As the running boom hit full force in the post Munich games, Title Nine sex equity became more than a four letter word. Some coaches looked at high school cross country for girls and said, "Why not?" But other coaches and administrators were entrenched in the notion that the demands of long distance running were just too tough for the delicate nature of the adolescent female. Remember, decades passed in the Olympic Games where the longest race for women was 200 meters. The simple decision to add an 800 meter race set off a furor of controversy in male officialdom.

In rural Northwest Ohio, the first we heard of girls having an opportunity to run in a cross country race was when it was discovered the Coach Jack Hazen had added a girls' race in his large, prestigious Malone College Invitational. Being naturally curious as to how much interest there would be, a PA announcement was made at school. We soon received several inquiries. Along with suggestions on a beginning training program, the girls were offered track uniforms and bus transportation to the Malone meet.

Five girls finally decided to give it a go. They ... stood at the starting line in Canton, Ohio in late September 1973, to challenge the 2 1/2 mile hilly course. All the girls finished with their final standings relatively well-dispersed in the 20 runners field. All seemed to enjoy the experience. At this time, the small mid-October Lakota Invitational meet was in its third year, having grown to only eleven Class A and small AA schools. To give our girls a second opportunity to race, we included a 1 1/2 miles open girls' race. Though none of the entering schools had a formal girls' team, we hoped that a field of 10 to 20 runners might be attracted. The results of that day still astound me. Bus after bus arrived at the course. Each discharged female runners. They were dressed in old track uniforms, cheerleading suits, GAA T-shirts and shorts and simple PE attire. The shoe of the day was either Converse hi-tops or U.S. Keds. When all were assembled we counted 77 runners. 77 RUNNERS assembled on three weeks notice form eleven small rural schools! What is going on here? Clearly these girls were looking for something. After much thought, I finally decided what they were looking for was a chance. It was a chance to be cheered for rather than always doing the cheering, a chance to be in the action rather than always on the sidelines, a chance to be what they never before could be.

The race itself wasn't remarkable. The runners were untrained and the performance levels were predictably low. One girl said it was lousy and wondered if we were going to do it again next year. Some dropped out (a few), some cried and hugged their parents or teammates after the race, some said it was great.

... All who took part in the meet that day knew girls' cross country was a sport waiting to happen. A sporadic growth of girls cross country continued through the mid-1970's. A galvanizing event occurred when Todd Clark of Cloverleaf High School organized an invitational state championship in 1976. Undoubtedly, the two most magic words for a high school athlete are "state championship." With this stroke of marketing genius, Todd activated the thoughts of the entire state cross country community in terms of a girls' state championship meet. Next, came a great deal of hard work by some dedicated coaches in the OAT&CC and the strong support of officials from our state athletic association. A true two class girls' qualifying meet and state championship became a reality in 1978.

Probably no sport saw more dramatic, rapid growth than girls' cross country in those years immediately after Ohio opened the doors for a girls' state tournament competition. I believe this was true because of: 1) a bottled-up desire of girls to enter the mainstream of all athletic competition, 2) a great running-fitness boom that was sweeping our nation, 3) an in-place structure from boys' cross country (often the boys' coach simply added the girls' program to their job description), and 4) the magnetic attraction of going to state, being all-state, and possibly being state champions.

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