Hart Rewarded for Consistent Excellence in Cross-Country

With the possible exception of Canyon High’s football team, there are few high school sports programs in the Valley area with a track record superior to that of the Hart boys’ cross-country squad.

Under Coach Gene Blankenship, the Indians have finished no worse than fourth in the past seven Southern Section championships, and they are the No. 1-ranked team in The Harrier magazine’s national preseason poll.

Two years ago, the Indians won the Southern Section 3-A Division title, their first Southern Section championship. Last year, they romped to state and Southern Section Division I championships.

This year, Blankenship’s crew will attempt to win the high school triple crown, which consists of the mythical national championship as determined by The Harrier and the state and sectional Division I titles.

Before winning sectional titles in 1989 and ‘90, Hart had finished second once (‘86), third once (‘88) and fourth three times (‘84, ’85 and ‘87) since 1984.

With four of their top six runners expected to return from last year’s team--which was ranked fourth in the nation--the Indians have a good chance to extend their state Division I title streak to two, their section title streak to three and their section top-four streak to eight.

Keeping track: Three former national collegiate champions from Cal State Northridge will compete in the World Championships of Track and Field, which begin Saturday in Tokyo.

Dave Stephens (men’s javelin) and Darcy Arreola (women’s 1,500 meters) will represent the United States and Sandra Myers (women’s 200, 400, 400 relay, 1,600 relay) will compete for Spain. It will be the first world championships for all three.

Stephens, 29, was the NCAA Division II champion as a Northridge senior in 1984. Arreola, 23, capped her Northridge career with a victory in the Division I championships in June, and Myers, 30, won the 400-meter low hurdles and the long jump for Northridge in the 1980 Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships.

If Myers advances to the finals of each of her four events, she could run in at least one race each day of the meet, which lasts through Sept. 1.

Add World Championships: Donna Mayhew (women’s javelin) of Glendale and Victoria Herazo (women’s 10-kilometer walk) of Newhall are two other local athletes who will be competing in the World Championships for the first time.

Mayhew, 31, is a javelin veteran. The former Glendale College standout was ranked 10th in the country as far back as 1980, and was the top-ranked U. S. thrower in 1986, ’88 and ’89. She finished seventh in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Herazo is a year older than Mayhew, but she is a relative newcomer to track, having taken up race-walking in 1988.

Trivia question: In 1981 she became the first athlete to win a state title in the girls’ 300-meter low hurdles, and she still holds the regional high school record in that event. Who is this former local standout?

Add Mayhew: Knee and back injuries severely limited Mayhew’s training earlier this season.

Her injuries were so severe that The Athletics Congress championships in June--where she finished third--was her first competition of the year. The Olympic Festival in July--where she threw 200 feet 3 inches to win--was her second.

“This has been a weird year to say the least,” Mayhew said after her Festival win at UCLA. “I was able to train around the injured knee somewhat, but you can’t train around an injured back.”

Mayhew finished second in the Pan American Games nearly two weeks ago. She set a personal best of 208-10 to win the 1988 Olympic Trials.

Double trouble: Villanova has not won an NCAA Division I men’s cross-country championship since 1970, but the Wildcats could be in the title hunt in a few years if Coach Marty Stern can develop two of his incoming freshmen.

Stern, who has guided the Villanova women to consecutive Division I cross-country titles, has signed Louie Quintana (formerly of Arroyo Grande High) and Dave Hartman (formerly of Canyon High) to letters of intent.

Quintana and Hartman finished first and third, respectively, in the 1990 Kinney national cross-country championships.

Leaps and bounds: Marji Gilles of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has given up the heptathlon to focus on the triple jump.

The former Burbank High and Glendale College standout placed second in the triple jump in this year’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships and ninth in the Division II meet.

“The heptathlon requires too much time to train for and I have no plans to return to it,” Gilles said. “I was recruited primarily as a jumper at SLO anyway and they have some pretty good heptathletes up there already.

“The coaches were understanding about my decision.”

Perhaps because of her commitment to the heptathlon, Gilles has shown little improvement in the triple jump as a collegian after bounding a regional high school record of 39-2 3/4 in 1988.

She has personal bests of 39-4 3/4 in the triple jump and 4,122 points in the heptathlon.

Trivia answer: Audrey Williams of Saugus High won the 300 low hurdles at the state meet and holds the regional record of 42.25.