Go ahead and review the blog if you don't recall, but in 1976 the Valdosta State College cross country team came to Tallahassee and handed Florida State a 26 to 31 dual meet loss on the Seminoles' home course. The Blazers were back in Tallahassee in 1978, by which time things had changed for the Seminoles.
The 1978 meet was my first race as a Florida State distance runner. Dick Roberts had coached the cross country team in 1976, but he had since moved up to head coach of Florida State's men's track and field team. John Brogle was FSU's new cross country coach, which was full of freshman talent. I had met everyone at a week-long training camp on the Sante Fe River, and it seemed like most of the incoming class had multiple state titles to their credit. I was the poor relation; I had only one. The strength of that 1978 recruiting class was one of the things that convinced me to come to Florida State. We had the class 4A 1975 state cross country champion and 1976 state mile champ Tom Herron, 1976 class 2A two-mile champ John Hodge, 1976 and 1977 class 3A mile champ Doug Overfelt, class 4A 1977 cross country and 1978 two-mile champ Larry Greene, and 1976 and 1978 class 4A 880 champ Rob Gomez. I had the first-place medal from 1976 class 4A state cross country meet sitting on a shelf at home.
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| 1978 FSU Men's Cross Country Team |
Prices have changed since then, but Coach Roberts often reminded us that one of those state medals and fifty cents would get us a Pepsi. As freshmen we learned that first-hand on Saturday morning, 23 September 1978, in our maiden race for Florida State. Valdosta State came into town and handed us a 24 to 34 loss at the Seminole Golf Course and FSU Dairy Farm, our home course. I'd say it was 1976 all over again, but we weren't even as close as the 1976 team had been. A week later, Valdosta State and three other teams would place in front of us on the same course at the seventh annual Florida State University Cross Country Invitational.
The Blazers were a very good team that year, though. On 11 November 1978 they placed third in the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championships, just two points out of second place. Steve Martinez and Brett Watzka were both All Americans that year.
Better days were ahead for the young Florida State team. The Seminoles would win the school's first Metro Conference Cross Country title later that season. In 1980 Larry Greene advanced to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Finally, in 1981, the Seminoles qualified a team for the National Championships, where we placed eighth overall.
But before all that came the 1978 dual meet with Valdosta State College, and here are the results of that match.
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Links
- Google sheets version of the results of the 1978 FSU vs. VSC cross country dual meet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LOuaoSG-8Y8B9VaVnaQ-BjUuvK1TTLdMizVFjfNDnFM/pubhtml
- Original copy of the results of the 1978 FSU vs. VSC cross country dual meet
https://app.box.com/s/pxg3h10o4f7o8n83sjmonzbib6g3i53z
- More 1978 results, the seventh annual Florida State University Cross Country Invitational
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/07/seventh-annual-florida-state-university.html
- 1976 Florida State vs Valdosta State men's cross country dual meet
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/03/fsu-vsc-xc-1976.html
- Find a road, track, or cross country event to race yourself on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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