After Initial Problems, He Makes Tracks

What began as a way to avoid the boredom of standard physical education classes has led to a bid to win the Ventura County cross-country championships for senior James “B.J.” Hipskind of Buena High.

Nordhoff junior Victor Ochoa is favored in today’s meet, which starts at 1:30 p.m. at Lake Casitas in Ojai, but if Hipskind pulls off the upset, he’ll become the second Channel League runner--and the first since Tony Williams of Hueneme in 1986--to win the boys’ title.

That wouldn’t be a bad accomplishment for someone who started running to “get out of regular P.E.” classes.

“I just thought they were boring,” Hipskind said. “I wanted to do something different.”

Although Hipskind enjoyed running and the camaraderie of being on the cross-country team as a freshman, he was not an instant success.

His best time over a three-mile course was about 22 minutes.

“My freshman year pretty much [stunk],” he said. “But I was out there having fun and meeting people.”

Hipskind was more serious about running as a sophomore, but that didn’t translate into noteworthy times because a phenomenal growth spurt during the summer after his freshman year left him feeling gangly and uncoordinated.

“I went from 5-2 as a freshman to just a shade under 6 feet as a sophomore,” he said. “I lost a lot of coordination, but it came back.”

The improved agility led to a drop in times.

Hipskind placed 10th in the 1995 county cross-country championships and lowered his best in the 3,200 meters to 9 minutes 49.3 seconds during track season.

He followed that with a summer of quality training and the work has paid big dividends for the runner who is named after his father and whose initials stand for Baby Jim.

He’s won four of seven races this season, including the Channel Islands Invitational in 15:05 and the first two Channel League meets of the season.

Winning the league final next week is a big goal, but he’d also like to win today’s race.

“It’s a goal he has,” Buena boys’ Coach Ray Seay said. “I don’t like to put pressure on the kids. I just want them to have fun, but this [meet] is one that he’s really been hoping to do well at.”