Photo by: Special Collections, Kennedy Library Archives
Throwback Thursday: Mustangs Win National Title in ’78
9/24/2020 12:09:00 PM | Cross Country
Presented by CalPortland
Cal Poly won its first national title in cross country on Nov. 11, 1978, as the Mustangs earned the NCAA Division II trophy with a team score of 42 — a dominant 123 points ahead of the rest of the field topped by South Dakota State.
Including individual national champion Jim Schankel, who ran the 10K Meadow Lane Golf Course (Indiana, Penn.) in 30:34 to set a new course record, four Mustangs earned All-American honors.
"This is without question the biggest thrill of my coaching career," Cal Poly head coach Steve Miller told the Mustang Daily at the time. "We were just awesome."
On a 61-degree Saturday about an hour northeast of Pittsburgh, Mitch Kingery was the national runner-up, finishing in 30:52, while John Capriotti took seventh place at 31:36, and Danny Aldridge came in eighth via 31:42.
Schankel and Kingery broke off into the lead at about the 2-mile mark and never let up.
Over the hilly, all-grass course, Eric Huff added a 27th-place meet for Cal Poly with a time of 32:10, followed by Robby Bray in 50th at 32:44 and Manny Bautista taking 84th in 33:18.
"We did as well as we thought we could do, and that carried us through," Miller said to The Telegram-Tribune afterward. "Besides Schankel and Kingery running 1-2 and Capriotti and Aldridge running 7th and 8th, the guy who had a real great race was Huff. He has been our sixth and seventh man during the year, and his fifth-place finish was really a big surprise for us. I'm very proud of them all, and very happy."
Nine days later, Schankel went on to cap his junior year also becoming an All-American at the Division I meet, as he finished eighth at Wisconsin.
The title polished off a fall which saw the Mustangs also tally wins at the Cal Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis, the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, the Fresno Invite, and the Cal Poly Invitational, prior to compiling a nearly-perfect conference championship-winning score of 19 points to take the CCAA title in Belmont.
@CPMustangs • #RideHigh
Including individual national champion Jim Schankel, who ran the 10K Meadow Lane Golf Course (Indiana, Penn.) in 30:34 to set a new course record, four Mustangs earned All-American honors.
"This is without question the biggest thrill of my coaching career," Cal Poly head coach Steve Miller told the Mustang Daily at the time. "We were just awesome."On a 61-degree Saturday about an hour northeast of Pittsburgh, Mitch Kingery was the national runner-up, finishing in 30:52, while John Capriotti took seventh place at 31:36, and Danny Aldridge came in eighth via 31:42.
Schankel and Kingery broke off into the lead at about the 2-mile mark and never let up.
Over the hilly, all-grass course, Eric Huff added a 27th-place meet for Cal Poly with a time of 32:10, followed by Robby Bray in 50th at 32:44 and Manny Bautista taking 84th in 33:18.
"We did as well as we thought we could do, and that carried us through," Miller said to The Telegram-Tribune afterward. "Besides Schankel and Kingery running 1-2 and Capriotti and Aldridge running 7th and 8th, the guy who had a real great race was Huff. He has been our sixth and seventh man during the year, and his fifth-place finish was really a big surprise for us. I'm very proud of them all, and very happy."
Nine days later, Schankel went on to cap his junior year also becoming an All-American at the Division I meet, as he finished eighth at Wisconsin.
The title polished off a fall which saw the Mustangs also tally wins at the Cal Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis, the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, the Fresno Invite, and the Cal Poly Invitational, prior to compiling a nearly-perfect conference championship-winning score of 19 points to take the CCAA title in Belmont.
@CPMustangs • #RideHigh
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