Regional Championship in Phoenix Arizona

After my Junior year I qualified for the Regional Junior Olympic Championships in Phoenix Arizona in July of 1975.   I was happy to go.  All the runners who qualified got on a bus in Salt Lake City and we rode to Phoenix Arizona.  When we got there we were excited.  We got to stay in a hotel(good air conditioning).  It was hot (over 100 degrees)  as luck would have it the mile was to be run at 10 pm.   The gun fired and we were off.  I ran in the middle of the pack and felt pretty good.  About half way through a runner took off and surged on the 3rd lap.  I went with him but no one else did.  We were going fast and I was ok with the pace,  we had a good 20 yard lead on the rest of the field.  With about 330 yards left he started to fade so I took over the lead.  I ran pretty well however I started to fade a bit with 100 yards to go.  Randy Stoneman the top mile runner from Colorado caught me and beat me.  I remember being so angry because I should have won had I not gone with the other runner.  Randy won and since only one runner goes to nationals per event he got to go and I got second.  I was not a happy camper.  It was a fun trip and I stayed with a friend on the team before catching a bus to Las Vegas  to meet my family on their way to California.  I did get to stay in a hotel though. Very cool.