California Historic Powerhouse Distance Programs

The recent resignation of Great Oak coach, Doug Soles, could portend the end of one of the most dominant distance programs in California history. During the Soles era, the Great Oak XC crew (2017 team above) won a slew of section titles along with an unbelievable 14 state cross country team titles (8 for the girls and 6 for the boys). No other XC program in the history of the state has won as many combined state championships since the first one that was contested in 1987.

At the most prestigious XC team event in the nation, Great Oak has also excelled while competing at Team Nationals. Since 2014, the Wolfpack boys and girls have combined for five top-three finishes including a national championship for the boys in 2015. In what was their last appearance under Soles in 2019, his boys finished in 2nd place, just four points behind the winning Newbury Park team.

After that incredible run by the Great Oak teams, I was curious about what other top cross country programs in the history of the state should be in the same conversation of dominant teams. I reached out to several experts on this subject who shared their thoughts about other programs that stood out for them. Below are what they shared and once you get through this article, please share what other programs that may have been missed and you think should be included.

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First, we will hear from former Nordhoff and Foothill Technology coach, Ken Reeves who certainly has a passion for the sport and its history. Coach Reeves has also been one of the most successful coaches in the state that included 15 XC state team champions combined for both Nordhoff and Foothill Tech.

"All-time great teams that immediately come to mind prior to the State Meet in CC are maybe Lompoc boys of the early 70s (photo to the right courtesy of DyeStatCal).  

"This was the all-time standard in So Cal for CC excellence.  Kind of like Michael Jordan, all teams appear to be compared against the Lompoc teams.  Great story-team was basically self-coached their best year with athletes organizing all of the workouts.  Had the pleasure of sitting with Jim Warrick and Terry Williams at a couple of Olympic Trials and was there for their induction into the Mt. SAC Cross-Country Hall of Fame.  Talked about how each guy got up and ran to the next guy's house each morning to pick each other up for their AM run and how every trip planned included a plan for a run-if they were going to Santa Barbara for the movies, they would plan a run in Santa Barbara.  Copied and pasted the entire Doug Speck article on them at the bottom.  Also included the link to the Lompoc Record article and the Erik Boal article after the Hall of Fame presentation. University of Irvine girls of maybe early 80s (Bob Messina as coach). The original female standard for elite teams in So Cal., Upland forever (Steve Scott days and before) (Don Loney as coach) always seemed to have a great 800 guy, Berkeley in track and field, Carlmont in the mid to late 1960s.  Santa Barbara back when Vern Gambetta was the head coach ... was a brief period, but turned out some awesome individual males and females.  Sherman Indian won 10 CIF SS titles from 1973 to 1988 and were runners-up another four times. Ken Taylor was the coach of most of those teams.  Won the 1988 State title for D3.  Supposedly in 1924, Paavo Nurmi raced against students from Sherman Institute while touring the US.  

Link to an article about Ken Taylor: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-25-sp-14308-story.html 

Bellarmine under Terry Ward before the State Meet. Barstow prior to the State Meet was a top-ranked program in the early 1980s with the Ortiz brothers.  Don Braden was the coach of those teams.  Was either first or second in CIF for at least ever.  Cal Track Running news from 1983: http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/XC/1983/sections.pdf

State Meet era in (cross country):  Thousand Oaks with Jack Farrell (photo to the left) as coach (both boys and girls, but primarily as boys).  Agoura with Bill Duley as coach (both boys and girls), Palos Verdes and Peninsula with Joe Kelley as coach (both boys and girls, but primarily as girls). (The) 1986 PV Girls were probably his best girls team before the State Meet.  Hart boys with Gene Blankenship as coach.  Great rivalry with Madera back in the day.  McFarland boys with Jim White as coach.  University of San Francisco as an overall program with Jim Tracy as primary coach.  Oak Park boys and girls with Kevin Smith as coach.  Anywhere that Chuck Woolridge is coaching-Campo, College Park, probably just about anywhere.  Jesuit with Walt Lange as coach.  Could have won the State Meet a couple of times in track if he was willing to double folks.  Liked that he didn't and let each person have a solo event.  Probably the best string of 3200 guys in the history of the state.

Saugus boys and girls (primarily girls) with Rene Paragas as coach.  Yreka with Jim Eckman as coach (primarily boys).  Great Oak boys and girls with Doug Soles as coach.  Flintridge Prep with Ingrid Herskind as primarily the coach.  Arcadia with Jim O'Brien as coach.  Davis with Bill Gregg as coach, primarily girls, but a lot of great individuals.  Loyola with Lalo Diaz as coach -- another group of great 3200 guys in track and always in the mix in cross-country.  Dana Hills primarily on the boys side with Tim Butler as coach.  Woodcrest Christian with Billy York and his Hawaiian shirts as coach.  Barstow High boys with Jim Duarte as coach (five titles in seven years).  San Pasqual under Wille Wester.  First team to win both boys and girls in the same year at the State Meet.  Lassen High School seemed to be up there for a number of years also, especially on the girls side.  If I am not mistaken, one year, their field hockey team basically joined the (cross country) team and helped Lassen win the state title.  Think they were also a power before the state meet.

"I am sure I am forgetting some teams.  Always a new star each and every year, but some teams just seem to be among the leaders every year."

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Next, I reached out to CIF rules interpreter Hal Harkness who has been involved in the two sports of Cross Country and Track and Field for many years and can certainly add a historical perspective.

"All my high school coaching years, except one, were spent in the L.A. City Section. The teams (boys only) that stand out to me after all these years were Garfield 1954-58, coached by Ed Kuntz, Granada Hills 1964-66, coached by Giles Godfrey, and Belmont 1982-88, coached by Gordon Weisenberger.

(Editor's note: The photo below includes Belmont's Roman Gomez who is the only runner in CA history to win the mile/2-mile at the CA state meet two consecutive years in a row.)

These years at Belmont overlapped the Gomez brothers (Roman and Manny) and a host of other outstanding runners. The LA Section did not appear in the State Meet until 1988. The traditional LA schedule did not end until the Section Final Meet on the 2nd Saturday in December and the 1987 coaches did not want to change it.

From the Southern Section prior to 1987, I remember Westminster 1963, 64, and 66, all coached by Jack Hedges, the great Lompoc teams of 1970-72, coached by Frank Hiatt and Dave Johnson, and Arroyo 1982, 83 and 86, all coached by our own Tim O'Rourke. On the girls side, who can forget the University (Irvine) teams of 1980-82, coached by Janice Rolfing. Polly Plummer was champion in 80 and 81 in 1982 the University girls went 2-5-7 after her graduation."

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I also reached out to former Castro Valley and Northgate coach Peter Brewer who is another coach who has seen it all and been part of the CIF advisory board for many years. 

"When the state meet started, the legendary programs were mostly all in the south end of the state.   The NorCal championships, (started in 1980?), let us all know that Jesuit was for real in the boys.   Mission San Jose was killer too.  Bellarmine (Terry Ward) was monstrous. Castro Valley had a bit of a presence.   Bella Vista (Harold Kuphalt!) was on the map. For the girls, it gets a bit dim for me but I believe Drake had a team. Madera, with Dee DeWitt coaching, opened lots of eyes about Central California.  Morro Bay (Isaiah Festa) had some moments. From the south, it was always Maranatha in the girls' small school division.   Agoura was huge with (Bryan) Dameworth and (Deena) Drossin, and Vince Duley as coach. O'Rourke had the legendary Arroyo (El Monte) teams (above).  I think that Fallbrook was the name from the San Diego area, outside of Dennis McClanahan's teams (at Mt. Carmel).

"This is all off the top of my head.  I could go back to the State Meet results, or Doug Speck's articles in California Running News for more accurate memory jogging experiences. 

"For a footnote, it was Piedmont that jostled the CIF out of assigning teams to the overall league division designation and transitioning to allow schools to compete in divisions based solely on school populations.  Quite the stink at the time.

"Giving the small schools their own division as a bit of a snippish affair too.  And finding an alternative to course time comparisons to determine at-large entries was exceptionally weird.   The current process took a bit more than a year to hammer out and has been in place intact for almost 20 years now.  Seems to work."

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Lastly, I also reached out to the longtime Jesuit coach, Walt Lange. His teams have won a record nine state team championships which they share with McFarland.