1976 AAU NATIONAL Cross Country Championship  
(top 60 of 400 athletes)
* Rick Rojas Course record for the 10,000 Belmont Plateau Course still stands today !

Belmont Plateau
Race Archives

The National AAU Men Cross Country Championship
Belmont Plateau (Philadelphia)       November 27, 1976

Below is a copy of an article I found in Sports Illustrated (Dec 6, 1976) on this historic race held at Belmont Plateau (Fairmount Park).
Philadelphia acted as the host because of the Bicentennial and the work of AAU Mid Atlantic members  and coaches(Joe McElhenney,
Jack Saint Clair, Joe Ryan, Neil Weygant, Jim Tuppeny, Kevin Quinn, Joe Ryan). The 10,000 meter course was new that year and designed
to include all of the challenging hills (Flagpole, Parachute, Surekill, and Nursery) from the 5 mile course. The 10,000 course was only run
once before  with Paul Stemmer, Nittany Valley TC winning the race in 30:51.2.   Over 400 runners competed in the championship and
many of the nation's top middle and distance track runners as well as many elite marathoners were present. As you will read in the article,
Ric Rojas of Colorado TC was the winner (in 30:23.8)over Terry Cotton (Jamul Toads) and the Jamul Toads were the National Champions.  
Running legends Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers were also due to run the race but couldn't compete due to illness and travel.  I was able to
obtain the finish of the top 60 in the race and I have them listed under the article.  I know that Mile Legend Marty Liquori (Villanova) also
finished somewhere in the top 75.  If anyone has a complete list of the 400 runners, please e mail them to me at thomasd611@yahoo.com.
  I wish to thank Sports Illustrated for this article and Bob Reynolds/Benji Durden  for the list of the top 60 runners.  The SI article gives a
good description of the "toughness" of the Belmont Plateau course and brings you back to a time when you had to work a job and train full
time,  arrange travel and payment or your own and when every track runner (no matter their specialty) competed together on a rugged
course (not the "track on grass" courses of today).   This article gives us a good view of the reputation of the Belmont Plateau in the United
States making it one of the toughest and most historic cross country courses in the United States.   I hope to keep this reputation alive by
bring the Classic 5 Mile (and 10,000) course into full competition in college and open competition.   Enjoy the reading  - Dave Thomas/
Philadelphia Athletic Charities
Article Originally in Dec 6, 1976 (Sports Illustrated)

HE TOOK THE HIGH ROAD

HAVING RUN 110 MILES A WEEK AT 7,000 FEET IN NEW MEXICO, RICK ROJAS CRUISED OVER PHILADELPHIA'S HILLY
FAIRMOUNT COURSE TO WIN THE AAU CHAMPIONSHIP

By Anita Verschoth

Several things made the national AAU cross country championship in Philadelphia last Saturday such a pleasant affair. Although the
sky was gray, it did not rain and the temperatures was a comfortable 61 degrees.  In addition, this was truly an American
championship, in contrast to the NCAA meet five days earlier in Denton, Texas where Kenyans running for Washington State and
University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) finished one, two, and five.  Third, there were no superstars on hand. Frank Shorter had scratched
because of the flu, Bill Rodgers, because of the weakening after effects of Mt Fuji's Revenge that assailed him during a recent trip to
Japan.  "I hardly know anybody here," said Barry Brown, who is going on 33.  " I must be getting old."  

One of the most highly regarded young runners was Terry Cotton, a 22 year old PE student at the University of Arizona and a member
of a San Diego club, the Jamul Toads.

Although Cotton had finished 18th in the NCAA, he had won seven of his last nine races, setting course records in six of them. Nobody,
however, considered Ric Rojas a favorite, except perhaps his teammates on the Colorado Track Club.  "Let's face it.  I'm an unknown
here," said the 24 year old computer data analyst from Los Almos, New Mexico.  

The 10,000- meter course, running through Fairmount Park (Belmont Plateau), the biggest city park in the United States, was
considered by many of the 400 starters to be the toughest in the country.  It was a narrow hiking path through the woods that
went up and down four big hills named Flagpole, Parachute, Surekill, and Nursery.  The course had half-buried rocks and
treacherous gullies and it wriggled under the pines and sycamore trees, forcing the runners to chop their strides.

A week before the race Paul Stemmer of the Nittany Valley Track Club had set a course record of 30:51.2 and on Saturday it was
Stemmer and teammate George Malley who set the pace for the first two miles. Kirk Pfeffer, 20, of the Jamul Toads and the University
of Colorado, took the lead at the three mile mark, flinging his 6'2" frame downhill.  But Surekill Hill layin wait half a mile farther on, and
Rojas, a small, compact runner with a bushy black mustache, had slipped through the field from about 100th place at the first quarter
and suddenly at Pfeffer's heels.  He flew up Surekill, passing Pfeffer with remarkable ease. " I wasn't even trying, " Rojas said later.  
"Whenever the course went uphill, everybody around me seemed to stand still."   From that point on, Rojas stayed in front.  " I hadn't
seen the course before," he said,  "so whenever I came to a corneer I ad to ask directions.  I didn't give it everything until I had about a
half a mile to go.  By that time Terry Cotton was breathing down my neck."   

Halfway through the race Cotton had moved into figth place. He had a wisdom tooth pulled two weeks before and was also fighting a
cold.  "I was hoping to stay there," he said afterward, 'but when I moved up to second with a quarter mile to go, I realized I should have
gone for the lead sooner.  I guess I just have Rojas the race."  

Rojas broke Stemmer's week-old course record, clocking 30:23.8 and edging Cotton by three seconds. Most of the race had seemed
like a cruise to him.  " Ididn't feel any pain at all," he said.  The key to Rojas' success was tht he came wll prepared.  After a frustrating
summer in which he failed to make the Olympic  5,000-meter trials, he cut down his work days at the Los Alamos Scientific
Laboratories to six hours so he could train 110 miles a week at 7,000 feet.  " We have the same kind of hills as thes back home, " he
said in Philadelphia, "the same kind of dirt roads."   When his father, an iron worker, campaigned for sheriff of Los Alamos County for
his 10th team, Rojas ran 20 miles one day "delivering leaflets for the old man"

Until now, Rojas' running career had been rather unspectacular.  He spent four years at Harvard University studying Spanish literature.
"At Harvard we concentrated a lot on duel meets," he said, "and by the time I got tothe big championships I was pretty tired."  The first
time he was satisfied with his performance was in 1975, the year after his graduation, when he won the marathon in the Pan-American
Trials.  Later that year he won the 15-kilometer AAU race in 45:50, the fourth fastest time ever run in the United States, beating Frank
Shorter by 55 seconds.  "Maybe I'll get some invitations to meets now," he said after winning in Philadelphia.  For starters, his victory
gave him a trip to the IAAF cross-country championship in Duseldorf, Germany next March.   There was a surprise team winner at
Philadelphia, too.  The Jamul Toad, a 2 year old club, led by Cotton, Pfeffer (fourth), Ed Mendozza (ninth), beat the Colorado Track Club,
champions the previous two years.  "Three weeks ago," said the Toads coach, Bob Larsen, "my runners had to start raising money for
the trip. We almost didn't make it, and we sure didn't think we had a chance to win it"   But then neither did Ric Rojas.  
PLACE
 NAME
 TIME
 CLUB
1
 Rick Rojas
 *30:23.8 (New Course
Record)
 Colorado TC
2
 Terry Cotton
 30:26
 Jamul Toads
3
 Jeff Bradley
 30:27
 Reading Berks TC
4
 Kirk Pfeffer
 30:33
 Jamul Toads
5
 Barry Brown
 30:34
 Florida TC
6
 Mark Fimucane
 30:37
 East Tennessee TC
7
 Ted Castaneda
 30:38
 Colorado TC
8
 Bobby Thomas
 30:40
 Maccabi
9
 Ed Mandoza
 30:41
 Jamul Toads
10
 S. Foster
 30:43
 Florida TC
11
 Tom Flemming
 30:43
 New York Athletic Club
12
 George Malley
 30:43
 Nittany Valley TC
13
 Bill Landerg
 30:44
 Chicago TC
14
 Donald Zarate
 30:47
 Reno TC
15
 Dave Harper
 30:47
 Jamul Toads
16
 John Gregoric
 30:49
 Colorado TC
17
 Bob Hodge
 30:50
 Greater Boston
18
 Matt Centrowitz
 30:50
 New York Athletic Club
19
 Pete Squires
 30:51
 New York Athletic Club
20
 Ron Spiers
 30:51
 New York Athletic Club
21
 Charles Vigil
 30:53
 Colorado TC
22
 Herman Atkins
 30:53
 Club NW
23
 Tom Lux
 30:55
 Jamul Toads
24
 Randy Thomas
 30:55
 Greater Boston
25
 Morgan Fennell
 30:59
 New York Athletic Club
26
 Chuck Snead
 31:01
 Athletes in Action
27
 Don Timm
 31:04
 Athletes in Action
28
 Steve Flannagan
 31:05
 Colorado TC
29
 Benji Durden
 31:07
 Atlanta TC
30
 Michgel Birdell
 31:09
 Colorado TC
31
 Byron Dyce
 31:10
 Florida TC
32
 A Hamilton
 31:11
 Summit AC
33
 Kevin Foley
 31:11
 Summit AC
34
 Gary Cohen
 31:13
 Athletic Attic (NJ)
35
 Walt Dunne
 31:15
 Athletes in Action
36
 Paul Stemmer
 31:16
 Nittany Valley TC
37
 George Reed
 31:17
 Suncoast Striders
38
 Don Kardong
 31:17
 Club NW
39
 Steve Floto
 31:18
 Colorado TC
40
 Dwight Kier
 31:18
 Nittany Valley TC
41
 Ed Leddy
 31:18
 Knoxville TC
42
 Bruce Fisher
 31:28
 Chicago TC
43
 David Casill
 31:26
 Chicago TC
44
 Dave Reinhart
 31:27
 Athletic Attic (NJ)
45
 Victor Elk
 31:29
 United States Marine Corp
46
 Anthony Sandoval
 31:30
 West Valley TC
47
 Mike Slack
 31:31
 Chicago TC
48
 John Sharp
 31:35
 Ontario TC
49
 Steve Mahiev
 31:36
 Washington RC
50
 Joel Majors
 31:36
 Atlanta TC
51
 Rick Albright
 31:36
 Club NW
52
 Scott Graham
 31:36
 Greater Boston
53
 Phil Meyer
 31:37
 United States Marin Corp
54
 Phil Steele
 31:38
 Shore AC
55
 Keith Woodard
 31:39
 Spur of Moment TC
56
 Jim Nuccio
 31:40
 West Valley TC
57
 Julio Piazza
 31:42
 Philadelphia Pioneers
58
 Bruce Baden
 31:42
 Nittany Valley TC
59
 Bob Lodge
 31:42
 Ontario TC
60
 Pat Tyson
 31:43
 Club NW
Team Scores (Top 3)
(*Unofficial)
Club
 Places
 Total Points
Jamul Toads (San Diego, Ca)
 2,4,9, 15, 23
 53
Colorado TC (Boulder, Co)
 1,7,16,21,28
 73
New York Athletic Club (Ny,Ny)
 11,18,19,20,25
 93