Standing (L-R): Mike Moore, Tim Hinterman, John Robins, Ed Stanbury, Rick Collard, Rich Scharchburg,
Mark Mesler. Kneeling (L-R): Al Stefanski, Dale McKim Not Pictured: Head Coach Bob Stallcup and Asst.
Coaches John Riek and John Yates.
Winning the state championship was a breeze compared to surviving cross country camp for Grand Blanc in 1977.
In those days, training methods weren’t quite as refined as they are today.
There were no “recovery days” when Grand Blanc and Holly got together for camp that summer.
Ed Stanbury, a member of that Grand Blanc squad and the school’s current boys’ coach, would never dream of putting the current Bobcats through anything that grueling these days.
On the first day of camp, Grand Blanc and Holly had a 10-mile race. Not a 10-mile run – a 10-mile race. The top guys all broke an hour on a sandy course, with Grand Blanc senior
Mark Mesler running 53:33.
The next day presented a set of 14 880-yard repeats, with the varsity runners averaging about 2:30 per 880. That was followed by eight one-mile repeats the next day, an eight-mile
race the next and three two-mile repeats the next.
“With this young group today, parents are pretty tuned in to training philosophies,” Stanbury said. “If a kid gets hurt, it hurts his chances for a scholarship. You have to be sensitive to
everything today. It may not have been the proper thing to do, but it’s an interesting thing to look back at it.”
Those who survived this masochistic training camp, from both schools, became champions. Not only did Grand Blanc win the 1977 Class A championship, but Holly captured the Class B title.
Grand Blanc was the best team in the state in 1977 and, one could argue, one of Michigan’s all-time great squads.
