Shore Conference Championships in 1979 at South: Part 1 –

Back in 70s, many of the big outdoor meets were held out Toms River South (examples include the Indian Relays and Shore Conference Championships). On a rainy day in May of 1979, the Shore race had a lot of excellent races and performances for South harriers.

Below is a picture of the start of the mile with Vinny Cammarata (’79) on the far left and Michael Benson (’80) third from the left.  Many have called this Vinny’s best race, as he placed 5th place in a very stacked field that included Benson and Steve Thompson of Brick.  After a 5th place finish a year ago at Shores, Benson took revenge on the mile field with an impressive win against Thompson.

Shore Conference Mile

The race of the day was the 800meters which pitted South’s Michael Benson and Glenn Livingston (’79) against George Hayes from Monmouth Regional, whose coach was Ed Scullion.  Livingston led most of the race, keeping Hayes out in lane two with Benson tucked in right behind Livingston.

Glenn Livingston ('79)

Up the final straight-away, all three dived at the tape with Hayes out-leaning the South duo by the smallest of margins.

Hayes, Livingston, and Benson

These pictures were given to us by John Gould of Matawan.

Archie Bird, Drew Thompson, and Michael Benson were named to the All-Shore team for their performances at the Championships.

Glenn Livingston and Michael Benson (not shown is winner George Hayes on left)

South got second place as a team overall at Shores.  Other 1979 team achievements include:

5-0 in Class “A” South

1st place at Ocean County Championships

2nd place at State Sectionals Group IV

3rd place at Group IV Championships

Please share any other stories or memories from that meet or year if you would like.