Mark Gleason; Mission Viejo Track Star
Mark Gleason, a three-time Times’ Orange County runner of the year at Mission Viejo High from 1996-98, who put his collegiate running career on hold to serve a two-year mission in England with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was killed in a head-on car accident Tuesday.
Gleason, 20, was three months from completing his mission and returning to Utah State.
Gleason was a passenger in a car driven by another missionary, Elder Mihai Teodorescu from Romania, when they tried to pass a vehicle using a center passing lane. A car coming from the opposite direction forced Teodorescu to swerve into oncoming traffic, said Gleason’s sister Karen. The pair, who were on their way to proselytize near Wales, were killed instantly, she said.
Her brother now “is in a lot better place,” Karen Gleason said. “A place where he’s teaching other people who didn’t have a chance to learn while they were on earth. We feel we are judged after we die and then put into a kingdom. I feel Mark is receiving the greatest glory he can get. He’s continuing his mission.”
His family learned of his death Tuesday night while they were vacationing in Yellowstone National Park. They received a letter from him the next day.
“He mailed it the week before,” Karen Gleason said. “He wrote that he was being transferred to Wales.”
Gleason last spoke with his family on Mother’s Day, one of two days during the year that missionaries are allowed to call home. The last time he saw any of them was in the fall of 1999, when his parents, Connie and Dennis, and older brother, Ryan, visited him for three hours in Bristol, England.
In an interview in January with The Times, Mark Gleason said it was hard to say goodbye to family members a second time.
“It was gut-wrenching,” he said. “After that, I cried on someone’s doorstep while trying to share the message. I had to tell them about my family and how I just had to say goodbye to them again.”
Gleason’s trail of success began in 1996, when he won individual cross-country titles at the Orange County Championships and the Southern Section Division II finals as a junior, earning him Times Orange County runner-of-the-year honors.
The following season, Gleason became only the second runner from the county to win a state cross-country title, posting the fastest time of the meet in the Division II final. He also qualified for the national championships after finishing fifth at the Foot Locker West Regional Championships.
His accomplishments during his senior track and field season were just as remarkable.
He won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at the Orange County Championships, helping his team win its first team title.
Gleason repeated that performance at the section Division II finals a month later.
He had already won the 800 and 1,600, but needed a victory in the 3,200 for Mission Viejo to win its first section title. In the second-to-last event of the meet, Gleason dragged his tired legs to the starting line, then summoned enough energy to win and become the second runner in meet history to finish first in the three distance events.
Gleason capped his senior year by finishing fifth in the state in the 1,600.
He completed his freshman year at Utah State before embarking on his mission.
Gene Gurule, who coached Gleason at Mission Viejo High, said his prized runner had the mentality of legendary distance runner Steve Prefontaine, whose life also ended tragically in a car accident.
“That kid lived and breathed fire,” Gurule said of Gleason. “When he got on the track, there was no question what he wanted to do.”
Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Grove Creek Stakehouse in Pleasant Grove.
In addition to his parents, Dennis and Connie, and siblings Karen and Ryan Gleason, Mark Gleason is survived by sisters Sherri, Debra, Michelle, Amber and Ashley, and brothers David and Darren.