Former AAU sprinter created a sensation in 1974
06/04/2020
Former AAU member Jaince Pope (Wiser) quickly became a running sensation on the club and high school track circuit. In 1974, she swept both the 100m and 200m California state titles, and to this day is the only San Diego girl to sweep the sprint races.
Article originally posted By Steve Brand for the San Diego Union-Tribune
SPRING VALLEY, Calif. - The year was 1974 and with the passage of Title IX, girls’ competitive athletics in numerous sports were being introduced nationwide.
One that figured to be more advanced than others was track and field because a very strong Amateur Athletic Union club program was flourishing. The question was: Would the best girls continue to compete for their long-established clubs or their high schools?
For La Jolla High senior Janice Wiser, the answer was both — sort of.
“We didn’t really have a girls track team in 1974,” said then-coach Chuck Boyer.
“Janice worked in the principals’ office and wanted to run to pay back the school. But since we didn’t have a team, she didn’t run any dual meets.”
When she finally did run, it created a sensation.
Competing in the league championships, Wiser routed all the other girls, causing opposing coaches to complain, calling her a “ringer” and asking her to be disqualified.
“My club coach (Tracy Sundlun) set up a few meets,” said Wiser (now Pope), who lives in Spring Valley with her husband of 44 years, Robert Pope. “I worked the switchboard in the principals’ office and between club track and school, I didn’t have time for extracurricular activities. I wanted to represent La Jolla in some way.
“Yes, some of the other teams thought it was unfair (jumping in at the league meet) and tried to get me disqualified. Coach Boyer and others stood up for me though.”
Sundlun stepped up to make sure she’d get to compete even though at the time many club coaches feared high schools would take away their best athletes. He saw competing in the section championships and the state meet the week later as a big opportunity for athletes like Pope.
When she swept both the 100- and 220-yard sprints in the section meet, qualifying for state, there was never any doubt she’d head to Bakersfield a week later.
“It was a big deal then, just like it’s a big deal now,” Sundlun said. “I told her, ‘go’ She was one of the best athletes in the nation, so I knew she’d do well.”
She did do well.
Competing in the 100, she roared to a time of 10.8 to win by three-tenths of a second—a huge margin. Still, it wasn’t as big as the 220, where she ran 24.2 to win by nine-tenths of a second.
The two-time champion was pleased but looking back now, she has one regret.
“I wish now I’d also run the 440,” said Pope, who has two adult children, Amber, a physician, and Thomas, an attorney. “Then La Jolla could have won the team title.”
That wasn’t greed. Later in the summer she clocked a time of 53.53 for 400 meters, considerably faster than the 56.4 run by the state champion, Terra Linda’s Veronica Venezia, and still the second-fastest time ever run by a high school athlete in San Diego.
Since only the section champions advanced at that time, there were no preliminaries so she would have had to run all three races in one day — not uncommon on the AAU circuit.
“I took it seriously and I was always nervous before a race,” she said. “I hoped to win and I gave it my all. I asked God to help me. I was aware it was the first time girls were in the state meet and it was a big-time meet.
“But I didn’t think, ‘now, we’re just like guys.’ I really didn’t embrace that attitude—to me it was another big competition.”
Pope started at Arizona State University but quickly transferred to San Diego State where she ran for coach Mary Alice Hill for four years.
To this day she is the only San Diego girl to sweep the state meet sprints.
SPRING VALLEY, Calif. - The year was 1974 and with the passage of Title IX, girls’ competitive athletics in numerous sports were being introduced nationwide.
One that figured to be more advanced than others was track and field because a very strong Amateur Athletic Union club program was flourishing. The question was: Would the best girls continue to compete for their long-established clubs or their high schools?
For La Jolla High senior Janice Wiser, the answer was both — sort of.
“We didn’t really have a girls track team in 1974,” said then-coach Chuck Boyer.
“Janice worked in the principals’ office and wanted to run to pay back the school. But since we didn’t have a team, she didn’t run any dual meets.”
When she finally did run, it created a sensation.
Competing in the league championships, Wiser routed all the other girls, causing opposing coaches to complain, calling her a “ringer” and asking her to be disqualified.
“My club coach (Tracy Sundlun) set up a few meets,” said Wiser (now Pope), who lives in Spring Valley with her husband of 44 years, Robert Pope. “I worked the switchboard in the principals’ office and between club track and school, I didn’t have time for extracurricular activities. I wanted to represent La Jolla in some way.
“Yes, some of the other teams thought it was unfair (jumping in at the league meet) and tried to get me disqualified. Coach Boyer and others stood up for me though.”
Sundlun stepped up to make sure she’d get to compete even though at the time many club coaches feared high schools would take away their best athletes. He saw competing in the section championships and the state meet the week later as a big opportunity for athletes like Pope.
When she swept both the 100- and 220-yard sprints in the section meet, qualifying for state, there was never any doubt she’d head to Bakersfield a week later.
“It was a big deal then, just like it’s a big deal now,” Sundlun said. “I told her, ‘go’ She was one of the best athletes in the nation, so I knew she’d do well.”
She did do well.
Competing in the 100, she roared to a time of 10.8 to win by three-tenths of a second—a huge margin. Still, it wasn’t as big as the 220, where she ran 24.2 to win by nine-tenths of a second.
The two-time champion was pleased but looking back now, she has one regret.
“I wish now I’d also run the 440,” said Pope, who has two adult children, Amber, a physician, and Thomas, an attorney. “Then La Jolla could have won the team title.”
That wasn’t greed. Later in the summer she clocked a time of 53.53 for 400 meters, considerably faster than the 56.4 run by the state champion, Terra Linda’s Veronica Venezia, and still the second-fastest time ever run by a high school athlete in San Diego.
Since only the section champions advanced at that time, there were no preliminaries so she would have had to run all three races in one day — not uncommon on the AAU circuit.
“I took it seriously and I was always nervous before a race,” she said. “I hoped to win and I gave it my all. I asked God to help me. I was aware it was the first time girls were in the state meet and it was a big-time meet.
“But I didn’t think, ‘now, we’re just like guys.’ I really didn’t embrace that attitude—to me it was another big competition.”
Pope started at Arizona State University but quickly transferred to San Diego State where she ran for coach Mary Alice Hill for four years.
To this day she is the only San Diego girl to sweep the state meet sprints.
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