:46.2 in the mile.

4/17/46

A ferry trip across the bay to Coronado was just part of a leisurely afternoon for coach Raleigh Holt’s Hoover Cardinals.  They beat Coronado, 76-28, winning 10 of 12 events (11, but disqualified in the relay) and Earl Caldwell was a double winner in short hurdles races, :09.5 in the 70-yard highs and :14.3 in the 120-yard lows.

Hoover also swept to victory in classes B and C but the Islanders’ Jike Wong made things interesting for the home team, winning the Cee 50 in :5.9 and broad jump at 20 feet, 3 inches.

4/27/46

Jimmy Barrera broad jumped 22-2 1/2 to set a Victory League record and Norman Stocks tied a 220 record by running :22.3 on the Balboa Stadium curve. Harry Taylor logged a 2:03.5 880.

San Diego wrapped a 5-0 dual-meet league season with the  81-23 win over Kearny.

–Bob Tomlinson ran :25.7 in the 220-yard low hurdles and pole vaulted 12 feet, but Point Loma defeated Sweetwater, 71-33.

–George Pinnell put the shot 50 feet, 2 inches for La Jolla and Chuck Evins broad jumped 21-4 in Grossmont’s 76-28 win.

4/30/46

Buster Bennett, the No. 3 runner on La Jolla’s 880-yard relay team, stumbled and fell during his 220-yard leg, opening the door for a Point Loma win in 1:34 and a 53-51 Pointers’ Victory League dual meet finale victory.

5/5/46

Norman Stocks set a meet record of :50.0 in the 440 and won the 100-yard dash in :10 as San Diego took the Victory League meet championship with 46 ½ points. Grossmont followed with 27, Hoover, 23, La Jolla, 15 ½, Coronado, 5, and Sweetwater, 4.  Kearny was blanked.

Seven meet records were broken.

Harry West of San Diego ran :25.3 in the 220-yard low hurdles.  George Pinnell of La Jolla hurled the shot 51 feet, 9 inches. Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma covered 880 yards in 2:02.7. Ish Herrera of Point Loma high jumped 6 feet ½ inch,  and a San Diego quartet of Jimmy Barrera, Harry West, John Holloway, and Norman Stocks set a record of 1:30.8 in the 880 relay.

Larry Boerner of Grossmont ran the mile in 4:39.2, beating the favored Rolland Nelson of Hoover, second in 4:40.7, ahead of teammate Paul Juette.

5/11/46

Norman Stocks continued his pursuit of Irvine (Cotton) Warburton’s 440-yard dash school record (:49.6) with a :49.9 clocking before about 200 competitors from 23 schools in the Victory, CIF Group 12, and Imperial Valley who attempted to extend their seasons in a Southern Section Divisional meet at San Diego State College.

Stocks, battling blustery weather on the one-turn race, was caught in :49.7 on one official’s stopwatch and :49.8 and :50 on others.

San Diego led all scorers with 43 ½ points and had additional first places in the 100 (Stocks, :10.2), 880 (Harry Taylor, 2:03.5), broad jump (Jimmy Herrera, 21-7 ¾), and 880 relay (1:31.4).

Grossmont’s Bud Held, a future world record holder in the javelin throw (268 feet, 2 inches in 1955), and a 1952 Olympian, was first in the pole vault at 12 feet, ½ inch. La Jolla’s Art Barnard was timed in :25.0 in the 220 hurdles.

Winners automatically advanced to the CIF championships the next week but second and third place finishers had to await an announcement from CIF boss Seth Van Patten after marks were compared to those in two other divisional meets.

5/14/46

San Diego High hurdler Harry West and shot putter Joe Acevedo did not meet the qualifying standard as CIF boss Seth Van Patten announced a total of 29 Victory League entries in classes A, B, and C along with those from divisional meets at Oxnard and Inglewood for Saturday’s Southern Section championship in Balboa Stadium.

5/16/46

Meet director John Brose promised a well-run, informative event for those attending the 28^th CIF championships, held for the first time in San Diego’s Balboa Stadium.

Sixty-two schools had 220 athletes who qualified.

Athletes not in direct competition will be staged in the Southwest corner of the stadium, assuring fans of a clear view of the 440-yard oval, said Brose. American flags will indicate national records in field events and red flags will indicate CIF records.  A stadium public address will follow runners in longer races and large signs will mark the height pole vaulters and high jumpers will attempt.

5/18/46

San Diego scored 11 points, with Norman Stocks winning the 440 in a County record :49.3; anchoring the Hilltoppers to a second place in the 880-yard relay, and Jimmy Barrera finishing fourth in the broad jump in the Southern Section championships.

Stocks did not place in the 100-yard dash but made up eight yards on Redondo Beach Redondo Union’s anchorman to finish second to the Sea Hawks’ 1:29.1.

–Maurice Lawhead of Point Loma was fifth in the 880, won by Clarence Witt of Redlands in 1:58.7.

–Paul Juette of Hoover was fifth in the mile won by Chuck Kohl of Compton in 4:30.7. Victory champion Larry Boerner apparently did not enter after an article in The San Diego Union had cast doubt on his participation because of the flu.

–Earl Caldwell of Hoover was fifth in the 120-yard high hurdles.  Grossmont’s Bud Held tied for fourth in the pole vault.  La Jolla’s George Pinnell was fourth in the shot put.

Redondo won the team championship with 24 ½ points.  Los Angeles Cathedral was second with 12 1/5.

L.A. Mt. Carmel’s John Helwig set a meet record of 59 feet in the shot put.

5/25/46

Norman Stocks was a double winner with another :49.3 in the 440 and by anchoring San Diego to a 1:29.2 victory in the 880 relay in the final event of the afternoon-evening, 30^th state track meet at Compton College.

The Hilltoppers were fourth in team scoring with 10 points.  Redondo Beach Redondo Union won with 21, followed by Alameda, 12, and L.A. Cathedral, 11.

George Pinnell of La Jolla was third in the shot put to John Helwig’s national record 59-5 7/8. Hoover’s Paul Juette was fourth in a record-setting mile of 4:24 by Bob McMillan of L.A. Cathedral. Bud Held of Grossmont tied for fourth in the pole vault, won at 12-6.