Palos Verdes Cross Country

Palos Verdes High School is a well known name in the world of high school cross country. For its tight packs, ability to run hills, and having one of the toughest courses in California.

History: Palos Verdes fielded a varsity boys cross country team in 1961, the year the school opened. It was not long before the team found success including their first CIF title in 1967. The boys have won a total of five CIF titles in 1967, 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1990. The school closed in 1991 and reopened in 2002. The boys have also won 16 Bay League titles, most recently in 2007 and have an all-time league record of 268 wins and 27 losses.

Girls cross country did not compete as a team until 1977 but it did not take long for them to establish a true dynasty. The girls won 14 consecutive Bay League titles from 1977 to 1991. Their all-time league record stands at 74 wins and 32 losses. The girls won six CIF titles including five consecutive in the 80’s. For many years the girls teams actually petitioned CIF to allow them to run in division I, where the larger and more competitive schools were found. The girls won CIF titles in 1979, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989. The 1987 girls team was named national champions and is still considered to be one of the greatest squads in prep history.

One of the reasons behind the success of the Palos Verdes cross country program has been a lineage of top-notch coaches. The cross country program was founded in 1961 by Coach Bill O’Rourke and then followed by Coach Terry Wallace.The leader of the cross country program during the 70‘s was legendary coach Bob Latham. Coach Latham was in charge from 1972 until 1979 when he left Palos Verdes in his prime to head north to Bend, Oregon. He continued coaching there for many years and is currently a head USATF official for distance running. The departure of Coach Latham was bittersweet. Sue Scully was in charge for the 1980 season and Latham’s departure ultimately allowed Joe Kelly to step in and revolutionize the way that high school cross country teams trained. The inner-circle of elite high school coaches all credit Coach Kelly as influencing their approach to coaching. Coach Kelly was in charge at PVHS from 1981 until the school closed in 1991, but his legacy continued when he was named head coach at the newly opened Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. At Peninsula, Kelly led the school to numerous league, CIF, and State titles before his retirement in 2001. Coach Kelly currently lives near Seattle, Washington.

When PVHS reopened in 2002, a new coach was needed. 1988 Olympian and mile stand-out Jeff Atkinson was brought in to help teacher Jennifer Egan rebuild the PVHS program from scratch. Coach Atkinson has a national championship, an American record, and the still-standing Stanford University record for the mile (3:52 PR!). By 2004, the school had seniors and were competing in varsity athletics once more. In 2006, Brian Shapiro was brought in to help. Coach Shapiro ran for Joe Kelly at Peninsula High School and was a part of the 1996 squad that won the school district’s only boys state championship. The team is currently coached by Brian Shapiro, Jeff Atkinson, and Alex Broughton. Here is the teams website where past and present results, pictures, and the 2009 schedule can be seen.[1] 2008 Season: Boys

After an 8 year streak of Bay League Titiles, the Palos Verdes Varsity Squad set out to claim the title, and it looked promising. With 4 solid seniors and 3 juniors, seniors Daniel Meyer, Josh Richland, Trevor Webber, and led by junior Chase Zukerman, it looked like a winning group. After a strong win at the first Bay League meet, held at the PV Course, it looked promising that the boys could go for it all. The squad had even more reason to be pumped up after their outstanding performance at the Manhattan Invitational, finishing 3rd out of 31 strong east coast teams. At the 2nd Bay League meet, held at Redondo, the red and black striped men showed what running as a pack means as they finished 3-7th in the race with only a 7 second gap. After their stunning performances, it was no doubt that they could go on to win the title. The week before Bay League Finals, Peter Cohen, a key runner for the varsity squad, suffered a serious injury to his knee in a game of broom-ball. This caused a wave of worry among the coaches and runners. But, everyone went into the race with a positive attitude. The race was held at Entradero Park, which is a somewhat of a hilly run, with one two steady climbs, and one big steep one. The varsity race starts, and for the first time, you start to see the red and black stripes near the middle and back of the pack, not the front. But, as the race unfolds, all those hill workouts start to pay off. The boys move up one by one and eventually it is neck and neck between PV and Redondo. Redondo has an advantage with the number 1 and 2 spots in the race, Cody and Simon Schmidt. But, Chase Zukerman is right up there in 3rd and the rest of his team is not far behind. At the finish of the race, everyone was on their toes to see who's first five would come in, Redondo or PV. If one PV runner had passed a Redondo runner, PV would have won the race and the league title. But unfortunately, that did not happen and the boys lost the race, and the title by 1 point. This was a hugely devastating blow to the squad. They had trained day after day for this title, and it was lost by 1 point. But, there was no time for sorrow, CIF was coming up, and the sea kings new that was their chance to shine.