Daniel Gonia, SD Mesa's 2007 State XC Champion, finished 92nd in the recent NCAA D-I XC Championship. Gonia's 30:51.4 effort led his Cal Poly SLO teammates to a 23rd team finish.

2008 Big West XC Champion 8k- 24:02.4 (13-second winning margin); Cal Poly easily won the conference with 19 points;

News Flash!!...NCAA D-II Finals…Adams State (Alamosa, Colo.), where many Orange Coast, Glendale, and Southwestern runners have gone on to compete, won the men, women titles last Saturday.

ASC's men have won more national titles than any other college or university at any level of collegiate cross country!!!

ASC is also the only school to ever have a perfect score (15 pts.) at an NCAA Championship (1992).

ASC has now won six NCAA Division II National Championships, and an an all-collegiate record 18 overall.

The Adams St. women have now won six straight and 14 overall NCAA Division II National Championships. ASC’s women have now 17 all-time national championships, including three at the NAIA level, also an all-collegiate record.

Orange Coast has had a strong connection with ASC. OCC coach Marco Ochoa, multi-state champion Michelle Icban, Sandra Montoya, and Juan Altimirano are among a few of the Pirates who made the choice to join the ultra-successful ASC program started by legendary coach Joe Vigil, two-time USA Olympic distance coach.

The Grossmont XC Dynasty… The Orange Coast women have established a dynasty of their own at the state meet. In the 1970s the Grossmont men clicked off nine consecutive state team titles led by Coach Bob Larsen who went on to UCLA success. The teams were deep, talented, and superbly coached.  The following state meet team scores indicate their power: 1972-46pts, 1973-89 pts, 1974-54 pts, 1975-43pts, 1976-49 pts,1977-68 pts, 1978-29pts, 1979-20pts, 1980-68 pts…The Grossmont talent in those years included Ed Mendoza-4:03.6 mile at GC, World Cup USA marathon team, Terry Cotton, multi-state champion, 4:05 miler, Rick Rose-1979 state xc champ, Steve Ortiz-3:45.8 1500 state champion, Kirk Pfeffer, still-standing American CC 10k record, AAU nationals marathon runner-up. As GC alumni they formed the infamous “Jamul Toads” and won a AAU National XC team title.

*Jamul was a small hamlet in the eastern San Diego mountains where Grossmont took their weekend

long runs.

a little history, a little humor

THE NCAA DIVISION II REGIONAL RACE HAS AN INTERESTING DAY

The men's 10k race at 8:45 was stopped mid-race (about 4 miles out) as
the lead bicyclist took a wrong turn. The result forced officials to
run a second men's race after the women's race (about 1 1/2 hr. rest).
Many schools had flights to catch later in the afternoon. Most seasoned
fans and officials had never heard or seen this happening, especially in a major qualifying NCAA race. Needless to say there were VERY angry outspoken runners when the race was stopped.

Another D-2 Fiasco…

A week ago we witnessed the men’s NCAA D-II Regional race halted after nearly four miles due to the lead bicyclist leading the pack through a wrong loop. Fifteen years ago the D-II race also made history. Read on…

The Right or Wrong Way …The 1993 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be forever remembered by those running and watching. Mike Delcavo of Western State College (Gunnison, Colo.) was running mid-pack and made the correct turn after those ahead had missed it.  “I was waving for them to follow me and yelling, ‘This is the right way.’” Only four runners followed him. As he thought he might win the race the pack appeared in front of him (they had run a kilometer, .62 of a mile less). Meet management ruled the abbreviated route the “official course.” Delcavo ended up 123 of the 128 runners. He did not protest because he “didn’t want to ruin the event.”- Scorecard, Sports Illustrated, December 27, 1993

The Running convict … In the late 1950s Percy Cerutty, Australian distance running guru and coach of Herb Elliott, 1960 Olympic 1500 champion, came into contact with Robert Poindexter, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the State Penitentiary at Madison, Iowa. Communicating via letter Poindexter wrote Cerutty for advice on his running-he had started walking for hours in the prison yard, but had now decided, at

30-years of age, he wanted to run a four-minute mile. The American media covered the unusual quest and Cerutty responded to Poindexter with a pair of shoes and pages of training advice. Eventually, self-clocked, Poindexter did run 4:26 on a measured-out mile loop in the prison yard.  –Mr. Controversial by Graeme Kelly, Stanley Paul-London, 1964

NYC Marathon…Former LBCC runner Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 2008 Olympian, was the fourth American female to finish (2:33.56) and seventh overall in the recent New York race, won for the third time by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe (2:23.56). 

NYC Marathon Bullfighter… A Spanish matador finished the grueling 26.2 mile race in 5:13.24. David Fandila, aka El Fandi, top ranked matador in the world who has been gored 12 times in his career said, “I was more scared for this marathon. In a bullfight, I have some control of the outcome. In a marathon, there was no control.”

America’s first female… America’s first female finisher was Karen Goucher, 2008 Olympian, who fought stomach cramps in her first ever marathon to finish third in 2:25.53, a debut record for an American woman. It was the best finish by an American woman since 1994.

The marathon “bandits”… Marathoners without registered race bibs are called bandits. Those volunteers protecting the finish from being marred by the bandits are called bandit catchers. Several hundred runners are caught each year in New York and occasionally are physically removed with help from supporting police. Fake bibs, old and other race bibs are used as decoys. This year a man held an infant as he neared the finish and the catchers let him finish with babe in arms.

-NY Times Marathon supplement, November 3, 2008