High School Years

I'm currently in second place.

Simon Sanchez High School, 1982

Cross Country Meet at Inarajan High School

Cross Country Meet at Simon Sanchez High School

Leading the pack at home!

Simon Sanchez High School, 1982

All-Island Cross Country Championship Meet
Navy Golf Course, Barrigada, Guam, 1982

                                    

All-Island Cross Country Championship Meet

Navy Golf Course, Barrigada, Guam, 1982

L-R (Order of Finish): James Dufford, Mike McMurrary, Me, Noel Muyco,

Cliff Hudson, Todd Wade, KiYoung Yoo

Cross Country Meet at John F. Kennedy High School, 1983

I attended John F. Kennedy High School for my sophomore year (1981-1982).  We were the Islanders, but since there weren't that many high schools on Guam, some high schools had two teams for every sport.  The high schools at that time were JFK, George Washington, Agueda Johnson, Inarajan High and Guam Community College.  The two JFK teams were called Green and Gold, our school colors.  I was on the Gold Team coached by Christine Taitano and Jim Taitano.  The Green Team was coached by Christine's husband, Joe.  All were standout runners on the island and I learned a lot from all of them that year.  I was still an "ok" runner, but slowly improving.  Races were no longer 1.5 miles of running in junior high, but now 3.1 miles (5k).  I had to get used to running twice as long!  Again, nutrition and hydration weren't much of any importance.  Even if the coaches told us about their importance, we probably didn't pay that much attention!  I remember during our lunch period, we would walk over to the nearby McDonald's the day of a cross country meet and eat Big Macs, Quarter Pounders with Cheese, french fries and soda about three hours before a meet!  At the meet, top finishers were coming in just over 17 minutes, while I managed about 18:30.

I burst onto the running scene when I transfered to Simon Sanchez High School after the island-wide school re-alignment.  We were the Sharks in Black and Silver and high schools now had one team instead of two.  Our coach was Fred Schumann, another standout runner on Guam.  Under Fred's mentorship, a good nutrition program was first introduced.  I remember Fred telling us the importance of carbohyrates and hydration (maybe I was paying more attention this time as I got older and more serious with running!).  Sometimes after a good workout, we would chip in to have pizza and pasta!  The workouts became more and more intense and Fred even ran with us to push us even harder!  I found myself coming in the top 3 at most cross country meets.  I even won some of them and my times dropped to the low 17-minute range for 3.1 miles.  Under his mentorship and the knowledge I learned from the Taitano Family, I made the All-Island Team in my junior and senior years (3rd place and 2nd place respectively during the All-Island Cross Country Championship)!

Fred Schumann ran the length of Japan in 59 days (http://fiftyninedays.blogspot.com/) in the summer of 1983, which was after he coached us.

Always a Runner...