Facilities Get a Mixed Review : High schools: Mt. Carmel is best overall, but Torrey Pines comes close.

It’s close to how you felt when you saw your first college campus. Your knees knocked, your heart tried to jump out of your chest and your hands became slightly clammy.

Freshmen visiting Torrey Pines High School for the first time may experience some of these symptoms, for this is no ordinary high school.

The sprawling campus, located east of Del Mar in North City West, has won several architectural awards and is certainly more impressive than most area community colleges.

That sports would fill an important cavity on campus was a notion not lost on planners, architects or developers.

Torrey Pines has won the hearts and the favor of a majority of San Diego’s athletic community. In an informal poll of athletic directors and coaches countywide, Torrey Pines was voted the school with the most visually impressive athletic facilities, with its 7,000-seat stadium--built in 1988--singled out as the cream of the bountiful crop.

“Too bad everyone doesn’t have the ability to have a benefit with Bob Hope,” said Herb Meyer, El Camino’s athletic director and football coach.

It’s true. In a fund-raiser at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in 1987, Bob Hope appeared in a black-tie “Tribute to Alex Spanos,” owner of the Chargers. At $250 a plate, more than $300,000 was raised toward the $1.5 million facility.

“It’s a gorgeous stadium,” said Robbin Adair, Coronado’s athletic director.

The sentiment is echoed by many.

A football stadium, at Torrey Pines or anywhere, is only one part of the facilities equation. There are swimming pools, tennis courts, gymnasiums, tracks, baseball and softball diamonds, soccer fields and weight and wrestling rooms to provide for athletically-inclined student bodies.

Torrey Pines might be an architect’s dream, it has won several awards, but like most schools, it could be better. That it lacks a swimming facility is the primary reason Mt. Carmel steals the top spot from the Torrey Pines as the county’s No. 1 facility.

Sometimes a facility can be in such condition that it endangers the students using it. In mid-November, Chula Vista High was forced to cancel a home football game because the district, responding to a letter by football coach George Ohnesorgen, said the field was too dangerous.

“It’s gotten progressively worse,” said Karl Larsen, Chula Vista’s athletic director. “I look at other parts of the county and see what other teams have . . . It all goes back to money and community support.”

The Times has compiled a list of the 10 best high school facilities in the county. And although the candidates were many, there is no bottom 10 list.

Aging city schools such as Hoover, Crawford and Clairemont bear the brunt of a school district overwhelmed by the demands of 153 schools. Expensive facilities needed to made athletic programs run smoothly and safely tend to be low on the priority list.

“Athletic facilities in the city are not a top priority because they’re strapped for money,” said Hal Krupens, Clairemont’s athletic director, who added that no facilities have been built since the school’s inception 32 years ago. “Most of the improvement you do is from your own fund raising.”

When a building or field gets bad enough, athletic directors said the most accepted solution, but not the best, is to patch rather than upgrade or replace.

Private schools, sometimes perceived as better financed, aren’t always in much better shape. St. Augustine, a private boys’ school in the city, has no stadium or baseball field and its gym and track are in awful condition.

Marty Martin, the Saints’ athletic director and football coach, spoke for many when he said if facilities are safe and adequate, new ones aren’t necessary.

“It seems to be common throughout the system,” he said. “They figure if they’re safe, they’re OK.”

Not surprisingly, North County has half of the top-notch schools in terms of facilities, with four of the top five coming either from the Palomar or Avocado leagues. Three city schools made the grade, but their presence had a lot to do with the sacrifices and commitments of dedicated coaching staffs and not necessarily supportive districts. Grossmont placed two teams toward the bottom of the list. The Metro Conference was shut out.

Said Meyer: “The chance of getting things done in the North is greater. You still have the individual community identity.”

There are nine districts overseeing the 18 high schools in the North County Conference. By comparison, there is one district that watches over 15 high schools in the city.

In the South Bay, Sweetwater Unified oversees the eight Metro Conference teams and, in the East County, Grossmont Union High School District is in charge of the 10 Grossmont Conference teams.

Space was also mentioned by several coaches as being a critical factor. Whereas the schools in the north tend to have more acreage, city schools are more confined. Many city schools lacking facilities wouldn’t have any place to expand even if they had the money.

“As far as space goes,” said Allan LaMotte, University City’s athletic director and baseball coach, “the more you have, the more adequate your facilities will be.”

La Jolla and Point Loma’s cramped campuses significantly downgrade their facilities.

“Land is a key issue when you’re talking about facilities,” said Bennie Edens, Point Loma’s football coach and athletic director. “Look at us and La Jolla, we’re two of the most wealthy schools, but because there’s no space, our fields are inadequate.”

San Pasqual Athletic Director Gordon Marsh said growth in Escondido, where San Pasqual is located, as well as Oceanside and Fallbrook isn’t keeping up with the growth in Poway and Rancho Penasquitos, areas that feed into Poway and Mt. Carmel. That lack of growth has curtails revenue bases.

“We don’t have nearly as much growth as Poway,” Marsh said. “We just don’t have that (growth) base.” Nancy Acerrio, girls’ volleyball and softball coach of Hilltop, said athletic directors in the South Bay are having to wear too many hats and can’t always devote the time they need to push for the facilities they need.

“In talking athletics, when you go to North County, they have full-time ADs,” she said. “In the South Bay, we have teachers who become ADs. It’s hard. That’s a big thing.”

But most everyone agrees it all comes down to the people in the programs. Facilities won’t a section champion make.

“The success of our athletic programs comes down to the coaching staff’s dedication and that of the athletes,” said Torrey Pines’ Anne Meigs, athletic director and tennis coach.

Said Frank Andruski, Mt. Carmel’s athletic director: “You wouldn’t be talking to me if we didn’t get help (from the coaches and athletes). We’d be average like anyone else. Everyone works together. It’s a real praise to our district.”

The following schools were selected in the survey of athletic directors for their overall merits:

1. MT. CARMEL

The overall best. Beat Palomar League rival Torrey Pines by a nose.

In particular, the Sundevils boast a lighted swimming facility with a 50-meter and 25-meter pool, one with wheelchair access and one deep enough to host diving meets, an expensive electronic timing pad for swimming races, a viewing area where spectators can watch swimmers from underneath the pool, and bleachers. The pool has been the site for the San Diego Section swimming and diving championships and the water polo semifinals for several years.

Until 1983, its 6,000-seat lighted football stadium was a popular postseason location, but Vista and Granite Hills tore the field up in a rain-soaked playoff game.

“It’s never been the same,” Andruski said. “Up until then, it was the premier facility, but now the seed just won’t take.”

Sam Blalock, now the baseball coach at Rancho Bernardo, was largely responsible for the condition of Mt. Carmel’s varsity baseball field, considered one of the county’s best. Its condition is excellent, it has expansive bleacher seating and an eight-foot fence with a windscreen.

The floor in Mt. Carmel’s 2,400-capacity gymnasium can be a bit slippery, but Andruski said it’s one of the cleanest floors in the county.

Six main tennis courts, which are resurfaced every five years, and six auxiliary courts are available. They are used so much by the community that Andruski said it’s difficult to clean them.

The 440-yard track is the site of the Sundevil Invitational, one of the premier track meets in the state, but administrators are talking about converting it to 400 meters.

“That seems to be what everyone is doing,” Andruski said.

2. TORREY PINES

The stadium, in a class by itself, looks like it belongs on a college campus. Unlike many stadiums, it is built on a tier, and has more of a “bowl” appearance. The depth of the stadium gives it good protection against the wind. The permanent concrete seating is noteworthy, as are the lights and scoreboard.

The stadium was, according to Meigs, the result of a push by students, faculty and community.

“All the sports said, ‘Let’s get that done,’ to their own sacrifice,” she said. “The kids went without new uniforms and equipment to make that a priority.”

The school’s gymnasium has a gymnastics room and weight room on either side--behind the bleachers--and volleyball coaches like the gym because of its high ceiling.

Meigs said the school has been trying to get a pool for 10 to 15 years, but lack of a place to put one, along with insurance and maintenance costs, makes getting one an improbability.

Five years ago, four tennis courts were built to complement a set of older ones. The track is in good shape. And there is one nice field for both baseball and softball to go along with one that isn’t so great.

Varsity soccer uses the stadium, with an upper field and the outfield of the baseball complex available to the junior varsity and freshman teams.

3. POWAY

The Titans’ facilities are singled out for their upkeep despite their age.

The school was built in 1961, 13 years before Mt. Carmel and Torrey Pines. Athletic Director John Self credits a supportive district and said Dean Killion, director of facilities, is the man behind Poway’s efforts to maintain its facilities at a high level.

“What we have is kept up well,” Self said. “Some new schools’ facilities aren’t as nice as our old ones.”

Killion arrived in Poway in 1979, just as many buildings and fields were in need of a face lift.

“He’s very meticulous,” said Self. “He’s the driving force behind much of what has been done here.”

The 5,000-capacity track facility, with lights, are the envy of the county. The all-weather Urethane, “rubberized” track, built four years ago, makes Poway a logical site for the track and field section preliminaries and championships.

The pool complex is second only to Mt. Carmel, the 10 tennis courts are in good condition and the 1,500-seat gym had new floors put in two years ago.

Baseball and softball teams have their own fields, but junior varsity and freshman teams use facilities at Poway Lake.

4. MIRA MESA

A city school breaks up the dominance of the North County Conference.

Playoffs are usually in the best facilities, and Mira Mesa sees its share of postseason play. The gymnasium is the site of the section basketball semifinals and the stadium regularly hosts football playoffs.

According to Cunningham, the Marauders’ facilities are “close to being No. 1 in the city.”

The 6,000-seat stadium, which has a fine press box, is “right up there with the best,” Cunningham said.

The gym, where Vice President Dan Quayle spoke last year, became more versatile after the installment of four glass backboards. The lights in the gym are still good, but have suffered since the company that did the original, “dimmer” lighting went out of business and maximum power--which is not always welcome--was restored. The foyer converts into a weight room.

There are six concrete and four asphalt tennis courts which have been resurfaced once since 1976.

5. SAN PASQUAL

San Pasqual is boosted by its year-round access to the spacious and well-maintained Kit Carson Park, directly across the street. This is where the section softball championships have been held the past several years.

There are two baseball fields that are among the county’s best, and the Golden Eagles are fortunate, Marsh said, to have 10 well-kept tennis courts--resurfaced six years ago--and access to others nearby.

The three-year old football stadium, complete with lights, concession stands and press box, seats 3,200 and is in extremely good shape.

“Only one field is better and that’s Torrey Pines,” said Marsh, who added that 95% of the materials for the stadium were donated, as was much of the construction.

Far from done, the school hopes to add to the 500 seats on the visitors’ side.

Future additions on campus are scheduled to include an overall training facility and a batting cage.

When the district stalled on requests for improvements, Marsh said parents took it upon themselves to get things done, which is how the stadium became reality and how Marsh said San Pasqual hopes to complete future projects.

“We have the kind of parents that respond to the challenge,” he said.

6. UNIVERSITY CITY

Lack of planning is LaMotte’s biggest complaint. Otherwise, he said UC’s facilities rank up there with the best.

“Generally, we’re in pretty good shape with what potential is there,” LaMotte said.

LaMotte’s biggest gripes are that the school campus was configured so that there is a street running between the locker rooms and multipurpose courts, that several of the fields overlap and the sprinkling system and landscaping are below par.

Students jump the curbs and park their cars near the gym, ripping up the rubber mats and other outdoor apparatus, and sometimes even drive onto the fields.

There is one baseball field and two softball fields, but improper alignment causes them to overlap and spill onto a soccer field as well.

“Our field should never have been approved by the district,” LaMotte said. “It was very poorly designed in regard to its location.”

On the plus side, UC has a 400-meter track, the first one in the county. There are six tennis courts and eight multi-purpose practice courts. The gymnasium is downsized but in fine shape, with additional rooms available for wrestling and training.

The girls’ and boys’ soccer teams have their own fields.

Although six teams compete for practice time, athletes aren’t forced to stay late on school nights because they also have access to Standley Park and the Jewish Community Center.

7. GROSSMONT

Grossmont, the oldest school in East County, opened in 1918, but its gyms (notice the plural) and baseball and softball fields are among the best in the east.

The luxury of two gyms is especially noteworthy because it means practices don’t have to be alternated among sometimes as many as six programs, as is often the case elsewhere.

Another plus is the 15-year-old swimming pool, because it is meters lengthwise and yards in width, thus capable of hosting yards or meters swim meets.

The crushed cinder track is in excellent condition and has good drainage.

Judd Hulbert, director of athletics, said the school is hoping to expand its decade-old football facility (it has lights) by adding concession stands and more seating. A weight room is in the planning stages.

“We’re nowhere near the bottom,” Hulbert said, “but we’re certainly not in the Cadillac division.”

8. RANCHO BUENA VISTA

No football stadium, no track, no pool, no distinguishing fields or buildings.

No kidding. So how does “The Ranch” squirm its way into the top 10?

Access and potential.

RBV opened in 1987 and started to move athletics on-campus a year later. Every year something new is added and now the Longhorns have new tennis courts, wrestling and weight rooms, baseball field, two softball diamonds, a gymnasium and two soccer fields.

Beyond that, they’re tenants.

The football team plays at Vista High, some of the soccer teams use nearby Breeze Hill Park and the swim team uses Washington Middle School.

“I know we aren’t thrilled to go to Vista, and I’m sure they probably aren’t thrilled to have us,” said Rick Bethel, athletic director.

But Bethel said the students have used their disadvantages in this regard and have turned it to their advantage.

“I think it’s been a real key to our success,” he said. “It’s made them fight and made them a lot tougher. They’ve lived with the adversity and given them a bond with their teammates and their coaches.”

9. MISSION BAY

Athletic Director Dennis Pugh’s resume would be an odd read. In addition to being an athletic director, he is a baseball coach and former football coach. But listen as he described his baseball duties:

“There’s a little joke in the coaching community that you spend 30 minutes of your practice as a gardener,” he said.

This is common everywhere, but Misson Bay’s staff has taken it one step further, and far enough that their facilities are above what is considered average citywide.

Mission Bay’s coaching corps have taken that joke to heart, not only as gardeners, but as carpenters, janitors and handymen as well.

The state of the Bucs’ facilities wouldn’t be much better than the rest of the city if it weren’t for the extra effort of the coaching staff.

“The thing you’re impressed by here,” Pugh said, “is the same for the football field as it is for the baseball field as it is for the gym. They’re nice because the individuals care. Coaches have gone above and beyond what normally is required.”

The tennis courts were just resurfaced at a cost of $10,000; there’s a weight room, dubbed “Gold’s Gym West,” stuffed with $30,000 worth of equipment; and the playing fields are used on a rotating system so that the turf on one doesn’t get ravished.

10. WEST HILLS

The needs here are many, but West Hills, opened in 1987, is making giant progress, led this year by the opening of its gymnasium.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” said LuAnn Gores, girls’ basketball coach.

The gym’s reflective lighting gives athletes a chance to adjust their eyes whether they’re making free throws, going up to spike a volleyball or tumbling around on a gymnastic mat. And bleachers can be pushed back and the side baskets lowered so that there are two full-sized courts for joint practices.

“It’s great because you can practice a full-court press,” Gores said. “You usually can’t do that in practice when you’re sharing the gym.”

The gymnastics team has a permanent room set up in the gym, allowing them to keep their heavy equipment up all the time. The wrestling team also has its own room.

There are two softball fields and one baseball field, but the baseball field, with no infield grass, is sub-par. Coaches are concerned with the surface of the tennis courts on campus, saying they are dangerous because they are slippery.