Hulst’s spirit lives on

It was a sunny day March 20, in so many ways besides just the weather.

Former high school cross-country and track teammates from nearly 40 years ago meet again, and it was like they had never left.

Laguna Beach High’s track was officially named after former UC Irvine athlete and Laguna legend Eric Hulst, maybe the best distance runner in Orange County prep history.

And, oh yeah, the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational returned after a more-than-25-year absence for its 42nd incarnation.

Hulst was a 1975 CIF state champion at Laguna and part of a national championship team at UC Irvine two years later. And yet, his memory for many was how hard he worked and what a competitor he was on the track.

“He would be humbled by this experience,” said Jim Toomey, Laguna’s head cross-country and track coach from 1974 to 76.

His voice wavered just for a second, perhaps thinking of Hulst, who died in 1992 at 34 after suffering from brain cancer.

“He would be very proud to have his name on the track,” Toomey said. “It’s amazing because it seems like ever since Eric ran here, Laguna Beach High School has been known for cross-country and distance running. I think that’s his biggest legacy. And now, with his name on the track, for generations kids are going to read that name and say, ‘Who’s Eric Hulst?’ They’ll look it up on the Internet and see pages and pages about Eric and what he’s done.”

Toomey and former Laguna Beach and UCI Coach Len Miller were in attendance.

Miller was Hulst’s coach his freshman year. He described how Hulst, who was a tennis player before discovering running, was recruited by his friend Glenn Richardson. The cross-country team was training that day, running five miles toward south Laguna Beach, then coming back.

“They’d do a half mile and I’d start my car, then the last two boys had to get in my car,” Miller said. “I’d drive them up to the front [of the pack], drop them off and wait for the other boys to come by. Then, those last two boys had to get in the car. Well, that afternoon, Eric Hulst was the only one who didn’t have to get into the car for all 10 miles.

“He decided to come out for the team.”

Some of Hulst’s biggest high school rivals were also in attendance, the biggest one being Ralph Serna. Serna starred at Loara High and later teamed with Hulst at UCI. Serna helped the Anteaters win the Division II national cross-country title in 1975, then they repeated to win it again in Hulst’s freshman year of ’76.

But in high school, they were the big rivals, the strong Hulst versus the short and skinny Serna. In that 1975 state meet race, Hulst finished in 8:44.9, a state meet record until 2008. Serna was a second behind. He brought DVDs with him to Saturday’s meet that he created, titled “One Second Back — A Perspective of Eric Hulst by Ralph Serna.”

“It was a perfect thing to watch,” Serna said. “Eric was this big, strong guy who broke all the laws of distance running by being this gigantic guy, strong and powerful. I was really as little as a whippet, believe it or not, standing like 5-foot-6 and weighing like 110 pounds or something. My deal was speed. So if I could hang with Eric, I might be able to out-sprint him [at the end]. His whole deal was to try to run the sprint out of me. Eric would get in the front, and the question was, was he going to be able to knock out our kicks or could we stay with him long enough?”

Hulst’s family also attended, including his mother, Sharon Sandin, and sisters Heidi and Julie.

Sharon was the first to speak at the dedication ceremony.

“He was a very humble man,” she said of her son. “But he had a competitive spirit out on the track. That just permeated, that love, that’s why we’re all here today. It’s not just the records. It’s who you choose to be in the world.”

Soon after, girls’ and boys’ races were held in the inaugural Eric Hulst Memorial 3,200 Meter Run. Participants each received a special backpack and T-shirt.

Toomey and Miller, along with several of Hulst’s contemporaries in the 1970s, had a dinner with many of the Laguna runners the night before the meet, as well.

“That was really inspiring,” said the Breakers’ Natasha Strickland, who finished third in the girls’ 3,200 in 11:49.14.

The plan next year? To start the meet at 8:41 a.m., the 8:41 representing Hulst’s time in the 3,200 that still stands as a Laguna Beach High.

On the sunny day, Hulst seemed to be shining down, as it was a sort of reunion for so many of his former coaches, friends and rivals. Colin McConnell, who ran against Hulst for Edison High in the 1970s, said he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“It’s a good thing,” McConnell said. “People need to be aware of the impact that he had on distance running in Orange County, especially from our era. You were aware of everything he was doing.

“He was the guy.”