By Jim Crowhurst
Five times the Vikings have won both the boys and girls varsity divisions in the same season in the North Bay League cross country finals.
I was lucky enough to have a very minor role in the first two.
In 1976, Bill Johnson, the NBL Champion that year, was the one who talked me into coming out for the team as a junior. I was one of our team scoring runners on the JV team. (I’m the tallest lanky one in the center of the photo below in the top back row.)
The next time the Vikings won both titles I was an assistant coach to Matt & Deanne Malvino. Deanne was a member of that 1976 winning team and was the NBL Champion in 1977, leading the Vikings to their second girls title.
1976
NBL finals results
The boys team won this one in a close 25-30 score over Petaluma. Viking Bill Johnson won the meet by 7 seconds.
The girls team ran a perfect 15-46 score over Ukiah, actually taking the top six places. Heidi Messerschmitt won the meet by 13 seconds. This was the second year girls got to compete in cross country in the NBL.
The Spring Lake course back then started and finished on the east side of the lake near the swimming lagoon and the two courses circled the whole lake.
Jeff Held was the coach then and a teacher at Montgomery. He was also the 1960 NBL shot put champion for Santa Rosa High.
Sitting David Moss, Jim Noonan
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1986
Please send me a copy of this years team photo if you have one, jimcrowhurst@comcast.net
NBL Finals Story
NBL finals results
The Spring Lake park rangers wouldn’t allow us to use the current starting line that year so we created a new 5,000 meter course starting in the Upper Oak Knolls parking lot.
The course being used today was first used in 1988.
The Santa Rosa boys beat the Vikings in their dual meet that year, but at the league finals, led by individual winner Kevin Smith, the Vikings destroyed the field with a 36 point score to Rancho Cotate’s 56 and Santa Rosa’s 60 giving the Vikes both the finals win and the pennant outright.
The girls scored a 40-50 win over Santa Rosa in the finals with PeeWee Lemus taking second in the finals to lead our team.
Matt & Deanne Malvino took over coaching from Larry Meredith that one year since he was biking across the U.S. that fall. I had the pleasure of assisting that year.
Boys All-Redwood Empire
Kevin Smith, Senior, NBL Champion, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Randall Watkins, Junior, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Tim Schlander, Senior, 3rd team All-Redwood Empire
Girls All-Redwood Empire
Nicole Fischer, Junior, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
PeeWee Lemus, Senior, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Erika Gardner, Senior, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
1999
Boys NBL finals results
Girls NBL finals results
It is fairly rare to have a team win the NBL finals without their top runner being in the top two, but the 1999 boys team did it with great team depth.
Led by Zac Fitch in 3rd, the Vikings placed all their top five in the top 12 overall.
The girls race was one of the best team battles ever.
On the individual side, three of the nation’s best distance runners took the top three spots.
Montgomery’s Sara Bei, future 2000 National cross country champion and seven time state XC and track champion, was 1st that day.
Maria Carrillo’s Jenny Aldridge, who would win the state 1600m title the following spring, was 2nd that day.
Ukiah’s Amber Trotter, future 2001 National cross country champion, was 3rd that day.
The Santa Rosa girls had the fastest number 5 runner and had beaten Carrillo in their dual meet.
The Viking girls literally sweated it out with their number 5 runner crossing in 27th, just enough to pull off the team win with the highest winning team score in NBL history at 53 to Santa Rosa’s 56 and Maria Carrillo’s 58.
Boys All-Redwood Empire
Zac Fitch, Junior, 3rd NBL, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Regan Masi, Freshman, 6th NBL, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Nick Millar, Junior, 13th Div. I NCS, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Girls All-Redwood Empire
Sara Bei, Junior, Div. II State Champion, Redwood Empire Runner of the Year
Sarah Bashel, Junior, 4th NBL, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Elisa Pedersen, Sophomore, 8th NBL, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
2000
Viking coach Larry Meredith did a wonderful job looking back at the 2000 season, see it here.
Here is a quick recap of the finals.
The Vikings crush the field, taking the top three spots in the boys race with Nick Millar, Zac Fitch and Jon Fitch. The Viking score of 25 to Santa Rosa’s 51 meant that Montgomery would have beat all the other teams combined. Only the 1985 Viking boys team ever had a lower score.
The girls did almost as well scoring 27 points to Maria Carrillo’s 51, to also prove they were better than the rest of the league combined. Of course the girls went on to win the state championship as well.
Sara Bei, Senior, Redwood Empire Runner of the Year, National Champion
Sarah Bashel, Senior, 14th State Div. II
Elisa Pedersen, Junior, 25th State Div. II
2002
Please send me a copy of this years team photo if you have one, jimcrowhurst@comcast.net
Led by individual winner Matt Fitch, the Viking boys took this one easily with 35 points to Santa Rosa’s 59.
There were no Montgomery girls in the top three but they still pulled off the win with all seven runners in the top 16, led by Kim Handel.
All-Redwood Empire
Boys
Matt Fitch, Junior, NBL Champion, 2nd NCS D-1, 31st in state, Co-Redwood Empire Runner of the Year
K.C. Cody, Junior, 3rd in NBL, 6th NCS D-1, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Andrew Gallagher, Senior, 7th NBL, 17th NCS D-1, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Alex Conley, Sophomore, 10th NBL, 3rd team All-Redwood Empire
Regan Masi, Senior, 14th NBL, 3rd team All-Redwood Empire
Girls
Kim Handel, Senior, Second in NCS, 14th in state D-2, 4th NBL, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Kim Conley, Junior, Ninth in state, 3rd NCS D-2, 5th NBL, 1st team All-Redwood Empire
Emma Conley, Sophomore, Sixth in NBL, 8th NCS, 38th in state D-2, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Christy Sweaney, Junior, 11th NBL, 18th NCS D-2, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Marissa Walsh, Sophomore, Tenth in NBL, 2nd team All-Redwood Empire
Kate Blake, Sophomore, 15th NBL, 38th NCS D-2, 3rd team All-Redwood Empire
Carina Hendricks, Junior, 16th NBL, 31st NCS D-2, 3rd team All-Redwood Empire
Here are some of the photos Cameron Potter took for me at that meet.
