Costa Mesa High School - Round Up Yearbook (Costa Mesa, CA)

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Boy's Cross Country Keeps Win Streak Alive Unmatched by local competition, Mesa's Varsity Cross Country dominated another season, another year, compiling a string of victories worthy of praise. Nine years and 71 straight dual meet victories make this the most successful sport on Mesa's campus. This year their accomplishments included: Orange County Champions, South Coast League Champions and an outstanding fifth place finish in Southern Section CIF. With only 48 points Mesa took the Kiwanis Invita- tional. One week later at Villa Park, in the Cross Coun- try Classic, Mesa received their second title of the year. At this unusual meet, there were seven separate Varsity races. All the first men from each school ran one race. The same went for all the second men in another race and so on. Joe Young placed second in his race, while John Gerhart also finished number two. Dave Sprague placed second in the Number Five Man race. Brian Overholt had a first, and Chris Tomlin took a third. The pride of this championship team was shown in their title as Orange County Championsf, Their total time for the UCI course came to 77:17. At this race Gerhart was named first man All Orange Countyf, Young who was first man as a freshman, sophomore and junior, received second. Mount SAC Invitational, the largest high school invi- tational in the United States, left the proud Mustangs attempting to pull together their broken team in the face of their steepest competition. With the absence of the third, fourth and sixth men, the Mustangs place a re- spectable fifth behind only five teams in our CIF. Coming down to their final and toughest dual meet of the year, Mesa had a nine year dual meet record on the line. On Corona's toughest course through the Back Bay, Young and Gerhart tied for first at 15:05. Corona run- ners took the next four places. Lucky for Mesa, the Next three places brought the needed points to enable Mesa to win, 27-28. At the League finals on the steep hills of Estancia High School, the team fell short of a meet victory but came away as League Champions. Gerhart finished the league undefeated, winning his finals race in 15:38. Young came in third at 15:50. For the league standings Mesa had fourteen points as did the Sea Kings. But, according to CIF rules, the winner of the dual meet takes the title. In the CIF Prelim race, Gerhart won with Young placing second. Overholt placed twenty-first with Kolar and Lara 30 and 38. With ninety-two points, they took a good third place. One week later, on the same Mount SAC course, the temperature rose to about 92 degrees. Ten teams compiled the 4-A CIF race. Gerhart finished seventh while Young followed, both ending with 15:59 total. Kolar was 33 at 17:01 and Tomlin 38 at 17:10. Schied came in 42 at 17:22. Total team points compiled to 128, fifth place in CIF finals. 1. Mesa's Varsity team showed up most opponents by heavy team running known as packing. 2. Joe Young battles for his second man title on the Orange County team. 3. John Gerhart dominated the Orange County Championships race where he was named First-Man All-County. 4. Dave Sprague placed second at the Villa Park Classic. 5. Chris Tomlin fights through the weeds at San Clemente.

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Underclass X-Country Reigns As League Power The South Coast League Championship in Junior Varsity Division went to the Mustangs. Their rip- roaring win over Corona del Mar set the record of forty-nine straight dual meet wins. During the year, some runners were moved up to Varsity, while others were hurt by injuries. These problems left the J.V. team non-scoring in the Mt. SAC Invitational. On a warm day at the Estancia Bluffs, the J.V. team finished a triumphant year taking the League title with only 35 points. The Sophomore team fell apart running the course of the '77 season. When Rick Kolar moved up to the Varsity only four runners were left. With the Freshmen and Sophomore team combined, in the Villa Park Invi- tational, they placed first in race three with 26 points, a respectable third overall. The eleven freshmen running Cross Country this year made up the strongest freshmen team yet to be seen at Mesa. Led by Scott LaCrosse and John Crackle, Mesa's freshmen lost only two dual meets to take third place in the League. Costa Mesa Invitational in the beginning of the season showed the strength of the young team. With a cam- bined team of Sophomores and Freshmen, LaCrosse placed ninth and Crackle finished fourteenth against a group of experienced Sophomores from other schools. Greg Welden, third man, was seventeenth and Buddy Powers, was eighteenth. lj Mesa's Freshmen team led by Scott La Crosse and John Crackle ran in the Orange County Invitational. Zj Concentration is a big part of running One of the top J. V. runners, Alan Venerable is shown here 35 on the course at Mount SAC. Scott La Crosse and John Crackle ran together through 45 most of the season, also here at Mount SAC. 80 SPORTS .l.V. Team: Top, Ted Evans, Charlie I-Iumghreys, Dan Cambell, Bottom, Paul Gusto, Alan Venerable, Not pictured: Mark Insera. Sophomore Team: Top, Ross La Jeunesse, Mark Corcoran, Bottom, 1 Jay Wettengel, Dean Smidt. 1 1