Remembering 1987: Unforgettable Experiences

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Throughout this series, we asked readers to share their experiences at the 1987 State Meet for the purposes of developing this article. Below is the story from a woman who competed in the '87 meet and three decades later watched in amazement as her son almost won a title on the very same Woodward Park course. We hear from another runner who succinctly explains the impact competing at that first State Meet had on his life. And we read the words of a then-young coach, who details that experience as well as the changes over these past 33 years. 

Matt Johanson - Inspired By The Experience

Marty Simpson - Memories From A Young Coach

Thirty-three years ago, was awhile back in time! I was 39, in my fourth year as head cross- country coach at Clovis West, having success mostly in the girls' program. But that day, it was all about the boys' team. That year, our boys captured the Central Section Championships for the first time in school history, defeating one of the most prominent cross-country programs in the 80's, Madera High School.

If I recall, the organization of the State Meet that year was a joint venture between Madera and Clovis High Schools and since our boys had captured the team Central Section title, the Madera coach told me that our team would be issued bib numbers 1-7 in the State Meet. I thought that was pretty awesome for our boys' team to wear those numbers for the first California State Cross Country Meet in history.

On that day, my scope of cross-country competition grew beyond my little area of the San Joaquin Valley.

I loved to compete as an athlete and always strived to do my best, and I was always trying to observe what other strategies athletes and coaches used to make themselves better. The athletes I coached took on that motivation to do the same, to just compete, always giving your best and letting the cards fall as they may. My whole life as a coach seemed to shift into higher gear that day, because that loss at the State Meet humbled me. How was I going to prepare my athletes, both physically and mentally, to compete on that day in the future, every Saturday after Thanksgiving in the years to come?

Q: What are some of the biggest changes that you have seen in the sport from then until now in our state and perhaps nationally?

First off, that State Meet brought everyone together and you soon learned which programs dominated, but you did not know how and why they were so successful. Again, since I love to compete, I wanted to know what I could do, as a coach, to make my teams compete at the highest level possible. I was always asking the coaches of the top two teams in Central Section history, Coach Dee DeWitt of Madera and Coach Jim White of McFarland, how they trained, how they motivated, was there any special diet, just anything that would give my athletes more of a competitive edge and spirit, and they were always helpful.

Second, fortunately, the LA 1984 Olympics had an excess of money that was put aside to help educate coaches by offering clinics in the Southern California area. Luckily, this was not restricted to coaches in the LA area, so anyone could attend, and they were FREE. You also received an awesome book about all facets of the sport when you attended the Track Clinic or the Cross-Country Clinic. Our coaching staff went every year for years and loved the interaction between the speakers and the clinicians. Our programs evolved with every clinic, our athletes' expectations changed along with our newly learned ideas, and our athletes started competing better and better against those Northern and Southern California teams that were so well coached. If it were not for Tim O'Rourke and Ken Reeves laying the foundation for those clinics for all these years, cross-country and track in California would not be competing at a level so revered by other states.

Third, if I recall correctly, we only had three divisions in 1987 and today we have five. Every year continues to bring performances by both girls and boys that seem to surprise us old coaches. It warms my heart that this State Meet competition can bring out record course times that athletes, as individuals and teams, strive to achieve and, hopefully, to beat.

Fourth, and in some ways not the most beneficial, at least in my eyes, is due to our new found love of the internet, now we seem to have a lot of hype, positive and negative, that is generated by these sites.

Lastly, the girls have stepped it up in all divisions, while the boys have exploded in Divisions 1 and 2 from 2004 to 2019. I didn't think that I would ever be able to make this statement, until I checked the results of the 2004 Division V boys race and compared our top five girls from Buchanan all-time list at Woodward Park. But, had those girls toed the line as a team, they would have placed second in that race. In fact, our top two girls would have been second and third on that winning boys' team. Those young ladies, who came to realize the importance of training, competition and believing in themselves and their coaches, attained race times that I did not think, 33 years ago, would have been possible for young ladies.