This Club Can Sure Run to a Party

They came to race. They came for pancakes. But most of all, they came for Charlie Appell and the camaraderie of Orange County’s oldest running club.

Appell is a founder of the Orange County Track Club, which hosted its third annual OCTC 5K and pancake breakfast Sunday at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. The event has grown from nothing more than a social barbecue for members into the club’s crown jewel, attracting 162 runners and helping fund the cross-country and track teams at Estancia High.

“It was nice because we just tried to make it a neighborhood thing,” said Appell, who also coaches those Estancia teams. “By keeping it homespun, it was like a big party and I enjoyed it.”

Appell’s ties to the school helped attract several current and former Estancia runners, who took eight of the top 10 spots.

Juan Sanchez, a 1998 Estancia graduate and Orange Coast’s top cross-country runner last season, finished first on the hilly off-road course, which measured slightly longer than 5,000 meters. Sanchez completed the race in 16 minutes 25 seconds, 11 seconds ahead of Appell’s son, Johann, a senior at Long Beach State who also attended Estancia and Orange Coast. Dave Parsel, a 45-year-old Estancia graduate, was third.

EARLY ROOTS

OCTC dates back to 1961. The 120-member group welcomes runners, joggers and walkers of all skill levels. Appell gives advice on training for races ranging from 400 meters to ultra-marathons.

Appell was a full-time athletic equipment manager at Orange Coast when he was hired to coach the cross-country and track programs at Chapman in 1984. That lasted until the 1989-90 season, when the school dropped both sports in a last-ditch effort to stay competitive at the NCAA Division II level.

Appell began coaching at Estancia shortly afterward, leading the Eagles to a second-place finish at the Division IV state boys’ cross-country finals in 1997 and helping Alberto Munoz to the individual state title in 1998. Appell has since returned to Orange Coast, working as an assistant in the fitness lab.

What sets OCTC apart from other running clubs in Orange County is the coaching and the affordability, members say. The annual membership of $30-35 covers all costs throughout the year.

“Our big sales pitch is the coaching,” said membership director Andy Bailey, a 61-year-old Laguna Beach resident and club member since 1982. “Most track coaches charge between $40-70 a month and our coach provides it for free as long as you’re a member of the club.”

HIGH SCHOOL UPDATE

Several high school athletes competed at the Golden West Invitational at American River College in Sacramento last Saturday.

Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones won the 300 hurdles in 36.3 seconds and finished sixth in the 110 hurdles in 14.24. Esperanza’s Ryan Bousquet finished sixth in the boys’ mile (4:11.3) and Esperanza’s Travis Pendleton finished third in the discus (198 feet 1 inch).

In the girls’ 800, Corona del Mar’s Liz Morse finished second (2:09.92) to Heather Hennessey of Los Gatos (2:08.84). Hennessey produced the nation’s second-fastest time behind Morse, who set the fastest time in winning a state title. Hennessey did not run in the state meet, because she was disqualified in the Central Coast Section meet.

Newport Harbor’s Amber Steen took fifth in the mile (5:01.2), Edison’s Rachael Ziemann took third in the high jump (5-8) and twin sister Bianca was fifth (5-6).