The 1983 men’s cross country team remains the only cross country team in school history to win a national championship. Their title was Cal Poly Pomona’s fifth team national championship in department history, and is the only one among the current five fall sports. They are also the most recent team from both the CCAA, and the west region, to win a national title in men’s cross country.
In his fourth year at the helm, Jim Sackett’s 1983 squad reached the national championships for the first of 14 times during his successful 27-year tenure as head coach. On November 12, 1983, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Broncos placed first in a field of 17 teams to hold up the program’s first trophy. Matt Blaty, a 2018 inductee into the Cal Poly Pomona Athletics Hall of Fame, led the Broncos with a ninth-place finish at 31:04.0 – which still ranks 11
th in school history at the National Championships. Tony Reyes and Gary Borbon finished close behind at 11
th and 14
th place, respectively, leading the Broncos to the national title with 86 points.
That year, the Broncos also won the CCAA Championships with a first-place finish in Rocklin, CA; Matt Blaty with a first-place finish of 31:14.0.
“I only have fond memories of our championship team and the friendships created over that year,” said Tony Reyes, CPP’s second-highest finisher in the 1983 National Championships. “It was a special group as most successful teams are, and we were fortunate to have a great coach that gave us the leadership and encouragement to reach for a championship! The Cal Poly Pomona [Athletics] Hall of Fame is the final cap to an incredible group of young men I can still call friends to this day!”
