Racing a reputation: Teams fear Barstow's home course

Picture courtesy Steve Saenz

By MATTHEW PETERS Sports Editor BARSTOW — Read off the directions to the Barstow High School cross country team’s home course, and it might begin to sound more like an extreme miniature golf course. Up the giant hill. Into the desert. Around the home-made golf course. Beside the giant white cross. Past the freeway. Finish at the playground. For added effect, just add 100-degree heat. The course, which is located between Henderson Elementary School and the Interstate15, is unlike most cross country courses. If cross country is a sport of speed, strength and endurance, speed is taken out of the equation for Barstow’s home meets. Only one runner, Sam Melton, has ever broken the 17-minute mark. Of course they do “Barstow knows their course, and they know exactly where to take advantage of you,” said Sultana cross country coach John Mahr following the Sultans 22-34 loss to Barstow in 2006. The cross country team has yet to run its home course this season. The team will begin running it at 3:15 p.m. today when they face Burroughs High School. Many of the freshmen have only seen a map of the course until the team began preparing the course for the meet this week. That hasn’t stopped other teams from making assumptions about a relationship between Barstow’s success and its course. “We don’t really work out on it,” said Jim Duarte, Barstow cross country coach. “I’ve overheard opposing teams say, ‘If we had a course like this to train on we would be as good as Barstow.’ We’ve never told them. Even our own kids have gotten lost on the course. We just go to other areas to work out.” In a mountainous region in the desert, the Aztecs have little trouble finding hills. The team takes full advantage of its locale and doesn’t need to run its home course for practice, Barstow assistant coach Keith Shipman said. Perhaps these rumors began as a combination of the Aztecs recent success, winning four CIF Division III titles in the last six years, and the wild layout of their home course — suitable perhaps for only a championship team. Either way it has only helped to build up a mythology behind the team and create a mental advantage for the Aztecs. “Aztecs should love it,” said Vernon Morris, Barstow assistant coach and former runner. “Other teams fear it. If they fear the course and running against us, it’s a double benefit. “Home course advantage is huge. A football field is a football field. A gym is a gym in basketball. The difference is the crowd. In cross country, the difference is bigger. The route is different; the hills are different. When teams come to Barstow, it gets to them mentally.” (Rest of story)