01.31.07
40 Years of Arcadia Invitational
40 Years of Arcadia Invitational
Nation’s Best Come to Southern California
April 6th-7th, 2007
A Look Through 40 Years of Action!
2007 Meet Registration Opens Sunday, February 4th. Details being posted that day.
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1968 - First Competition
With the idea of a evening track meet for area schools, Arcadia High Track Coach Doug Smith held the first Arcadia Invitational for 23 schools and six track clubs. The meet featured a slate of events for the young ladies of the club variety, as this was contested in the pre-CIF female days. The list of officials included a number of great names in local history: Andy Bakjian, Fred Barton, Paul Risinger, Don Nordvold, and others, with coaches including Ed Austin of Mira Costa and Frank Chong of Glendora. Club coaches included Mihay Igloi (Santa Monica TC), Fred Jones (LA Mercurettes), Bob Seaman (Crown Cities TC), and Ron Allice (Long Beach Comets).
Andy Young (LB Jordan) took the Boys 440 at 48.7 (this was back in the days of yard distances), with Dave Whiteing (Mark Keppel, Alhambra) posting a 1:55.1 880, and Dave Gneere (Fontana) registering a 4:23.5 mile. Tony Baker (Mira Costa) started the Arcadia distance tradition with a 9:14.4 two-mile win over Chuck Smead (Santa Paula). Fontana swept the Boys’ relays, with 43.1 for the 440, 3:34.8 for the sprint medley, and 3:22.8 for the mile relay clockings. Luther Reagan (LB Jordan) was 6-06 in the Boys HJ, with Ernie Cathcart (Fontana) a winning 59-03 SP effort. Tracy Smith, a 1963 Arcadia grad and State Mile Champ while a prep, who would go on to place eleventh in the high-altitude Mexico City Olympics of 1968 at 10,000 meters, won a special Open 3000-meter run at 8:00.6.
Pernetta Glenn (LA Mercurettes) swept the Girls’ sprints at 11.2 (100y) and 25.4 (220), with her club a 49.3 440-yard relay winner.
