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Irwin's low-key approach yields high-octane resultsIf it’s the best Indiana High sports program nobody knows, that’s fine by Jim Irwin.Names like Mark Strittmatter don’t matter to those who compile names for the Metro Football Index. But to guys like Irwin, who has been the cross country coach at Indiana High since 1969, his name most certainly does matter, as do such other names as Jon Evans, John Scott, Mark and Todd Pellman.Not to mention Rick Scafedi, Chris and Tina Wheeler, Scott Humphrey, Sara Pickering and Irwin’s two current proteges, Ken Brown and Elena Gomez.Irwin has been coached the Indiana High cross country team for all but three of tne team’s 27 years of existence. He has seen his share of excellent runners, some of whom have gone on to careers at major college programs.The list of District 6 and WPIAL champions he has coached is really amazing when you consider the school does not place the kind of emphasis that is exerted at other schools on such sports as football and wrestling, he has no junior-high feeder program and he has gone through years in which he has bad to comb the hallways ju9t to have enough kids for a full squad. *If Irwin have to do that, that’s fine by him. Just don't ask him to do it with the aid of a booster club. “Not the way I’ve seen some boosters work,” he said.Cross country was instituted at Indiana back in 1966. It was exclusively a boys sport until 1980, when the first girls team was fielded.sibly citing small enrollments — though many, it is suspected, fear such a team would cut into football participation — Indiana has allowed cross country to settle in its own niche.It's not a sport that can be viewed with great convenience, like basketball or tennis. The scoring system, in itself, takes time to understand,Consequently, it’s not a sport that dominates the headlines. That’s something Irwin expects his runners to understand and appreciate.“The kids have got to like to do it,” he said.His idea of good cross country runners?“They like to compete. They like to test themselves, ” he s a id.If the recognition has not been gratuitous — and it never should be in any sport — it has been something that Irwin’s finest runners have literally run into.The program officially started in 1966 under Royden Grove. It didn’t take long for IHS to become a team to take seriously. In the program’s third year, it won all seven dual meets and finished third in the District 6 meet.Irwin assumed the reigns in 1969 and watched the IHS harriers finish 7-1 and duplicate their third-place finish at districts. An underclassman named Mark Strittmatter won the D-6 title and placed 37th out of over 200,And he capped off his great career with a 42nd-p!ace finish at states in 71. He won 30 medals and seven trophies as a tradition began to take shape.Fiscus carried the torch the next few autumns. Jim Laugblin won 11 races in 1974, a year in which IHS went 11-1 in dual-meet competition.It was a cross country story in the 1974 edition of L’Indian, the school's yearbook, that captured what has always been and always will be the essence of the sport.“A cross country team seldom notices spectators,” the passage stated. “Coach Irwin’s harriers generate their own enthusiasm.”Little did anyone know Indiana would have plenty of reason to be enthused for theBy RICK WEAVERGazette Sports Writerrest of the 1970s. The 1975 IHS squad went 13-0, won its second straight Central Western Cross Country Conference meet championship and placed 17th at states. More of the same followed in 78 — an 11-0 chart and 12th at states. IHS went on to win nine straight CWCCC championship meets.It did not lose another dual meet until 1977, when Central Cambria eked out a 26-29 decision. By that time, another budding star, Todd Pellman, was about to emerge. He would lead the IHS harriers to a first-place finish in the 1979 conference meetwhile nlacincr 19th at ctufocgirls cross country at Indiana High. That year’s squad, led by Kathym Potter, placed second at districts. And the boys didn’t do so bad in their own right. Led by Larry Good and John Scott, the Indians placed third at the District 6 meet.That year’s success proved just the beginning for Scott, who led IHS to a 1(H) dual-meet record and placed 16th at states in 1981. The following year, he placed fifth at states among a 209-runner field. He went to run at Tulane University.Mike Ramsey led the'way for a couple of seasons. The baton was passed along to Scott Humphrey in ’84. He and Sara Pickering led the harriers, Pickering placing ninth at states. Humphrey, meanwhile, kept going from there.In Indiana’s first year as a WPIAL entry, Humphrey highlighted the 1987 season by placing ninth at the state meet. He continued his running career at the University of Pittsburgh.Meanwhile, Tina Wheeler placed 23rd at states. One of the Irwin’s all-time best sister acts, Tina and Chris Wheeler went on to continue their running careers at IUP.There have been times in which Indiana has struggled to field full squads. But it hasn’t struggled to produce championship-caliber runners. Jon Evans carried IHS’ standard for the past three seasons, winning the 1991 WPIAL championship and placing second at states. He has continued his running career at the University of Wisconsin.And his teammate of the past two seasons, Ken Brown, has acauitted himself in cirai.will represent IHS at Saturday’s PIAA Championships, to be held at Penn State University,Gomez not only represents IHS’ hopes for an individual medal at the ’92 state meet. She also spears the hopes of a young girls team that placed 12th at the WPIAL Meet and figures to place even higher in the next couple of years.“We’re starting back up with the girls,” said Irwin. “When you consider everything, the whole WPIAL field, that’s pretty good.”If this year’s girls team ranks among Irwin’s best of that genre, his choice for the best boys team might be a tad more difficult. The IHS teams of the 1970s. for obvious reasons, stand out.“Those were a pretty nice teams,” he said. At that time, IHS had to deal with State College, Altoona and Bellefonte among the top team contenders.“It was tough to make it through, he added.Despite a comparative lack of depth, he considers the ’91 boys team one of his all-time best.The team we had last year was probably one of the best teams we’ve ever had,” he sanL “We were one guy away from being a pretty powerful teamIrwin is the one guy who has made cross result? 8 key proSram with high-octane“We’re just a low-key sport and I want to keep it that way,” he said.As long as Jim Irwin holds the key to success, IHS boys and girls cross country teams can count on seeine their snrvpcsfni
Newspaper Details
Indiana Gazette
Indiana, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Nov 06, 1992
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Stephanie N.
USA 24 Aug 2023
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