1976 Men's Cross Country Team - Outstanding Team

The 1976 men’s cross country season was not shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. Several weeks before the season started, the Vaqueros had no coach and few returning runners from the previous season.

That all changed when former Vaquero runner Tom McMurray was hired to coach the team before the season started. After a few weeks of recruiting, the team took shape. Little did anyone know what they were about to achieve which was running to an undefeated dual meet season and winning the Southern California and state championship.

McMurray would be the first to say that he had no magic wand or potion that propelled the inexperienced Vaqueros to the levels of greatness that they would achieve. Instead, McMurray, a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, himself, gave all the credit to the athletes. “They were a highly spirited group from local high schools that worked hard and their dedication payed off in a big way,’’ he said. “ Because we got off to such late start they had to do double workouts every morning, and after classes to make up for lost time. They got along well and competed as a team well, as their results showed. ‘’

Although Glendale College had won a state cross championship in 1974, the 1976 team took small steps to achieve their goals. Fortunately, three of the returners were Jay Rubino, Gary Henry and Rick Van Renselar who along with sophomores Peter Stark and Mike Zois gave the Vaqs a solid foundation. Add in freshman runners Mark Byrne, Jon Cory, Mark Hilton, Kevin O’Connor and Jim Steinshouer and McMurray and an unsettled beginning was starting to look a bit more promising.

In a recent conversation about the team, McMurray recalled that they were very diligent about their workouts, running five miles before classes in the mornings and eight miles during regular workouts in the afternoons. The big challenge of course would not only be running well during conference meets but gearing up to challenge the defending state champions from College of the Canyons, who would host the WSC, Southern California Championships and state meet on the Cougars home course.

“Going undefeated through conference was great but we knew those last three big meets on their home course would be the real test. We used a few Sunday workouts leading up to the last three races to get more familiar with their course and that was helpful as well,’’ McMurray said. “Then we lost the conference finals to them and came away as co-WSC champs which was probably more of a positive than a negative as we used that defeat to help us gain an edge to win So. Cal and the state title.’’

Championships aside, that group of local runners that came together at the last minute in the summer of 1976, became a band of brothers, true champions and one of the great success stories in the history of Glendale College Athletics.