“Willson, with two l’s.”

Jimmy Willson had been correcting the spelling of his last name since he was in grade school but that changed when Willson’s family moved from Massachusetts and 11^th grader Jimmy turned out for Coach Glenn Broderick’s track team at San Diego High.

After a “Wilson“ or two, local sports writers got with the program when Willson ran a 10-second 100-yard dash and tied the school record in the first meet of the season.

Willson also won the 220 and anchored the Hilltoppers’ 880-yard relay team in a 74 ½-38 ½, dual-meet victory over Pasadena.

The rout of their Coast League rival was the starting point of one of the greatest seasons in school history, in any sport.

–The Cavemen and Hilltoppers, as they also were known, were 5-0 in dual meets, winning by an average score of 71-42.

–They won team championships in the calendar’s four major events: Southern Counties’ Invitational, Coast League, CIF Southern Section, and State.

Broderick went into the season with just two returning lettermen, including two-time defending state pole vault champion Bill Miller, but the addition of Willson and the development of several others promised a talented, deep squad.

Meet by meet with Broderick’s thinclads:

PASADENA

The last time the Hillers had met Pasadena, in 1927, the Bullpups romped, 80 ½-32 ½.

Willson’s :10 flat century equaled the school mark set by Bill Powell and Harry Holloway in 1925.

Miller cleared 12 feet, 6 inches, two feet higher than the next vaulter, and Evan Dowers was a 4:49 winner in the mile.

San Diego won 10 of 13 events and swept the discus, led by Athos Sada, who waved the platter 109 feet, 6 inches, in between playing third base for coach Mike Morrow’s baseball team.

SAN DIEGO STATE FROSH

Willson ran another 10-second 100, which tied a record for the Aztecs’ oval, but Aztecs freshman Lawrence Petersen tied Willson in a :23-flat 220 and defeated Irvine (Cotton) Warburton in the 440 in :51 4/5, which rounded off to :51.8.  Stop watches eventually would time all races in tenths instead of fifths.

The Hilltoppers won, 72 ½-42 ½.

SOUTHERN COUNTIES’ INVITATIONAL

More than 200 athletes, almost all from south of the Los Angeles County Line, were entered in the eighth annual event on the Huntington Beach High track.  San Diego High was on hand, while other local teams took part in a DeMolay track meet in City Stadium.

Six meet records, including a national-record pole vault of 13 feet, 3 inches, by Bill Miller and a Hilltoppers triumph with 28 1/3 points, were highlights.

Miller bettered the record of 13-2 5/8, but he shared honors with Alvin Koenig of Huntington Beach, who set meet records with a :09.8 100 and a :22 flat 220. Willson was runner-up in each race.

Santa Ana’s Alva Reboin also was a double winner, in the 120-yard high hurdles in :15.4 and his :25.2 in the 220 lows was a record.

Santa Ana  was second in team scoring with 28 points, followed by Huntington Beach (23) and Ontario Chaffee (19 ½).

San Diego clinched the team title with a 1:33.4/5 victory in the 880-yard relay, last event.  A second place by Santa Ana would have given the Saints the championship but they were third, nosed out by Koenig and Huntington Beach.

SAY, AREN’T YOU…?

Imagine how strong this San Diego team would have been had one athlete made the 1.6-mile trolley ride down Park Boulevard from Roosevelt Junior High to the Hilltoppers’ campus.

But Alva Reboin’s family moved North after his ninth-grade year and Reboin starred at Santa Ana in the hurdles and pole vault.

LONG BEACH POLY

The Jackrabbits were state champions in 1928, but not a match.  San Diego won, 69 2/3-43 1/3, and was first in 11 events, all but the 120-yard high hurdles and high jump.

Coach Glenn Broderick trusted the weather man after days of rain and promised the meet would go on “unless the (jumping) pits fill up with water.”

Willson ran his usual :10 flat 100 and his :22.6 in the 220 was two-tenths slower than the school record. Irvine (Cotton) Warburton won the 440 in :51.8 and Evan Dowers took the mile in 4:45.  Without Willson, San Diego won the relay in 1:32.2.

Joe Dobbins was the principal figure in a story recounted by Don King in Caver Conquest.

Dobbins was declared broad jump winner in a heated competition with two Poly jumpers.  With teammates cheering, Dobbins apparently had leaped 22 feet when the event judge shouted, “Twenty-two.”

What the judge actually meant was 20 feet, 2 inches.

Apparently no one was the wiser, including Poly coach Norman Barker, Hillers coach Glenn Broderick, and anyone else involved in management of the meet.

The jump went into the books as 22 feet and was a school record until Fred Montpelier went 22-2 ¼ in 1931.

Apocryphal is the first word that comes to mind.

AT SANTA ANA

Bill Miller was nursing sore ankles and did not vault but Wade Potter managed a tie for first with the favored Reboin and his Saints teammate Bill Stiles at 10-6 and San Diego won, 66-47.

Reboin also won both hurdles races, nudging Fernando Ortiz in a :25.8 trip in the 220 lows.

Jimmy Willson, against a strong wind, led a sweep with a :10.2 in the 100-yard dash, won the 220 in :22.6, and ran a leg on the winning relay.

Dobbins did not place in the broad jump, won by Santa Ana’s Norman Paul at 22-4 ½.

Willson scored 11 ¼ points but high point honors went to Reboin with 13.

TEX, TOO

Reboin was not the only transplanted San Diegan.  The Saints were coached by Gerald (Tex) Oliver, former Memorial Junior High mentor.  Oliver also was the Saints’ football coach and eventually was a collegiate boss at Arizona and Oregon.

AT GLENDALE

The once-powerful Dynamiters, no longer stocked with such graduated stars as  Frank Wykoff, Russ Slocum, and Fulton Beatty, who dominated the sprint scene earlier, were easy for the Hilltoppers, who scored a 71 ½-41 ½ victory.

Maybe the groundskeeper was daydreaming about the glory days of the rapid threesome and erred when he rolled the lime markings and lane boundaries for the races.  Either that or the clerk of the course and timers positioned the finish line tape in the wrong location.

The distance for the 100-yard dash would have been more appropriate for the 1928 Olympics.

Willson and others entered were forced to run a reported 110 yards, slightly more than the Olympic 100 meters, with Willson’s winning time announced as a very un-Olympic :11.6.

Maybe they had to run more than 110 yards.

The Hillers could have added to the final score but they lost five points when disqualified for a violation after winning the relay in 1:32.0.

COAST LEAGUE TRIALS

Home team Pasadena surprised by leading with 19 qualifiers, including non-participating field event entries.  San Diego had 18, Long Beach 16, and Santa Ana, 14.  Glendale, South Pasadena, Whittier, and Alhambra brought up the rear.

The top five in each event qualified for the finals, along with one wild card, to be determined by the respective teams.

Jimmy Willson raced to victories of :10.1 in the 100 and 22.6, and was the relay leadoff man as the Hillers ran 1:31.6. Fernando Ortiz also ran a :10.1 century trial and Irvine Warburton and Maurice Staker each won a heat in the 440 in :53.6 and :52.6, respectively.

COAST LEAGUE FINALS

San Diego outlasted dogged Santa Ana for the team title, 44 ½-39 ½.  Pasadena had 19, Poly 17, Glendale 6, South Pasadena 5, Whittier 2, and Alhambra 0.

Bill Miller, who missed three meets with sore ankles, finished second in the pole vault to Santa Ana’s Alva Reboin, who cleared 12 feet and also set a record in the 120-yard high hurdles at :15.6 and won the 220 lows in :25.4.

San Diego offset Reboin with Jimmy Willson’s :10.2 100 and :22.8 220 victories, Cotton Warburton’s :51.4 440, and Evan Dowers’ 4:40 4/5 mile.  Willson, Warburton, and Dowers, along with sprinter-hurdler Fernando Ortiz, would be the Hilltoppers’ wheelhorses in the most important meets to follow.

SOUTHERN SECTION TRIALS           

The Friday-Saturday virtual carnival necessitated some travel logistics for coach Glenn Broderick.

Don Pearse and Jack Dawson left for Los Angeles on Thursday, accompanied by assistant coach Charlie Church, because they would be required for Friday morning Class B competition in the 120-yard low hurdles and pole vault.

Broderick and the rest of the San Diego contingent took off on Friday for the Saturday competition.

Irving Eckhoff of the Los Angeles Times selected 4 favorites for the team title before trials in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  “Twenty-five points will win the meet,” said Eckhoff, who chose San Diego, Los Angeles High, L.A. Fairfax, and Santa Ana to battle it out.

TIRELESS

“Jimmy Wilson (sic), midget San Diego sprinter, and Alva Reboin, the chunky Santa Ana hurdler, stole the show with spectacular performances,” wrote Eckhoff.

Willson ran 5 races during the long day, winning 4 and running a leg on the relay team, which was the second qualifier in its heat behind the winning 1:31.4 of L.A. High.

The diminutive Hilltopper won his heats in :10 and :22.6 and prevailed in :10 in the 100 semifinals before setting a school record of :21.8, enjoying the 220 straightaway at the Coliseum after running most of his furlongs during the season on the City Stadium curve.

Fernando Ortiz was eliminated in the 100 but was first twice in the 220 low hurdles, running :25.5 in the preliminary race and nipping Reboin in the semifinal in :25.

Cotton Warburton was third in his 440 heat, won by Rogers of Hollywood in :51 flat. The two other 440 heats were won in :50.8 and :51.6.

Miller was one of 10 who qualified at 12 feet in the pole vault. Ed Reed moved on by making 5 feet, 8 inches, in the high jump after not qualifying in the discus.  Evan Dowers advanced, fifth in one of two heats in the mile in 4:39.4, and Ray Russell was a qualifier in the discus.

Al McGlinchy and Maurice Staker did not make it in the 120-yard high hurdles and 440, respectively, and Don Pearse and Jack Dawson were eliminated in their Class B events.

L.A. High led all qualifiers with 9. San Diego, Santa Ana, and Hollywood advanced 8 each.

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS

The Hilltoppers were struggling.

Fernando Ortiz, leading in the 220 low hurdles, crashed into the last barrier, stumbled and did not place, but Evan Dowers, with “leaden feet and iron heart”, came to the rescue and from behind to win the mile, upsetting the field in 4:32.6.

Bowers’ enigmatic pace saw him lead early in the race, fall behind and take the lead again, but he was in third place coming into the final turn.

Irving Eckhoff picked up the action:

…”down the stretch came Dowers, seemingly barely able to drag his feet off the ground with each shortening stride. Ahead of him as he rounded the curve were Baker of Huntington Park and Roberts of El Monte. They had distanced the field.”

(Dowers passed Baker and set sight on Roberts).

“Ten yards from the tape, Roberts was leading the San Diegan by three yards.  But he was tiring fast.  His steps were dragging, even slower than the laboring, towheaded youngster behind him.

“A yard from the tape Roberts collapsed, but a fraction of a second before he stumbled across the finish line, Dowers breasted the ribbon, the winner by scant inches.

“That gave the Hilltoppers five totally unexpected points and won the meet for them.”

San Diego scored 22 ½ points.  Hollywood was second with 14, followed by L.A. High, 13 ½, Los Angeles Jefferson, 11 ½, and L.A. Fairfax, 11.

PILE UP POINTS

Willson won the 100 in :10.1 and was runner-up to Hollister of Carpinteria Cate’s :22 flat 220.  Willson teamed with Ortiz, Maurice Staker, and Warburton in the 880-yard relay. Despite being bumped a couple times in the speedway-like traffic, the group set a school record of 1:30.4, behind Hollywood’s winning 1:29.6 and Jefferson’s second place.

Bill Miller took the pole vault at 13 feet and Warburton was fourth in the 440.  Ed Reed tied for third in the high jump at 5-10.

STATE MEET

Dowers went out too fast in the mile, falling out of contention on the last lap after leading early, and Baker of El Monte and Roberts of Huntington Park, vanquished by Dowers in the Southern California meet, ran 1-2.

While Dowers’ failure to place was a stunner, a bigger surprise came when Warburton, running in lane 1, jumped the field early, led by three yards coming out of the Coliseum tunnel, gained the pole position in the one-turn race, and raced to a record-tying :49.6 440.

Miller defended his pole vault championship with a 12-foot, 6-inch effort.  Ed Reed tied for fourth at 5-8 in the high jump.

Willson won the 100 in a school record :09.8 and equaled Frank Wykoff’s state meet record with a :21.4 220.

San Diego’s 22 ½ points once again outdistanced Hollywood, which had 16 1/2, followed by Santa Ana, 11, and L.A. Jefferson, 10 ½.

Sixty-one schools, including 40 from the South, were represented.

CINDER DUST

The seven-man San Diego contingent, leaving at 10 a.m. Friday, traveled to the state meet on a Los Angeles Steamship Company vessel to San Pedro and then rode a Pacific Electric Trailways “Red Car” to their hotel…they were accompanied by team manager Bill Tinker, as coach Glenn Broderick traveled by automobile later…Jimmy Willson’s victory in the 100-yard dash at the Southern California meet was the first by a Hilltopper and the first time a Hilltopper had scored a point in the event…Willson’s son, John, ran the 440 in :48.5 for Point Loma in 1972…Lawrence Carr, future track and basketball coach at Hoover and principal at San Diego High, was San Diego State’s leading scorer with a 10-point average in seven Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball games…Escondido High fielded its first track team…coach Harry Wexler greeted almost 50 candidates…Wallace set an Army-Navy pole vault record of 11-3 7/8 against the San Diego “Seconds”, who defeated the Cadets, 79-34…Bill Miller’s winning vault in the Southern Section was accompanied by continued jeering from L.A. High students, who favored Romans schoolmate Limeburger, second at 12-6…Coliseum patrons, thinking Willson had won the 220 in the same meet, were heard “razzing” the finish judges…Gordon Jones of Sweetwater won 5 events in the Southern Prep League finals at the soggy (from recent rain) San Diego State oval…Jones won the 100 (:10.8), 220 lows (:28.0), 120 high hurdles (:18.8), shot put (41-11), and discus (99-11 ½) for the Red Devils, who claimed their fifth league title in 10 years…Everett Thurber and George Hoaglund won 6 events for Sweetwater in previous SPL finals.…

Authentic.com the go-to, on-line entity for all things track and field, posted several outstanding marks from the Mt. Carmel invitational two weeks ago and then deleted them last week.

Dennis McClanahan, the retired coach of the Sun Devils and the meet director for the invitational and honcho at the San Diego section trials and finals, is attempting to get the marks returned.

No real reason was given for the deletions.  Someone apparently convinced the on-line service that several results were not legitimate.

We’re leaving the marks from Mt. Carmel in until we hear further.

It may be a moot point, because many of the San Diego Section’s leading performances and those from throughout the state will be in trouble when more than 700 athletes, a few hundred coaches, and thousands of fans clog old U.S. 66 and surrounding venues as they make their way toward Arcadia High Friday and Saturday for the annual Arcadia invitational, a midseason event that generally is considered the official start of the track season.

Action was light in the San Diego Section last week, save for the Willie Banks Invitational and the usual menu of dual meets. A few athletes competed in the Stanford Invitational and at the annual Texas Relays in Austin.

Marks below in parenthesis are where the San Diego Section competitors stand in the state.

W–Wind aided.

GIRLS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
100	Shaheed, Madison	:11.87	Nowling, Calabasas	:11.40
200	Ruskovich, Scripps Ranch	:24.51w	Frost, Gardena Serra	:24.0w
400	Wright, University City	:55.64 (5)	Okonkwo, Murrieta Mesa	:55.42
800	Riedman, La Costa Canyon	2:13.54 (7)	Tomkinton, Atherton Menlo	2:10.61
1600	Fahy, La Costa Canyon	4:48.34 (1)	Lowe, Clovis Buchanan	4:49.14
3200	Fahy, La Costa Canyon	10:34.67 (6)	Ramirez, Chino Hills Ayala	10:19.42
100 Hurdles	Miller, San Pasqual	:14.95	Shearer San Jose Silver Creek	:13.52
300 Hurdles	Occiano, Mission Hills	:44.79 (10)	Glenn, Long Beach Wilson	:41.21
4×100 Relay	Scripps Ranch	:46.95 (2)	Calabasas	:46.28
4×400 Relay	Scripps Ranch	3:57.86	Eastvale Roosevelt	3:48.12
High Jump	Hickey, Coronado	5-10 ½ (1)	Glenn, Long Beach Wilson	5-8 1/2
Long Jump	Hickey, Coronado	20-9w (1)	Harris, Upland	20-2 1/2
	Hardaway, Oceanside	19-0 ¾ (5)
Triple Jump	Scott, Gompers Prep	38-3	Shearer, San Jose Silver Creek	40-6
Shot Put	Atuatasi, West Hills	42-7	Ramirez, Valencia West Ranch	47-5 ¼
Discus	Cruz, Mission Hills	139-3	Budwig, Fowler	171-7
Pole Vault	Thomson, Poway	13-4 (1T)	Sommers, Westlake Village Westlake	13-4

BOYS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
100	Christon, Madison	10.45w (3)	Grubb, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame	:10.41
200	Christon, Madison	:21.32* (3)	Roberson, Upland	:21.28
400	Parker, Helix	:48.37	Strader, Valencia West Ranch	:47.27
	Lippert, La Costa Canyon	:48.54
	Salzman, Calvin Christian	:48.57
800	Tellez-Velasquez, San Pasqual	1:52.52 (1)
1600	Niednagel, La Costa Canyon	4:15.58 (7)	Hibbard, El Monte Arroyo	4:08.69
3200	Velasco, Fallbrook	9:07.27 (4)	Strangio, Sacramento Jesuit	8:47.97
120 High Hurdles	Jackson, El Camino	:14.95
300 Intermediate Hurdles	Solomon, Grossmont	:38.45 (6)	Roberson, Upland	:36.96
4×100 Relay	Madison	:42.69	Long Beach Poly	:40.91
4×400 Relay	Helix	3:26.69	Placentia Valencia	3:13.73
High Jump	Lugo, Canyon Crest	6-6 (T10)	Allen, Santa Barbara San Marcos	7-0
Long Jump	Luck, Mission Vista	22-5 1/2	Hemphill, Upland	23-11
Triple Jump	Mitchell, Point Loma	48-6 (2)	Hemphill, Upland	48-6 1`/4
Shot Put	Watson, Fallbrook	53-5	Viveros, Bakersfield Liberty	68-11
Discus	Lologo, Oceanside	153-1	Elbettar, Newport Beach Newport Harbor	197-4
Pole Vault	Rice, Rancho Bernardo	15-9 (3)	Wright, Lodi	16-8
	Volpe, San Marcos	15-1 (T10)
	Sperry, Rancho Bernardo	15-1 (T10)

 

 

A raft of marks, including a United States-leading 4:48.34 in the 1,600-meter run by Kristin Fahy of La Costa Canyon, punctuated the 40^th annual Mt. Carmel Invitational.

Fahy’s four-lap sizzler topped three Southern Section runners, whose chase of Fahy resulted in the nation’s No. 2, 3, and 4 best performances.  No. 5 is a 4:52.4 effort by a runner from Pine Crest, Florida.

Fahy, now ninth all-time in the San Diego Section 1,600, joined two other girls entries who, in preceding weeks, took state leads.

The Scripps Ranch 4×100 relay team is No. 1 in California at :46.95, although the Falcons’ girls have been beaten by Long Beach Poly and Calabasas, Poly for the second time at Mt. Carmel.

Coronado’s Alysha Hickey leads state high jumpers at 5-feet, 10 ½ inches, and is tied for third all-time in the San Diego section.  Her 20-foot, 2-inch long jump is second in the state and fourth to Gail Devers’ 20-7 in 1984.

Noah Tellez-Velasquez of San Pasqual took the boys state lead in the 800 after running 1:52.56 in a meet at Azusa Pacific.

Madison’s Kenon Christon was second in the 100 meters to Christian Grubb of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.  Grubb ran :10.42 and Christon :10.45 but both marks were aided by a 2.8 wind, over the allowable limit of 2.0.  Grubb was clear of any breeze as he ran :20.93 to Christon’s :21.5 in the 200.

Marks below in parenthesis are where the San Diego Section competitors stand in the state.

w–Wind aided.  *–No wind gauge.

GIRLS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
100	Shaheed, Madison	:11.87 (4)	Nowling, Calabasas	:11.40
	Hickey, Coronado	:12.09 (T12)
	Ruskovich, Scripps Ranch	:12.10 (15)
	McCormick, Scripps Ranch	:12.18 (20)
200	Ruskovich, Scripps Ranch	:24.51w (3)	Frost, Gardena Serra	:24.0w
400	Wright, University City	:56.48 (8)	Okonkwo, Murrieta Mesa	:55.42
800	Riedman, La Costa Canyon	2:13.54 (6)	Tomkinton, Atherton Menlo	2:10.61
1600	Fahy, La Costa Canyon	4:48.34 (1)	Lowe, Clovis Buchanan	4:49.14
3200	Fahy, La Costa Canyon	10:34.67 (5)	Ramirez, Chino Hills Ayala	10:32.67
100 Hurdles	Miller, San Pasqual	:14.95 (T13)	Shearer San Jose Silver Creek	:14.05
	McCormick, Scripps Ranch	:15.08 (T19)
300 Hurdles	Mayo, Grossmont	:45.03 (7)	Glenn, Long Beach Wilson	:42.31
	Edwards, San Pasqual	:45.32 (10)
	McCormick, Scripps Ranch	:45.42 (13)
4×100 Relay	Scripps Ranch	:46.95 (1)	Calabasas	:47.00
4×400 Relay	Scripps Ranch	3:57.86 (18)	Mission Viejo	3:49.50
High Jump	Hickey, Coronado	5-10 ½ (1)	Three tied	5-8
Long Jump	Hickey, Coronado	20-2 (2)	Cobb, Riverside Poly	21-2
Triple Jump	Miller, San Pasqual	37-8 ¼ (16)	Aguilar, Rancho Cucamonga	47-8
Shot Put	Atuatasi, West Hills	42-7 (10)	Budwig, Fowler	47-4
	Lagoy, Rancho Bernardo	41-4 (14)
Discus	Atuatasi, West Hills	126-5	Budwig, Fowler	158-8
Pole Vault	Thomson, Poway	13-4 (1T)	Sommers, Westlake Village Westlake	13-4

BOYS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
B100	Christon, Madison	:10.45w (2)	Grubb, Sherman OaksNotre Dame	:10.41
200	Christon, Madison	:21.32* (2)	Moore, Westlake Village Oaks Christian	:21.28
400	Parker, Helix	:48.37 (7)	Larrier, Elk Grove Monterey Trail	:48.06
	A. Lippert, La Costa Canyon	:48.54 (9)
	Salzman, Calvin Christian	:48.57 (11)
800	Tellez-Velasquez, San Pasqual	1:52.56 (1)	Coleman III, Vista Murrieta	1:53.19
1600	Stanford, La Costa Canyon	4:16.90 (12)	Hubbard, El Monte Arroyo	4:07.25
	Ali, Crawford	4:17.82 (17)
	Velasco, Fallbrook	4:17.91 (20)
3200	Velasco, Fallbrook	9:07.27 (4)	Strangio, Sacramento Jesuit	8:47.97
	Niednagel, Las Costa Canyon	9:13.3 (9)
110 High Hurdles	Jackson, El Camino	:14.95	Williams, Tracy West	:14.08
300 Intermediate Hurdles	Solomon, Grossmont	:38.45 (6)	Roberson, Upland	:36.96
4×100	Madison	:42.69 (16)	Long Beach Poly	:41.45
4×400	Helix	3:26.69	Placentia Valencia	3:13.73
High Jump	Lugo, Canyon Crest	6-6 (T8)	Allen, Santa Barbara San Marcos	7-0
	Brownell, San Dieguito	6-4 (T18)
Long Jump	Luck, Mission Vista	22-5 ½ (16)	Hemphill, Upland	23-11
Triple Jump	Mitchell, Point Loma	48-6 (2)	Hemphill, Upland	48-6 1/4
Shot Put	Watson, Fallbrook	53-5 (16)	Viveros, Bakersfield Liberty	66-1 /12
Discus	Lologo, Oceanside	153-1	Johnson, Clovis Buchanan	190-0
Pole Vault	Rice, Rancho Bernardo	15-7 (3)	Wright, Lodi	16-4

Kenon Christon of Madison, Altan Mitchell of Point Loma, Alysha Hickey of Coronado, and Camryn Thomson of Poway are state track-and-field leaders from the San Diego Section, which got down to some serious competition last week after a few February and early-March meets.

Christon ran a personal best :10.52 in the 100 meters at the Elmer Runge excercise, moved to West Hills because the Patrick Henry track is being rebuilt.  There was no wind reading on Christon’s 100 or his :21.32 200, second best in the state.

Thomson cleared 13 feet, 4 inches in the girls’ pole vault at the first University City “Classic”, and Hickey took the state lead in the high jump at 5-10 1/2 and moved to second in the long jump at 20-2.

Mitchell went 48-6 in his home jumping pit in a Western League dual meet against Mira Mesa.

The annual Mt. Carmel Invitational will be held Saturday on the campus of the Rancho Penaquitos school, where Dennis McClanahan stepped down after 40-plus years as head coach but still will coordinate the meet, as well as the San Diego Section finals in May.

Mt. Carmel and Arcadia, a couple weeks later, are two of the premier attractions for area competitors before the big meets in May.

San Diego Section and State leaders, with Top 10 rankings in parenthesis:

BOYS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
B100	Christon, Madison	:10.52 (1)	Moore, Westlake Village Oaks Christian	:10.54
200	Christon, Madison	:21.32 (2)	Moore, Westlake Village Oaks Christian	:21.28
400	Parker, Helix	:48.72 (7)	Larrier, Elk Grove Monterey Trail	:48.06
800	Tellez-Velasquez, San Pasqual	1:57.95	Steward, Long Beach Poly	1:54.84
1600	Velasco, Fallbrook	4:22.41	Grover, Capistrano J Serra	4:16.51
3200	Velasco, Fallbrook	9:07.27 (3)	Herold, Capistrano J Serra	9:02.53
110 High Hurdles	Jackson, El Camino	:14.95	Marshall, Berkeley St. Mary’s	:14.32
300 Intermediate Hurdles	Solomon, Grossmont	:38.45 (4)	Roberson, Upland	:36.96
4×100	St. Augustine	:43.14	Long Beach Poly	:41.45
4×400	Helix	3:26.69	Placentia Valencia	3:13.73
High Jump	Brownell, San Dieguito	6-6 (6T)	Allen, Santa Barbara San Marcos	7-0
	Lugo, Canyon Crest	6-6
Long Jump	Bainer, San Marcos	22-4 3/4	Hemphill, Upland	23-11
Triple Jump	Mitchell, Point Loma	48-6 (1)	Ruotolo, Santa Ana Mater Dei	47-8.
Shot Put	Watson, Fallbrook	53-5	Duensing, Anaheim Esperanza	65-7 1/2
Discus	Lologo, Oceanside	153-1	Johnson, Clovis Buchanan	190-0
Pole Vault	Rice, Rancho Bernardo	15-7 (3)	Wright, Lodi	16-4

GIRLS

EVENT	NAME	MARK	STATE	MARK
100	Shaheed, Madison	:12.02 (5)	Nowling, Calabasas	:11.40
200	Ruskovich, Scripps Ranch	:24.97 (7)	Sanchez, Oxnard Hueneme	:24.03
400	Wright, University City	:56.67 (8)	Glenn, Long Beach Wilson	:55.45
800	Riedman, La Costa Canyon	2:14.12 (3)	Tomkinton, Atherton Menlo	2:10.61
1600	Riedman, La Costa Canyon	5:02.29	Suarez, Pasadena Mayfield	4:55.53
3200	Fahy, La Costa Canyon	10:34.67 (2)	Ramirez, Chino Hills Ayala	10:32.67
100 Hurdles	Miller, San Pasqual	:14.95	Shearer San Jose Silver Creek	:14.05
300 Hurdles	McCormick, Scripps Ranch	:46.11	Weidinger, Walnut Creek Las Lomas	:43.91
4×100 Relay	Scripps Ranch	:46.95 (2)	Moreno Valley Rancho Verde	:45.64
4×400 Relay	Scripps Ranch	4:00.20	Mission Viejo	3:49.50
High Jump	Hickey, Coronado	5-10 ½ (1)	Harper, Fresno Central	5-8
Long Jump	Hickey, Coronado	20-2 (2)	Cobb, Riverside Poly	21-2
Triple Jump	Heckman, Point Loma	37-1	Shearer, San Jose Silver Creek	40-6
Shot Put	Atuatasi, West Hills	42-7	Budwig, Fowler	47-4
Discus	Atuatasi, West Hills	126-5	Budwig, Fowler	158-8
Pole Vault	Thomson, Poway	13-4 (1T)	Sommers, Westlake Village Westlake	13-4

 

Vincent W. (Vince) Breddell III, a star sprinter at Kearny in 1969 and ’70, passed recently.

Coach Jim Cerveny’s teams, which battled Clairemont for Western League domination, were built around the swift Breddell.

Breddell was fourth in the state 100-yard dash final at Berkeley in 1970 after winning the San Diego Section championship in :09.7.  He won his heat in the state trials at Berkeley in :09.7.

Breddell had a best time of :21.2 in the 220-yard dash, was a triple winner in the 1970 Western League finals, :09.8 100, :21.4 220, and anchor leg of the winning (:42.3) 440-yard relay with teammates Tony Berg, Greg Jackey, and Michael Cornell.

Breddell won the San Diego Section championship with a :09.8 100 in 1970 and finished first in the 220 in :21.4 but was disqualified because he was outside his lane during the race. Lane inspector Tony Sucec  unpopularly reported that Breddell took four steps on the white line that separated his lane from that of teammate Michael Cornell.

Breddell also won the Western League 100 in 1969 and was a three-year member of Kearny’s championship 440-yard relay teams.

Thanks to Rich Peralta for notification.

The 880-yard relay, a frenetic and often perilous event, provided a wild conclusion to the CIF Southern Section finals at Compton.

San Diego High won the team championship, surviving rush-hour traffic and a near pileup, not unlike a wild main event of a midget auto racing card in Balboa Stadium.

The Hillers’ Charlie Davis, spiked by another runner about 100 yards from the finish line, hung on for a second place that was the difference in the team standings.

San Diego’s 20 points topped Glendale Hoover, which had 19, and Compton, which did not have a relay team and finished with 18.  Fullerton was fourth with 15.

Coach Bill Patten’s seven-man squad and Glendale Hoover, led by sprint ace John Bradley, each had 16 points entering the final event.

Laguna Beach was a “surprise gun-to-tape winner but they went virtually unnoticed,” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ John De la Vega, who captured the moment.

HILLERS VS. TORNADOES

“All eyes were on the two title rivals,” said De La Vega.

“San Diego ran second most of the way while Hoover, the favorite, got two bad passes and trailed the Hillers by nine yards in next-to-last place as the anchor leg started.

“Then came the rousing finish,” wrote De La Vega.

Hillers anchorman Davis survived a cut on his leg when Inglewood’s Jack Hadley crashed in front of the fast-closing Bradley and Hadley’s shoe spikes tore Davis’ flesh.

Bradley, accelerating as he traversed the curve, had closed to within three yards of Davis as the pack turned for home.  Hadley, also charging, suddenly stumbled, nipping Davis, and falling in front of Bradley.

Bradley pulled up and ran around Hadley, according to De La Vega, and then made another challenge but finished two yards behind Davis.

Champion Hilltoppers with perpetual title trophy, front row (from left): Harold Miller, Bob Van Doren, Ernie Smith. Standing (from left): coach Bill Patten, Rudy Graham, Calvin Carter, Charlie Davis, John Davis.  Courtesy, John Dahlem/CIF Southern Section.

IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED?

Three published accounts of that relay race, beginning with De La Vega’s, are not  in agreement.

Wrote Don King in Caver Conquest, the athletic history of San Diego High:

“Sparked by some nifty running and baton passes among Hal Miller, Calvin Carter, and Ernie Smith, the Hillers jumped into an early lead (De La Vega’s Times story said Laguna led all the way) coming into Davis’ anchor leg.  But a rival runner accidentally spiked Davis in the baton exchange (the Times story indicated it happened much later).”

The San Diego Union correspondent, unidentified, reported in a “Special” dispatch:

“The Hiller quartet took an early lead, but on the last lap Davis was spiked by a rival runner. The mishap enabled Laguna Beach to take the lead, but Davis, continuing in spite of the injury, held off his Glendale Hoover rival to finish second.”

THE OTHERS…

Seven San Diego High athletes were among the fifteen from the Coast, Metropolitan, and Southern Prep leagues who qualified for the finals after loop meets and two divisional competitions.

–San Diego’s Harold Miller was not among the top five finishers in the 100-yard dash, won by Howard Bugbee of Redondo Beach Redondo Union in: 09.6.

–Miller and Davis were not among the top five in the scorching 220-yard dash, won by Bradley by less than a foot over Compton’s Bill Fell in: 21.

–Calvin Carter was fourth in the 440-yard dash, won by San Dieguito’s Don Balsley in :51.2, providing two points for the Hillers.

–Bob Van Doren won the shot put at 55 feet ¾ inch and John Davis got up for fourth at 50-10 ¾, giving the Hillers 7 points.

–Rudy Graham was a surprising second in the high jump at 6 feet, 3 inches, and picked up four points, beating among others San Diego Hoover’s Jack Razzeto, who cleared 6-5 3/4, two Saturdays before in a divisional meet at Balboa Stadium.

–Ernie Smith, the 1947 champion at 22-6 ½, was third in the broad jump at 22-1½, giving the Hillers three points and a total 16 as they awaited the relay sprint.

San Diego was one of the favorites in the relay, having run 1:30.4 and 1:30.7 leading to the finals.  With an accident-free race the Hilltoppers may not have equaled Laguna Beach’s winning time of 1:29.9, but their second place finish was good for 4 points and the winning total of 20.

…AND OTHERS

–Point Loma’s Bob Mahon, usually a triple winner in both hurdles and broad jump during the Pointers’ dual meet season, was disqualified along with Glendale Hoover’s Jack Davis and Beverly Hills’ Bill Storum in the 120-yard highs.

Mahon’s best time of: 15.1 would have had him in the mix in a race in which Bob Boaz of Fullerton won in :15.

–Martin Donahue of Grossmont and Kenny Holly of Escondido were unplaced in the mile.

–Grossmont’s Hal Norris was unplaced in the shot put.

–Jack Razzeto of Hoover cleared 6-2 but lost a coin toss to Dick Brombach of Long Beach Poly in the high jump.  Brombach  became the third qualifier for the state meet the following week in Berkeley.

–Jack Lucas of La Jolla was third in the 880, won by Wilbur Firestone of Compton in 2:00.

–Duane Pusey of Grossmont tied for third with two others in the pole vault but lost a coin toss to determine who would advance to Berkeley.

STATE MEET

–Jack Lucas was third in the 880, won by Firestone in 1:57.8.

–Don Balsley unofficially was timed in: 50.4 and finished fifth in one of two 440-yard dashes.  Luther Butler of Los Angeles Jefferson and Fred Thompson of L.A. Jordan were declared co-champions at :49.2.

–Bob Van Doren’s 54-6 ¼ in the shot put was third to the national record 59-7 ½ by L.A. Washington’s Bob Cameron.

–Rudy Graham tied for third in the high jump at 6-2.  Dick Brombach of Long Beach Poly and Ed Young of L.A. Jefferson were co-champs at 6-3.

–Ernie Smith did not place in the broad jump.

–San Diego was fifth in the 880 relay, behind L.A. Jordan, L.A. Jefferson, Glendale
Hoover, and San Francisco Lowell.  Jordan’s winning time was 1:29.5.

–The Hilltoppers were seventh in the team scoring with 6 ¼ points.  L.A. Jordan led with 22.

RELAY MADNESS

San Diego was 3-1 in dual meets, losing an early-season, 57-47 decision to Grossmont when the Hilltoppers dropped the baton in the 880 relay, depriving them of a 52-52  tie.

Charlie Davis’ strong anchor leg, in which he caught and passed Hoover and Tucson runners, gave the Hillers a triangular meet victory in a night session before 1,200 persons at Balboa Stadium.  The Hillers scored 53 points. Tucson, an Arizona power, 51, and Hoover 25 ½.

A dropped baton in the Class A relay deprived Grossmont of a clean sweep in classes A, B, and C, in the Metropolitan League finals at San Diego State.

Point Loma won the relay and the Class A title with 46 points to the Foothillers’ 42 ¾.  Grossmont coach Jack Mashin dropped six varsity (A) performers into Class B, opening the door for coach Don Giddings’ Pointers.

Grossmont swept dual meet opponents in all but one A, B, and C competition.  La Jolla beat the Foothillers in a Class B dual.

FOOTHILLERS TOP HILLTOPPERS

The dual meet victory over San Diego was Grossmont’s third against the Hilltoppers since 1944, rare achievements by a school not in the San Diego city limits.

Indeed, Grossmont coach Jack Mashin, who retired as football boss after the 1947 season, built a powerful program of deep and talented teams, particularly in the field events.

Grossmont led area schools with 17 ¼ points in the 27^th annual Southern Counties meet at Huntington Beach High.

Three Grossmont pole vaulters cleared 12 feet to tie for first and sophomore Hal Norris topped San Diego’s Bob Van Doren and John Davis in the shot and finished second.

Compton won the team championship at Huntington Beach with 29 points, riding the rapid wheels of Bill Fell, who won the 100-yard dash in :09.6, 220 on the straightaway in :20.8 and broad jump at 22 feet, 6 inches.

5/1/48

Grossmont was deprived of  championships in Classes A,B, and C in the Metropolitan League meet when the Foothillers botched a baton exchange in the final event 880-yard relay.

A dropped baton did in the Foothillers an Point Loma won the relay in 1:33.9 and Class A with 47 points to the Foothillers’ 42.7/10.

 

SPIKE DUST

Future pro golf champion Gene Littler was one of La Jolla’s shotputters…St. Augustine fielded A, B, and C teams for the first time in the school’s 26-year history…Bob Van Doren set a San Diego school shot put record with a heave of 55-2 ¾ in the Balboa Stadium divisional meet…Van Doren unofficially bettered the mark at 55-7 1/8 in an extra trial after the shot put competition in the state meet…Van Doren also was first at Berkeley with a 46-10 3/4 toss in the non-counting 16-pound shot competition…Ernie Smith didn’t repeat as Southern Section broad jump champion but had a career-best 22-9 in the Coast League triangular dual meet with Pasadena and Pasadena Muir…Hoover’s Bill McColl, all-Southern California in football, basketball and baseball, also found time to run the hurdles for coach Raleigh Holt’s track team….