Longtime Rivalry Is Not Run of the Mill

Russell Silvers graduated from Los Angeles Loyola in 1998, but ask him about the Loyola-Sherman Oaks Notre Dame rivalry in boys’ track and field and he’s taken back to April 30 of his senior year.

That’s when a Loyola team, ignited by the surprising 1-2 finish of Stephen Faulk and Silvers in the 100 meters, clinched its 10th consecutive league title with a 70-57 dual-meet victory over a Notre Dame squad that included defending state 100 champion Justin Fargas.

Fargas, who is preparing for his second season as a running back with the Oakland Raiders, anchored Notre Dame to a come-from-behind victory in the 400 relay at the start of that meet and followed with a win in the long jump.

But he finished third in the 100 after straining his right hamstring during the long jump and later withdrew from the 200, an event in which Loyola finished first and third.

“That meet definitely was one of the fondest memories of my time at Loyola,” said Silvers, who is the coordinator of track and field for AEG, the corporation that owns the Home Depot Center in Carson.

“It was the culmination of all four of my meets,” against Notre Dame, he said. “You just don’t get that kind of excitement level at many high school track meets. You’ve got reporters out there covering the meet and there are hundreds of people in the stands cheering you on. It’s just a very exciting environment.”

That emotionally charged atmosphere should be present at Notre Dame today, when the Knights play host to defending Southern Section Division II champion Loyola in a 3 p.m. meet that again will decide the Mission League title.

Loyola and Notre Dame are each 5-0 in league, but Loyola has won 110 consecutive dual meets and 15 league titles in a row.

According to Cal-Hi Sports, Loyola’s streak is the second-longest by a boys’ track team in state history. Pasadena Muir won 167 consecutive dual meets from 1979 to 1999.

Loyola’s streak started in 1989, when the Cubs were a member of the Angelus League, and has continued since they moved to the Mission League in 1991.

Not that Coach Greg Wells wants his team focused on those facts.

“I don’t want them to feel pressure because of the streak,” said Wells, whose varsity boys’ teams have compiled a 98-0 dual-meet record and won two section titles during his 14-year tenure. “I don’t want the streak to be a burden. I just want them to relax, have fun and hopefully win.”

Cancer cells have recently been detected near Wells’ liver after the disease led to the removal of his prostate and bladder last summer. But he doesn’t want that to affect his team’s performance today either.

“If we lose, I don’t want it to be because the kids were distracted by my health,” he said. “And if we win, I don’t want it to be because the kids did it for me. I just want them to do it because it’s Loyola-Notre Dame.”

Cub distance standout Mark Matusak, who is expected to race today after sitting out the previous five weeks while recovering from a stress fracture in his left foot, said the team was trying to focus on the task at hand.

“We have it in the back of our minds,” he said about Wells’ health. “But he really doesn’t play it up at all. He just wants us to go out there and run and compete and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Competing well against a team you have immense respect for is what the Loyola-Notre Dame dual meet is all about for Knight Coach Joe McNab.

Notre Dame has not beaten Loyola since McNab took over the program in 1989, but he fondly recalls victories over the Cubs in 1985, ’87 and ‘88, when he was an assistant under Jon Mack.

“I would love to beat them, I’m not going to lie,” McNab said. “But it’s not going to ruin my day or week or life if we lose. And I’m not going to go jump in the pool if we win.”

He added that winning a Southern Section Division III title was “more important to me.”