CLUB HISTORY


WVJS was begun in the fall of 1966 when three joggers began meeting together on a local high school track (Westmont). Within a year or two the numbers grew as jogging and running in the United States increased in popularity. The club was formally organized as an AAU (the predecessor to the TAC and USATF) team in April of 1970. Two of the first three joggers in the club were probably Carl Martin and Len Edholm. The third may have been Bob Blonder.

The name WVJS was chosen because we met on the west side of the Santa Clara valley and because club members were both joggers and striders. Originally, men were considered striders if they could break six minutes in the mile and women were considered striders if they could break seven. Strider patches were given to those runners who met these standards.

When the club was first formed, we had several excellent 40+ runners. This in turn attracted other good 40+ runners from outside the Santa Clara Valley. With the exception of a short period during 1980 and 1981, we were the dominant 40+ team in Northern California through the late 1980's. Some of the accomplishments by our club during this period included:

·      During the time that Jack Leydig of the WVTC had his individual scoring system in place, which was the accepted scoring system in the running community, individual club members won the 40+ men's title for 10 straight years (1971 through 1980).

·      Our men's 40+ team won the premier relay event in Northern California (the Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz relay) for all six years of its existence.

·      The Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz relay was abandoned because of its popularity and consequent traffic problems on Highway 1. Subsequently, it was replaced by the Lake Merced Christmas Relays in 1980. Our mens 40+ team has won that relay 11 times, the last win coming in 2000 and our mens 50+ team has won it 8 times, the last win coming in 2005. Our men's 60+ team won the relay once -- 2005. The relay is currently run by four person teams. Originally, this was a five person relay. The final four men on our 1982 relay ran 1:32:58, which is 90 seconds faster than the current 4-man record. We held the 5-man record at the time that they changed to the 4-man format.

·      Our men's 40+ teams have won seven national championships and our 50+ team has won two. We finished second on several other occasions. We had not competed in any national championships since 1990 because almost all of them are held on the East Coast or in the Midwest and we do not have the funds to send teams. The 1996 X-Country 10K National Championships were held, however, at Stanford and our 50+ team won their event.

·      Our men's 40+ team won almost all of the Pacific Association championship races during the early and mid 80's.


1990s PA/USATF Team & Individual Results

1990 - Men's 50-59 8K National Team Cross Country champs (Sal Vasquez, Bill Meinhardt & Tim Rostege).

1991 - Men's Masters (40+) and Men's Seniors (50+) champs.
1992 - Men's Masters champs.
1993 - Men's Seniors and the inaugural Men's Super Seniors (60+) champs.
1994 - Women's Masters, Men's Seniors, and Men's Super Seniors champs.
1995 - Men's Seniors, Men's Super Seniors, and inaugural Men's Veterans (70+) champs.
1996 - Women's Masters, Men's Seniors, Men's Super Seniors and Men's Veterans Championships.  Men's 50-59 10K National Team Cross Country champs (Sal Vasquez, David Furst, Jim Reitz, Dick Chimenti & Bill Meinhardt).
1997 - Men's Seniors and Men's Veterans champs.
1998 - Men's Masters, Women's Seniors, Men's Seniors and Men's Veterans champs.
1999 - Men's Super Seniors and Men's Veterans champs plus Men's 60-69 10K National Team Cross Country champs (Neal Chappell, Dave Norlander & Ken Noel).

    Sue Francis won a Women's Masters Championship. Stan DeMartinis (five times), Dave Valles and Howard Powers won Men's Veterans Championships. Ralph Poole won a Super Seniors Championship. Jim Reitz and Tim Rostege (twice) won Men's Seniors Championships.
    Three age-group winners at the 1996 National Cross Country Championships (10K): Chris Kennedy (40-44 women), Dave Furst (50-54 men) and Sal Vasquez (55-59 men).
    At the
1999 National Cross Country Championship, Neal Chappell won the 60+ individual title. Also in 1999 the 60-69 4x1500 and 4x1600 world records were set by the team of Neal Chappell, Ralph Poole, Gene Antonides and Ken Noel.


New Millenium Results

2000 - First place for Men's Masters, Men's Super Seniors and Men's Veteran teams.  Howard Powers wins Veterans title again.
2001 - First place for Men's Veteran team.  Joe Hurtado wins Super Senior individual title.
2002 - First place for Men's Super Senior team. Eddie Reyna wins Veteran individual title.
2003 - No titles this year.
2004 - No titles this year.
2005 - First place for Men's Super Senior team.
2006 - First place for Men's Senior team in the Road Grand Prix, tie for first place for Men's Master team in the XC Grand Prix, Eddie Reyna wins Veteran's long-race competition.
2007 - First place for Men's Master team in the XC Grand Prix. First place for Men's Senior team in the Road Grand Prix. Dennis Kurtis wins Senior's XC individual and Short Distance Road individual Grand Prix Championships.


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