This week, on ca.milesplit.com, you can vote on the top XC programs in California during the state meet era (1987 to present). Among the many candidates are a three schools from Northern California and they are Jesuit Boys (SJS) 9 state titles, San Lorenzo Valley Girls (CCS) 5 state titles and University Girls (NCS) 10 state titles.
You can check out the article explaining how the voting works and where to place your votes at this link:
http://ca.milesplit.com/articles/188536-what-is-the-best-ca-xc-program-of-all-time
If you have any comments, feel free to add them in the section below.
You can check out the article explaining how the voting works and where to place your votes at this link:
http://ca.milesplit.com/articles/188536-what-is-the-best-ca-xc-program-of-all-time
If you have any comments, feel free to add them in the section below.
7 comments:
A fun conversation to have, but thinking this would depend on what your definition of "best" is; is it strictly based on state level success, those programs that have, on occasion, made a splash at the national level, or more about prolonged excellence within their section and general geographic area? There is also the ever-looming aspect of size, in my experience, you tend to see longer stretches of dominance within the smaller divisions than at the top, but just my perspective. I know this is a vote based "competition," but would be curious as to some of the coaches on here weighing in with their perspective, as opposed to simply letting it be a popularity contest.
This is an excellent post.
In terms of a one year, best season ever category: I'd like to start with the 1972 Lompoc cross country team, which (for the time) had an eye-popping postal meet:
'72 - - Lompoc set a new postal record with a team time of 46 minutes, 21 seconds which eclipsed the old record of 47:11. Terry Williams (8:58.4), Alvin Gilmore (9:15.4), Jim Schankel (9:18.8), Warrick (9:20.4) and Tony Nunez (9:28.0).
On the girls side, the earliest one-year best was the 1981 University High (Irvine) team led by Polly Sue Plummer who set the national high school mile record (4:35.26) until just recently beaten by Babcock, Efraimson, and Cain. That team set the team time standard at Mt. SAC on the the longer course at 92:25, an 18:29 average with Plummer at 17:27. That team record stood for 20 years.
Teams since have eclipsed these marks, but these two teams had those early all-time great single years that were the gold standard for years.
Saugus girls...
Although there wasn't a state cross-country meet when this team competed,
Lompoc's 1972 team in my opinion was the best ever(and very possibly the
best ever of any high school cross-country team).
In the postal meet where their top 5 averaged 9:14.2 for 2 miles, that meet
was run on a dirt track at Westminster HS in S. Cal. They broke the national
high school record by over 50 sec.(10 secs. per man!).
Terry Williams, their #1 runner, was an 8:54.8 2-miler in track, and won the
state 2-mile championship. Their #2 runner, Alvin Gilmore, won the state
1-mile track championship the same year as Terry. Jim Schankel, #3 runner,
who was a junior at the time, ran 8:57 in the 2-mile as a senior, and later
broke numerous track records and was NCAA Cross-Country and Track Champ
at CPSLO. Jim Warrick was also a standout runner at CPSLO. The 6th or 7th
man on their 1972 team, junior Roger Fabing, ran 9:05 in the 2-mile as a senior.
At the Palos Verdes Invite at that time, where there are 7 races where #1 races
#1, #2 races #2, etc. etc., their top 7 won every race and broke the meet record
in every race.
Lompoc had the lowest team total ever at Mt. SAC in the CIF Cross-Country Championships, with 5 of their runners placing in the top 10.
I was fortunate enough to compete against their team(and with some of their
team later on), and have never seen a high school team of that magnitude since.
Please note a correction in my earlier note regarding Lompoc's 1972
cross-country team.
Their top 5 averaged 9:16.2 for 2 miles, not 9:14.2 as earlier stated,
at the postal meet on the Westminster HS dirt track.
A point to note here is that this was 2 miles, not 3200 meters, and 2
of their runners not included in these 5 ran 14:58 and 15:09 in the 3-mile
during the same season.
I think the top 3 teams in California history in no particular order are the 1972 Lompoc team, the 2010 Arcadia team and the 2015 Great Oak team. The Lompoc team ran those impressive times on dirt and without a true coach. A very impressive group. The Arcadia team finally enabled a California team to breakthrough and win the NXN title. The won their 2nd championship in 2012. Great Oak last year won the Division I state title breaking the Woodward Park course team time record. They also won the NXN team title. On the track, Great Oak continued their hot racing and completed an amazing school year for their team.
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