PREP NOTES

When Mike Manell, Fountain Valley boys’ cross-country coach, attends meets, he’s likely to run into some old running buddies from Cal Poly Pomona.

Several of Manell’s former teammates, who ran with him on the 1967 and 1968 Cal Poly Pomona cross-country teams, are coaching cross-country teams in Orange County or Southern California.

The 1967 Broncos were second to San Diego State in the Division II nationals. The following year they advanced to the Division I nationals, placing among the top 20.

Among the former Cal Poly Pomona runners are Edison Coach Stan Stauble, Vince O’Boyle, the men’s and women’s coach at UC Irvine, and Don Chadez, who coached at El Dorado and Long Beach State and currently is the athletic director and girls’ coach at Corona High School.

Doug Speck of California Track and Running News, who compiles state-wide rankings, also was on the team.

Other 1967-68 Bronco alumni runners who are former or current coaches include Larry Allen, cross-country coach at Temescal Canyon in Lake Elsinore; Phil Ryan, who coaches at San Marino; John Cavanaugh, former coach at Webb High School who is now a science teacher at San Diego San Pasqual High School, and Pete Heaton, a former coach at Damien High who is now in the medical field.

“It’s like a big family reunion at these cross-country meets,” Speck said.