Ineligible Garritsons Can’t Run Away From Controversy

It is difficult not to wonder sometimes how certain members of the Garritson family will look back on their childhood, say 10, 20, 30 years from now.

Will their memories be of good times, of piling into the family van, pulling on their racing flats, of warming up, stretching out and psyching for yet another race?

Or will less pleasant images prevail. Thoughts, for instance, of mile-long hill repeats in the smoggy summer heat. Of tears shed, not in the joy of victory but in the sad realization that winning wasn’t enough.

Such considerations came to mind Wednesday as members of the Garritson family filed into the Southern Section office. Parents Mike and Linda Garritson had come to appeal the section ruling that left their two oldest children, standout runners James and Carrie, ineligible for varsity competition at Buena Park High this season.

James, a senior, and Carrie, a junior, transferred to Buena Park from Sunny Hills last month. Mike Garritson said the fact that James had been continually threatened and harassed by students at Sunny Hills forced him to move the children to what he considered a safer environment.

That, the Garritsons argued, was reason enough to grant James and Carrie hardship status, and with it, immediate varsity eligibility. The hearing committee didn’t see it that way. After more than an hour of testimony, the committee needed about 45 seconds to come to its decision. The appeal was denied.

It was no surprise to learn the Garritsons would appeal the decision to the State CIF. Despite the tearful message Linda Garritson offered the panel--”If the kids never run competitively this year, that’s OK with me. As long as they have a smile on their face”--the modus operandi of the Garritson clan has always been to grit it out, push through, run harder. Forget that you’re running on empty.

This setback won’t change that. It’s likely James and Carrie--perhaps the county’s brightest talent--will continue to train and race as hard as ever, be it in junior varsity competition or the weekend road racing scene. It’s likely they’ll log more miles than almost anyone their age. Swim, stretch and condition day after day. Making cautious coaches wince, as they have season after season.

It has been that way for so long now that it’s unrealistic to assume any different. Six years ago, the Garritson children (there are now nine boys, two girls) dominated a national junior cross-country championship in the dry, dusty hills behind UC Irvine. James, then a scrawny sixth-grader, finished second in his division--and immediately took refuge inside the family motor home. Carrie, who had won her race, shrugged matter-of-factly. James, she said, just hates to lose.

The years went on, the Garritson legend grew. It came with criticism. Mike Garritson’s training methods were considered far too intense for children. They were sure to burn out or break down, if not run away. The pressure was just too much.

The family, citing better job and running conditions, moved from Fullerton to Lake Arrowhead and back to Fullerton again. James, who lives with Carrie and his father in a Buena Park apartment, has changed high schools four times in four years.

Carrie changed three times--from Rim of the World, where she won a State cross-country title, to Sunny Hills, where she set an Orange County record for 3,200 meters, to Buena Park where she figured to be, once again, one of the nation’s best.

A year ago, at an early season cross-country meet, tears welled in Carrie’s eyes after she finished a race. She won by nearly a minute, but her time, she said softly, wasn’t good enough. She wanted a course record.

The question for James wasn’t course records but acceptance. The pain he relived Wednesday--of being ridiculed and ostracized by former teammates, of being threatened and roughed up by campus bullies--was believable as it was sad.

“What should I have done?” he asked the panel. “Should I have gone to Sunny Hills and been killed and my life . . . gone? What should I have done?”

The committee members seemed to sympathize, but rules were rules. The Garritsons, they said, gave Sunny Hills little opportunity to correct the situation. They should have reported the harassment from the beginning. Sought out a counselor. Made some noise.

Through all this, Carrie sat quietly, leaning her head against the pink sweat shirt draped across her chair. She offered only a few words of testimony.

She looked relaxed, even pensive.

Perhaps she was wondering what life would be like without the pressure. What it would be like to have a whole year off to kick back and be a kid. To spend Saturday mornings chasing fun, not finish lines.

To never have to wonder.