OK, I wanna know the facts, WHO IS THE GREATEST HIGH SCHOOL TEAM EVER?

I ran in the days before we (or at least I) knew very much about this stuff. We were a pretty good team for the time but barely made the top 20 in SS CIF. We ran two miles then (1967) and had one race where all ten scorers in the Varsity race were under 10:00, as were several from the FS race and maybe the #1 in the JV race. The XC course was fast (in Arcadia Park; Arcadia won on their home course, lead by Tracy Smith's little brother. I ran a measily 10:38 and had about the 33th fastest time in that dual meet.

Hacker was a fabulous racer (unfortunatly injured at key times). The year he finally won US XC he was racing against Kennedy (still in his prime) and someone else. The other runner had made a hard move and was leading Kennedy by 20 meters coming into the finish, with Hacker another 20 meters further back. After the race Kennedy said he was not worried about the guy 20 meters ahead but by Hacker who he knew could outkick everyone -- and he did.

Hacker's Wisconsin team won 2 NCAAs outright and I believe that they really had a third, as they were second and the No 1 team was DQ'd. The fourth year they did not win because there was a mix ups at the start (and maybe the finish too). At the start there was an arc that was supposed to equalize the distance to the first turn but they placed it at the wrong angle and the UW team was on the far outside and had 40-50 extra meters to run to get to the corner and never did make it all the way through traffic. (Did the finish also get messed up when the leaders where directed the wrong way?).

and say Matt Davis had the potential to be one of the greatest runners in the world and possibly an Olympic champion if he stayed healthy. The guy was basically a cripple after his state cross country meet and part of that was his own fault. He injected cortisone shots before Footlocker Regionals and Nationals and should not have run. Despite being injury plagued he ran on pure heart and was one of the best college runners in the nation when he ran at Oregon.

Yep 1984 NCAA's (at Lehigh I believe, or maybe Penn State) had a starting line that royally screwed a lot of teams, including Wisconsin. Yet Arkansas was lined up with the same disadvantage and over came it (as well as ind. winner Ed Eyestone). I've heard the same -50 meters .

What's notable that year Arkansas won with Paul Donavon as their first man coming in 14th place. Wisconsin had Easker, Hacker, and Stintzi all in the top 10 or 11. I've also heard Hacker was sicker than hell with a virus and basically shitted his brains out the night before and got 8th.

Tim Hacker was a specimen who was probably the toughest racer I've ever seen. If he could have avoided the injuries more people would be still talking about him today. I know for a fact he never ran much more than 65-70 miles a week beacause of injury proneness ( but nothing ever slower than about 5:40 pace) Jenkins was similar as well. These guys had great aerobic gifts but were'nt physically put together like your typical frail waif distance runners.

I think if you're talking pure cross country you'd be hard pressed to find a tougher American-only team than HAcker, Easker, Jenkins, Stintzi, and whoever they had for 5th man. They didn't have the gaudy track pr.s but cross is a little different. Easker made top 10-15 at world Cross three times in or right after college yet his 5000 pr. is 13:30.

They were a collection of tought

I meant to say tough MF's

Someone refered to York winning state with 24 points. That is awesome. But the Woodlands/McCullough won their state meet in 87/88 (somewhere around there) with 26 points i believe....and texas is a bitching state in XC. Very hard to compare illinois with Texas.

But...2003 Woodlands team had:

Brian Sullivan: 8:52, 4:08, 1:53

Dane Hurtabise: 9:18, 4:17, 1:56

Daniel Gerber: 9:10, 4:19, 1:57

Garret Jones: 9:14, 4:18, 1:57

Luke Hansen: 9:23, 4:13, 1:54

ben Schulz: 9:24, 4:20, 1:58

Dan Lanzilotti: 9:24, 4:19, 1:57

Justin Smith: 9:23, 4:20, 1:56

2004 team (only got 7th at nationals, but time wise, they were awesome).

Luke Hansen: 1:51.8, 4:08.7, 9:20

Daniel Gerber: 1:55, 4:17, 9:10

Daniel Lanzilotti: 1:56, 4:17, 9:12

Ben Schulz: 1:57, 4:18, 9:23 (footlocker finalist)

Justin Messenger: 9:32, 4:26, 1:59

Talent wise, i hear that they were one of the most talented group of runners the Woodlands has ever seen.

Kingwood. the stats have been given. Their years in the 90's were awesome.

Texas...honrable mention wrote:

..and texas is a bitching state in XC. Very hard to compare illinois with Texas.

in most sports you're absolutely correct. But in XC, Illinois holds their own with anybody in the country.

Look at the recent FLMW meet and then consider that, at least so far(Jager is only a soph, and there is still spring track), none of those guys is considered to be among Illinois' top ever.

I remember watching Easker run the Class B WI State cross meet, all alone for the most part. He wasn't your typical waif either - big and powerful. I watched Henry Rono run at Yahara a year or so earlier (we went down to scout out the state meet course and at the same time watch some of the best D1 guys) and the two of them had very similar running styles - powerful and smooth. That whole team was really made for cross. Jenkins wasn't too shabby on the track either - 8:58 2 mile and 4:06 mile indoors his senior year of HS.

Anyone know if/what these guys did at the Olympic trials? I thought I saw that Hacker was 3rd in the 1500 and one of the other WI guys was 4th, but that could be completely wrong.

Coos Bay, Oregon

That meet with the messed up start wasn't at Lehigh. That star was and always has been dead solid perfect.

The 1983 meets was at Lehigh (UTEP, with Zak Barie and G Shahanga, won).

the runner of muchos millas wrote:

Coos Bay, Oregon

That's a big friggin help.

Looks like both York & Mead are still doing pretty solid!

2nd & 4th today.

1999 York

1. Elmhurst (York)

1 3 4 6 10 (17) (50) = 24

2. Schaumburg

20 21 24 32 42 (44) (58) = 139

1 1 Donald Sage Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:03

2 Tim Keller Sr West Chicago (H.S.) 14:24

3 Dan Trainor Sr Freeport (H.S.) 14:32

4 2 Brendan Gaffney Sr LaGrange (Lyons) 14:33

5 3 Adam Palumbo Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:34

6 4 Peter Cioni Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:36

7 5 Micah Vandenend So Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South) 14:37

8 6 Adam Roche Jr Elmhurst (York) 14:38

9 7 Brian Rae Jr Naperville (North) 14:41

10 8 Dan Haut Jr Lockport (Twp.) 14:42

11 9 Todd Quednau Sr Downers Grove (North) 14:45

12 10 Peter Stasiulis Jr Elmhurst (York) 14:46

13 11 William Artope Jr Evanston (Twp.) 14:48

14 Dan Glaz Jr Palos Hills (Stagg) 14:49

15 12 Zac Sartori Jr Lockport (Twp.) 14:51

16 13 Justin Amason Sr Centralia 14:52

17 Justin Motkowicz Sr Crete (C.-Monee) 14:53

18 14 Pat Bradley Sr Downers Grove (North) 14:55

19 15 Matt Legel Jr Crystal Lake (Central) 14:56

20 Tim Seiwert Sr Park Ridge (Maine South) 14:57

21 16 Ryan Teising Sr Naperville (Central) 14:57

22 Paul Kulisek Jr Woodstock (H.S.) 14:58

23 Ed Umansky Sr Park Ridge (Maine East) 14:59

24 17 John Janulis Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:59

25 18 Frank Velasquez Jr Wheeling 15:00

26 19 Doug Schwartz Sr Centralia 15:02

27 20 Matt Papenbrok Sr Schaumburg 15:03

28 21 Pat Rizzo Jr Schaumburg 15:04

29 22 Erik Schroll Sr Wheeling 15:04

30 23 Dan Renz Sr Lockport (Twp.) 15:08

31 David Mitchell Jr Downers Grove (South) 15:08

32 Carlos Mendoza So Bensenville (Fenton) 15:12

33 Marty Carr Sr Tinley Park (Andrew) 15:13

34 Brandon Reiff Sr Libertyville 15:14

35 Eli Baker Jr Marion (H.S.) 15:14

36 24 Greg Baker Jr Schaumburg 15:15

37 Juan Carrillo Sr Summit (Argo) 15:16

38 25 Jeremy Smith Sr Springfield (Lanphier) 15:16

39 Mike Mals Sr Northbrook (Glenbrook North) 15:16

40 Chris Bosworth So Roselle (Lake Park) 15:17

41 Phil Ginn So Rochelle 15:17

42 26 David Rae Jr Naperville (North) 15:18

43 27 Matthew Sheehan Sr Arlington Heights (Hersey) 15:18

44 28 Reed Patterson Sr Moline 15:19

45 Dan Beaver Fr Belvidere 15:19

46 29 Brian Philiben Sr St. Charles 15:20

47 Emmanuel Wilbourn Jr East St. Louis (Sr.) 15:20

48 30 Ben Bedford Sr Chatham (Glenwood) 15:21

49 31 Dave Bell So Crystal Lake (Central) 15:22

50 Phil Latter Sr Mundelein (Carmel) 15:23

51 32 Chris Wadington Sr Schaumburg 15:27

52 Charlie Connor Sr Geneva 15:28

53 33 Jeremiah Baron Sr Lockport (Twp.) 15:30

54 34 Tristan Roche Sr Evanston (Twp.) 15:30

55 35 Qasim Rashid Sr Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South) 15:31

56 36 David Laird Jr Orland Park (Sandburg) 15:31

57 Nic Rogers Jr Peoria (Richwoods) 15:32

58 37 Kevin Richards Jr Evanston (Twp.) 15:33

59 38 Jason Toussaint So Evanston (Twp.) 15:33

60 39 Mark Baran Jr Downers Grove (North) 15:33

61 40 Greg Smith Sr LaGrange (Lyons) 15:34

62 41 John Craig Jr Arlington Heights (Hersey) 15:34

63 42 Ryan Korn Sr Schaumburg 15:35

64 43 Dominic Williams Sr St. Charles 15:35

65 44 Brenden Mariano Sr Schaumburg 15:36

66 45 Joe Wilkey Sr Naperville (Central) 15:36

67 46 Ian White Sr Peoria (Notre Dame) 15:37

68 47 George Pfeiffer Jr St. Charles 15:37

69 48 Ben Shumaker Sr Moline 15:37

70 49 Andy Bratten Sr Edwardsville (H.S.) 15:38

71 Adam Soloman So Springfield (H.S.) 15:38

72 John Gallagher Jr Highland Park 15:38

73 50 Jay McGrane Jr Elmhurst (York) 15:39

1999 York. They went on to run a 7:46 3200 relay, setting the national record. They also won ALL of the distance events in the T&F state finals.

1. Elmhurst (York)

1 3 4 6 10 (17) (50) = 24

2. Schaumburg

20 21 24 32 42 (44) (58) = 139

1 1 Donald Sage Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:03

2 Tim Keller Sr West Chicago (H.S.) 14:24

3 Dan Trainor Sr Freeport (H.S.) 14:32

4 2 Brendan Gaffney Sr LaGrange (Lyons) 14:33

5 3 Adam Palumbo Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:34

6 4 Peter Cioni Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:36

7 5 Micah Vandenend So Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South) 14:37

8 6 Adam Roche Jr Elmhurst (York) 14:38

9 7 Brian Rae Jr Naperville (North) 14:41

10 8 Dan Haut Jr Lockport (Twp.) 14:42

11 9 Todd Quednau Sr Downers Grove (North) 14:45

12 10 Peter Stasiulis Jr Elmhurst (York) 14:46

13 11 William Artope Jr Evanston (Twp.) 14:48

14 Dan Glaz Jr Palos Hills (Stagg) 14:49

15 12 Zac Sartori Jr Lockport (Twp.) 14:51

16 13 Justin Amason Sr Centralia 14:52

17 Justin Motkowicz Sr Crete (C.-Monee) 14:53

18 14 Pat Bradley Sr Downers Grove (North) 14:55

19 15 Matt Legel Jr Crystal Lake (Central) 14:56

20 Tim Seiwert Sr Park Ridge (Maine South) 14:57

21 16 Ryan Teising Sr Naperville (Central) 14:57

22 Paul Kulisek Jr Woodstock (H.S.) 14:58

23 Ed Umansky Sr Park Ridge (Maine East) 14:59

24 17 John Janulis Sr Elmhurst (York) 14:59

25 18 Frank Velasquez Jr Wheeling 15:00

26 19 Doug Schwartz Sr Centralia 15:02

27 20 Matt Papenbrok Sr Schaumburg 15:03

28 21 Pat Rizzo Jr Schaumburg 15:04

29 22 Erik Schroll Sr Wheeling 15:04

30 23 Dan Renz Sr Lockport (Twp.) 15:08

31 David Mitchell Jr Downers Grove (South) 15:08

32 Carlos Mendoza So Bensenville (Fenton) 15:12

33 Marty Carr Sr Tinley Park (Andrew) 15:13

34 Brandon Reiff Sr Libertyville 15:14

35 Eli Baker Jr Marion (H.S.) 15:14

36 24 Greg Baker Jr Schaumburg 15:15

37 Juan Carrillo Sr Summit (Argo) 15:16

38 25 Jeremy Smith Sr Springfield (Lanphier) 15:16

39 Mike Mals Sr Northbrook (Glenbrook North) 15:16

40 Chris Bosworth So Roselle (Lake Park) 15:17

41 Phil Ginn So Rochelle 15:17

42 26 David Rae Jr Naperville (North) 15:18

43 27 Matthew Sheehan Sr Arlington Heights (Hersey) 15:18

44 28 Reed Patterson Sr Moline 15:19

45 Dan Beaver Fr Belvidere 15:19

46 29 Brian Philiben Sr St. Charles 15:20

47 Emmanuel Wilbourn Jr East St. Louis (Sr.) 15:20

48 30 Ben Bedford Sr Chatham (Glenwood) 15:21

49 31 Dave Bell So Crystal Lake (Central) 15:22

50 Phil Latter Sr Mundelein (Carmel) 15:23

51 32 Chris Wadington Sr Schaumburg 15:27

52 Charlie Connor Sr Geneva 15:28

53 33 Jeremiah Baron Sr Lockport (Twp.) 15:30

54 34 Tristan Roche Sr Evanston (Twp.) 15:30

55 35 Qasim Rashid Sr Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South) 15:31

56 36 David Laird Jr Orland Park (Sandburg) 15:31

57 Nic Rogers Jr Peoria (Richwoods) 15:32

58 37 Kevin Richards Jr Evanston (Twp.) 15:33

59 38 Jason Toussaint So Evanston (Twp.) 15:33

60 39 Mark Baran Jr Downers Grove (North) 15:33

61 40 Greg Smith Sr LaGrange (Lyons) 15:34

62 41 John Craig Jr Arlington Heights (Hersey) 15:34

63 42 Ryan Korn Sr Schaumburg 15:35

64 43 Dominic Williams Sr St. Charles 15:35

65 44 Brenden Mariano Sr Schaumburg 15:36

66 45 Joe Wilkey Sr Naperville (Central) 15:36

67 46 Ian White Sr Peoria (Notre Dame) 15:37

68 47 George Pfeiffer Jr St. Charles 15:37

69 48 Ben Shumaker Sr Moline 15:37

70 49 Andy Bratten Sr Edwardsville (H.S.) 15:38

71 Adam Soloman So Springfield (H.S.) 15:38

72 John Gallagher Jr Highland Park 15:38

73 50 Jay McGrane Jr Elmhurst (York) 15:39

the don wrote:

1999 York. They went on to run a 7:46 3200 relay, setting the national record.

um...like 7:34

They set the indoor record too which may have been 7:46.

LOMPOC 1972

Best Team in US History.

After looking at the NTN results a few days back it reminded me of this thread. I still can't believe how good the Mead and York teams were. Will we ever see teams like that again? Especially now that both coaches are gone?

Matt Davis is amazing. I wish he could have stayed healthy. Remember in 96' he had a stress fracture in September, and missed the whole season. Then barely made it on the starting line at West Regionals after only a couple days of running, and got 9th. Then a week later he ran Nationals and got 5th! being the second American across behind Meb. Imagine the damage he would have done if he was healthy?

The Big Cat wrote:

Matt Davis is amazing. I wish he could have stayed healthy. Remember in 96' he had a stress fracture in September, and missed the whole season. Then barely made it on the starting line at West Regionals after only a couple days of running, and got 9th. Then a week later he ran Nationals and got 5th! being the second American across behind Meb. Imagine the damage he would have done if he was healthy?

That story is a tad out of proportion, but amazing nonetheless.

He actually was 5th behind a Tanzanian, 2 Kenyans, and Greg Jimmerson of Stanford who also had a great day.

Matt had been training a bit, but no racing and only a few workouts before he entered regionals and got 9th in an OUTSTANDING region. It's too bad Matt was never very healthy during his senior year track or his track years at Oregon.

I believed he placed in the top 2 in the Pac-10 10K and maybe 5K in races that were full of Olympians. Someone else might know better about that.