Track & Field History
Garden Grove High School Alumni Association
GGHS Boys Track & Field Achievements
Garden Grove High School (GGHS) has had its share of notable achievements in track & field. The school has produced CIF Southern Section (SS) and State Meet Champions as well as those who excelled as league champions and school record holders.
The Early Years
In its earliest years of the school in the 1920’s, GGHS track & field athletes competed in a limited number of dual meets and participated in the Orange County Minor League championships, comprised of the County’s smaller high schools. Joe Ashworth was the first GGHS County Minor League champion, winning the mile run in 1926 as well as the 880-yd run the next year. According to the 1928 Argonaut, the GGHS squad won its first team championship in 1928, taking home the “coveted bronze trophy” for 1st place.
The 1930’s
By the 1930’s, the Argonauts competed regularly in the Orange League under the tutelage of John Ward (GGHS Class of ’26), who later became a legendary track & field coach at Santa Ana Junior College. In 1931, Clarence Hapes broke the County record in the discus and placed in the Southern California (CIF) preliminaries. In 1932, the school team finished 3rd overall in the Orange County championships with Clarence’s brother Ray Hapes winning the 440-yd run and Charles Malbon winning the mile in 4:42.5, breaking the County record. Ray Hodgson was the high point man for the entire meet, winning the shot put and placing 3rd in both the discus and 120 yd high hurdles. 1935 saw Robert McClain set an Orange County record of 5’ 9-½” in the high jump. In 1937 Lloyd LeClair set the school record in the shot put at 48’ 1-½”, breaking Carl Lehnhardt’s record of 42’ 9” set in 1936, and Phil Fairchild pole vaulted a school record 11’ 1-½”.
The years 1938 and 1939 were particularly notable for the Argonauts. The 1938 team captured the Orange County Class “A” Division championship. School records were set by Robert Ward in the shot put (49’ 7”) and discus (118’ 0”), Art Berry in the 880-yd run (2:04.0), Merle Hapes in the 120-yd high hurdles (15.8 sec) and both Hapes and Chuck Page set a new school high jump record at 5’ 10”. Berry was also the 880-yd run champion at the Orange County Championships.
The 1939 squad featured two athletes who qualified for the CIF Southern Section (SS) championships: Bob Ward in the shot put and James Kobayashi in the long jump. The school scored 3 points in the CIF SS Championship meet, a first for GGHS. School records were set by Kobayashi in the 220-yd low hurdles (26.2 sec) and long jump (21’ 11”), Ward in the discus (119’ 10”), Merle Hapes in the high jump (6’ ½”), and the 880-yd relay team (1:35.0). Art Berry repeated as Orange County champion in the 880-yd run.
1940’s
Success for the Argos continued through WW II with the school winning eight Orange League championships from 1938 through 1946. School records were set by Glen Hurtado in 1940 in the 220-yd dash (23.1 sec); the 1940 880-yd relay team (1:34.8); Bill Moment in 1941 in both the 100-yd and 220-yd dashes (10.3 and 22.0 sec); and John Etchandy in 1941 in the 120-yd high hurdles (15.6 sec). Paul Duncan set a new school record for the 440-yd run (53.3 sec) in 1946; Cliff Donovan broke the school discus record (122’ 0’) in 1945 and again (135’ 10”) in 1947; and in 1948, Wayne Hudson set the school record in 220-yd dash in the straightaway (22.1 secs.) and placed 5th in event at the CIF SS championships.
Also of note were freshman Harry Aihara high jumped 5’10”, winning the 1941 CIF “C” Division championship and junior Burns Srigley who won the CIF "B" Division 220-yd dash is a time of 22.2 secs. Unfortunately for Aihara, he broke his ankle the following year and could not repeat his championship performance.
1950’s
The 1950’s saw school record-setting performances by several Argos. In 1950, Ray Ramirez set a new school record in the 440-yd run (52.5 sec) and placed 5th in the CIF SS championships. Junior Adolph Maya was 4th in the mile run at the CIF SS Championships that same year. Maya repeated his success as a senior in 1951, finishing 3rd in the CIF SS championships mile run, and setting a new school record (4:36.8). Robert Ballew set three school records in 1957 in the 120-yd high hurdles (14.6 sec), the 180-yd low hurdles (19.4 sec) and pole vault (12’ 0”). His time in the 120-yd high hurdles was the 6th best time in all of Southern California that year.
School record-setting performances were repeated in several events in the decade. In the pole vault, new records were set by Dennis Albright in 1953 (11’ 9”) and 1954 (11’ 9-½”), Marvin Powell in 1955 (11’ 10-½”), and Ballew in 1956 (11’ 11-3/4”) and 1957 (12’ 0”). The school record in 880-yd relay was broken in 1950 (1:33.7) and again in 1956 and 1957 with the same time of 1:31.8. The 100-yd dash record was also broken several times; by Don Averill in 1953 and John Figueroa in 1955 (both at 10.2 sec) and by Bill Carter who, in 1958, became the first Argo to break the 10-sec barrier at 9.8 sec. Tom Frasier won the 1953 CIF “B” Division Championship in the 1,320-yd run.
1960’s
An all-time great Argonaut track and field performer was Robert Maimbourg, one of the fastest sprinters and top pole vaulters in Orange County history. In 1959, his school-record pole vault of 13’10” was an Orange County record, the 5th best all time for high school in southern California history, and the 5th best in the nation that year. At the 1960 Sunset League Championship Meet, Maimbourg achieved one of the best individual performances in Orange County track history. He placed first in three events: the 100-yd dash in an Orange County record tying time of 9.6 secs, the 220-yd dash in 21.0 secs (5th best that season in southern California), and 13’ 4” in the pole vault. His performances in all three events at the 1960 Sunset League Championship Meet were best in Orange County that year. His 100-yd dash time was only 0.1 sec off the national high school best that year.
Undergraduate Claude LaBarre placed 1st in the 1961 “B” Division CIF SS Championships in the pole vault with a vault of 13’ 4”. LaBarre would transfer to Santiago HS when that campus opened and haunt the Argos by beating them in numerous events over the rest of his high school career.
Other school record setters in the 1960’s included Jim Corbett in 1964 in the 440-yd run (49.8 sec); Alan Mazur in the shot put (51’ 83/4”) in 1964; Ron Taylor in the 880-yd run in 1964 (2:02.4) and 1965 (1:56.3); Steve Porter in 1967 (6’ 1-¼”) and Dave Russ in 1969 (6’ 6”) in the high jump; Steve Ampran in 1967 in the 220-yd dash (22.4 sec in the curve); Larry LiBeu in 1968 in the mile run (4:24.0); Mike Davis in 1968 in the 2-mile run (9:15.5) and in 1969 in the mile run (4:22.3); Bill O’Brien in 1969 in the discus (137’9”); the 1964 880-yd relay team (1:29.7); and the 1969 440-yd relay team (43.5 sec). Davis’s two mile time was 4th fastest in Southern California in 1968 and he finished 4th overall in the CIF AAA-Division Cross Country championships in the fall of 1967.
Undergraduate Fred Crowe won the 1963 CIF “B” Division 1,320-yd championship. In addition, the Argo’s won their only CIF team championship in the sport in 1964, capturing the “B” Division crown that year with a team consisting of Crowe (1,320-yd run); Stan Clark (100 & 220-yd dashes); and Mike Bush, Pat Hagemeister, Frank Bulleit, and Eldon King in the 660-yd relay.
After graduating from GGHS in 1960, Bill Neville attended Fullerton JC and Occidental College where he set an NCAA record in the discus at 193’4”’ in 1964. Neville was ranked in the Top 10 US discus throwers between 1964 and 1971, reaching as high as 6th, and ultimately had a personal best throw of 205’ 6”.
The 1970’s: Tony Krzyzosiak and Mark Schilling
Probably the two most noteworthy performers in Argonaut track and field history competed for the Argos in the early 1970’s. Tony Krzyzosiak and Mark Schilling became the first Argonauts to win CIF SS individual varsity events and remain as the only two Argos to be CIF State champions.
Tony Krzyzosiak first emerged as a record-setting performer in his sophomore year in 1969 by breaking the school long jump record with a jump of 22’ 2¼”. He followed that up in 1970 by setting a school record in the 440-yd run and extending his long jump record to 23’ 2”. He was the first in GGHS history to win a CIF SS individual varsity event championship, capturing the 440-yd run title in a time of 48.8 sec. He finished 3rd in the event at the State CIF Championships, running 48.2 secs, as well as 6th in the long jump with a leap of 23’2”. His ultimate performances occurred in the CIF SS and State championships his senior year in 1971 where he won the 440-yd run in both meets. At the State Meet, his 440-yd run winning time of 46.7 seconds set an Orange County high school record and was 2nd fastest in State history as well as the top mark in the nation that year. His long jump of 23’11¾” placed him third in the event. Earlier in 1971 he had long jumped 24’ 1” to set an Orange County. That year, Tony also ran the 220-yd dash around the curve in a school record time of 21.5 sec. He was also on school-record setting relay teams in the mile event in 1969 (3:27.3) and 1970 (3:19.2 – 2nd fastest in Orange County history) and the 880-yd (1:29.5) event in 1970. After graduating from GGHS, Tony continued his track career at the University of Southern California where he was a member of a record setting, All-American Trojan mile relay team in 1972.
While Tony Krzyzosiak made his mark with remarkable speed, Mark Schilling made his with endurance. Mark set school records in 1972 that still stand in the 880-yd (1:54.8) and mile runs (4:05.4). Mark was a top performer in cross country as well as in track and field, placing 2nd overall in the 1971 CIF SS Cross Country Championship Meet. After finishing 4th in the 1971 CIF SS mile event as a junior with a time of 4:13.2, Mark won both the 1972 CIF SS and State Meets in the event. His winning time of 4:05.4 was 2nd fastest in the nation that year for high school and a State Meet record. Schilling went on to compete at San Jose State University where, as a freshman, he broke the 4-minute mile barrier and finished 6th in the NCAA Championships.
Other school record holders from the 1970’s include Willie Gardner in 1971 in the high jump (6’ 7”), Bill Yoak in the shot put (52’ 10”), Rob Van Bloem in 1971 in the discus (150’ 11’), and Steve Pulvers in the pole vault in 1972 (14’ 0”) and 1973 (14’ 2”). Gardner also long jumped 23’ 4½” in 1971, until then the 6th best in Orange County history. James Straw tied the school record for the 100-yd dash in 1973, running 9.6 sec. He finished first in the 1974 CIF SS Masters Championship with a time of 9.8 sec. That year’s 440-yd relay team set a school record in the time of 42.3 sec, 6th fastest in Orange County history at that time. The 1972 team also ran the then-2nd fastest distance medley relay in Orange County history (10:17.2).
In 1970, 10 students from GGHS set a record in an unusual event, the 24-hour mile-relay marathon. The ten set a high school world record of running 251 miles and 228 yards in a 24-hour period, each runner in one-mile increments, breaking the old record by about six miles. The ten team members were Schilling, Joe Rust, Jerry Carroll, Scott Peterson, Mike Bailey, Phil Blakesley, Frank Richards, Leonard Rust, Al McDonald, and Bob Gamache. The team received a letter of congratulation from Astronaut and US Navy Captain James Lovell, Consultant to the President on Physical Fitness and Sports.
The 1980’s and Since
In 1980, the CIF switched high school track and field events to the metric system, rendering comparative times and distances between pre-1980 afterwards as theoretical. Jim Smith set a still-standing school record in the 800-m run at 1:55.53, placing 5th in the 1983 CIF 3A Division Finals. In 1988, Anthony Hale starred as a record setter in the 300-m intermediate hurdles with a school record time of 37.37 secs. Hale won both the CIF SS 3A Division (38.13 sec) and Masters Meet (37.89 sec) and placed 6th in the State Championship Meet in the event.
In 1986, Mike Morales heaved the discus 174’ 4”, shattering the school record by more than 20 feet. It remains the school record as of 2019.
Kevin Griswold was a school record setter in the sprints in 1996. Kevin’s set still-standing school records in the 200-m (21.21 sec) and 400-m (48.08 sec) sprints. He also set a school record that year in the 100-m sprint in at 10.67 sec. He finished 3rd in the 1996 State Championship Meet in the 200-m event. His 200-m time was 3rd fastest in Orange County history at the time. He was also on two school record setting relay teams. The 1996 4x100-m relay team of Bruce, Jones, Meyer, and Griswold set a school record of 42.04, 8th fastest in Orange County history at the time. In 1995, the school record of 3:23.2 was set in the 4x400-m relay team of Balderas, Griswold, Lopez and Jones.
Through 2019, other school records holders are Rashad White in the 100-m sprint (10.62 sec) in 2000, Mike Berstein in the 1,600-m run (4:12.9) in 1991, Giovanni Barajas in the 3,200-m run (9:34.0) in 2018, Brian Rall in the 110-m high hurdles (15.5 sec) in 1992, and Christopher Gonzalez in the triple jump (46’11”) in 2015.
By Chuck Lake, GGHS Class of 1968
Updated July 12, 2021
Corrections, updates, and comments to [email protected]
References:
- Orange County Track 2015 by Don Chadez [email protected]
- GGHS Argonaut Yearbooks, 1923-2021
- GGHS ArgoLog newspapers, 1932-2021
- All CIF Press Releases of the Helms Football Foundation, 1937 - 2003
- CIF Southern Section All Sports Press Guide and Record Book, July 15, 2020
- José Orozco, GGHS Track and Field Coach, 2021