COLLEGE DIVISION / LONNIE WHITE : Runner Going Long Distances in Life as Well

Before last Saturday’s West Regional Division II cross-country championship, UC Riverside junior Danny Reed worried that he would not be able to run because of stomach flu.

“I had to be real careful with what I ate because when it hit me on Thursday, I couldn’t keep anything down,” Reed said. “I felt a little better on Saturday, but I was still very, very weak. I ran because I didn’t want to let my teammates down.”

Reed’s fourth-place finish, which helped UC Riverside run away with the title with 77 points, should not have come as a surprise.

He is used to coming through for others. Just ask his wife, Tonya, his 4-year-old son, Alex, and his 2-year-old daughter, Andy.

“I guess I’ve been a working slug all of my life . . . a little slow in getting an education,” said Reed, who will turn 35 next week. “My goal is to have my college diploma in hand before my 20-year high school reunion.”

Reed attended Riverside Ramona High, where he wrestled and played on the baseball team with future major league players Darrell Miller and Ron Tingley. As a second baseman, Reed was a decent ballplayer. But when he graduated in 1978, he figured his athletic career was over.

So instead of going to college to play baseball, he concentrated on working for Stater Brothers supermarkets.

In 1980, he was enrolled in a couple of classes at Riverside Community College when he met Bill Heath, the school’s cross-country coach. Reed began running for the team and that spring finished fourth in the 10,000 meters in the state junior college meet.

Reed’s first attempt at a running career did not last long after he injured his knee during that summer. Instead of returning to the track, he went back to work and ran only part time for the Gardena Reebok Track Club.

“Once I got hurt, I was kind of turned off about running,” he said.

In 1990, Reed returned to Riverside and finished second in the 10,000 in the state junior college meet. But he again decided to take a break from school after the season.

But he returned again after finishing seventh last year in the Los Angeles Marathon in a personal-best time of 2 hours 21 minutes and qualified for the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials Feb. 17 at Charlotte, N.C.

“I had been a manager at Stater Brothers for eight years, so I decided that I wanted to be a buyer for the company and work out of their home office,” Reed said. “But I knew that in order to do so, I would have to go back to school and get my degree.”

With Reed’s background and no age limit for Division II athletes, UC Riverside track Coach Chris Rinne was glad to give Reed a scholarship.

This fall, Reed adjusted at Stater Brothers from 40-plus hours a week as a manager to fewer than 30 as a produce clerk. He is enrolled in three classes and plans to graduate with a business administration degree by next fall.

“It’s nuts . . . having a family, working, running and going to school,” said Reed, who was married in 1990. “But it’s really not that hard because I’m more focused now with my family. Since I’ve worked a full-time job as a manager for so long, I’m a lot more disciplined.

“When I went to school before, I was kind of a flake. But I know now that studying is a whole lot easier than busting my butt working in a grocery store.”

College Division Notes

Azusa Pacific placed all seven of its runners among the top 10 to win the 10th annual Golden State Conference cross-country championships last Saturday. John Gachao led the Cougars in a winning time of 24 minutes 19 seconds over the 4.95-mile course at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. Miriam Niednagel led Westmont to the women’s team title with a meet-record 17:41 over the three-mile course.

Anthony Jones of La Verne rushed for a school-record 298 yards and three touchdowns in the Leopards’ 38-17 victory over Claremont last Saturday. La Verne is 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Conference. Jones has 18 touchdowns this season.