The Best High School Distance Team of All Time?

In the 1960s and into the 1970s, Track & Field News sponsored a "postal" competition during the fall cross country season. The idea was to have the nation's high schools run a two or three mile on the track, mail in the result, then determine a national champion based on a 5-man team time. This was before teams traveled out of their own regions to meet squads from other regions or states, and before the Kinney (now Footlocker) Nationals.

The national postal competition began in 1958 and 15 years into it, a group from Lompoc High School established a new postal record which arguably established that team as the best high school distance team of all time. Terry Williams led his team with an 8:58.4, and he was followed by Alvin Gilmore (9:15.4), Jim Schankel (9:18.8), Jim Warrick (9:20.4), and Tony Nunez (9:28.0). Their team time of 46:21.0 smashed the old record of 47:11.0, and was an incredible average of 9:16.2. For 3200 meters, that would be an average of 9:13.0!

In addition to the team competition, there was a Two Man Ten Mile Relay competition in which two runners alternated 440's, each runner going 20 laps around the track. The record for the event was set in 1966 at 43:38.8 (an average of 65.5 for each of the 40 440's) by Lloyd Apgar and Otis Martin of Lincoln High School, San Diego.

The open record for the event was set by a team from the University of Kansas: Jim Ryun and John Lawson. Their time of 41:10.8 was an average of 61.8 per 440. Ryun's average was presumably the faster of the two runners. Ryun was a freshman at Kansas at the time, and only a few months earlier had run his 3:55 mile in San Diego to win the National AAU meet and defeat Peter Snell, then the world record holder.

In the photo, Barrie Williams and Terry Williams duke it out at the 1972 LA Times Indoor 2 Mile--Terry of Lompoc beat Barrie of North Torrance, 8:55.0 to 8:56.2. Photo by Don Chadez.

In 1974 a team from Jesuit High School entered the competition and ran a fine 48:00.8. The date was November 2, 1974, and the site was San Jose State College.

Dirk Feenstra, a senior, led the Marauders with a 9:19.4. He was followed by Rod Read, a junior, in 9:34.4, senior Bob Wulff at 9:41.6, and two sophomores, Pete Gaul, 9:42.0, and Tom O'Neil, 9:43.4. This was an average of 9:36.2 for two miles, or 9:33.0 for 3200 meters.

A week later the team won Jesuit's first Sac-Joaquin Section Cross Country title.

Left to right in the photo: Pete Gaul, Tom O'Neil, Earl Lagomarsino, Terry Barton, Bob Wulff, Rod Read, and Dirk Feenstra.