Cross-Country Championships Canceled Last Week During Fire Won’t Be Rescheduled

After considering a few alternatives and consulting with several coaches, meet manager Jerry Whitaker Monday canceled this year’s Orange County Cross-Country Championships.

The 31st running of the event, scheduled last Saturday at Irvine Regional Park, originally was canceled because the park was being used as the base for fire crews fighting last week’s fires in the eastern Orange County foothills.

“Nothing we came up with could draw more than 50% of the seeded teams,” Whitaker said. “We were considering Oct. 28, but that put schools in position to run in four meets over a nine-day period. Nov. 1 was the last Saturday, but that is the day of the SAT test and league finals are the following week.”

Mission Viejo Coach Gene Gurule, who initiated a campaign to have the meet run on an alternate date, was disappointed with the cancellation and the way the situation was handled.

“If I was meet manager, I would have made Oct. 28 the date and whoever wanted to show up would show up,” he said. “It frustrates me that there wasn’t an alternate plan.

“I think it’s a tragic thing for our team and for Mark Gleason. I think he and Danny Lee [El Toro] could have pushed each other to a course record.”

Said Whitaker: “Everyone is down in the dumps about this.”