San Diego Player of the Week : Davis Star Rises No Matter the Role

SAN DIEGO —  When Marc Davis goes to college, he wants to study either astronomy or astrophysics.

That’s appropriate because Davis is a star in so many ways at San Diego High School.

He currently is playing a role in the school’s production of “Death of a Salesman” and has been promised the male lead in the spring play. He also is the drummer in the pep band, called “Ground 0.”

However, Davis’ star is at its brightest when he is running . . . and little does it matter whether it is cross-country or on the track.

Davis, The Times’ Player of the Week, won his second straight individual sweepstakes at Saturday’s Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, one of Southern California’s biggest high school cross-country meets.

Davis’ winning time of 15:08 was 10 seconds slower than last year, but he was suffering from the flu last weekend.

“He got ill at school Friday,” said Ed Ramos, Davis’ coach. “I was worried he might not do so well.”

He still finished nine seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

“After I got ill, I wasn’t looking at a record, I was just looking to make sure I won,” Davis said. “I knew if I was well I could do a lot better.”

The meet Davis really wants to win is the Kinney Nationals, which will be Dec. 13 at Morley Field.

“I get out there every night and when I see my lucky star, I wish upon that star that I’m going to win that thing,” he said. “I’ve got to win that championship.”

Davis finished eighth last year, but he was first among juniors. That figures to make him this year’s favorite.

Davis started running in eighth grade when he lived in Oceanside and his school had fun runs on Fridays. When he moved to Mission Hills and attended Roosevelt Junior High, he ran through Balboa Park as a part of physical education class.

He finished first.

Davis arrived unheralded as a sophomore at San Diego High.

“I didn’t know what I had,” Ramos said. “He just kept running harder. About the third week of practice, I thought, ‘This guy’s awesome. This guy has a lot of potential.’ ”

When Davis realized he wanted to excel at running, he put his heart into it.

“The summer before my sophomore year, I did like a mini-triathlon every day,” he said. “In the morning, I rode my bike to the beach, about 10 miles. I surfed all morning and swam all day and then I ran about five miles, and at night I’d ride back home, 10 miles.”

The training he did that summer resulted in winning the 1-A individual championship that fall.

“He’s a very gifted, get-involved, enthusiastic athlete,” Ramos said. “In races, he’ll come in and finish and it’s always No. 1, and he’ll go back a quarter to a half mile down the course and cheer on the rest of the team. He’s got all that energy and stamina, it seems he could run almost forever.”

Though successful, he’s not selfish. At the Mt. Carmel Invitational the past two years, Davis has declined to run in the individual race. Instead, he has run with his teammates. Each time San Diego placed second.

“I’m really proud of him,” Ramos said. “Our school has had a negative reputation about being a rough school and a bad school and has had a bad image in sports that we don’t do very hot, don’t care maybe. He’s brought a lot of positive recognition as well as pride for our school.”

Next year, Davis will move to a college where he can study the stars.

“I used to be into the signs,” Davis said. “Now I’m just into the star part of it.”

Marc Davis

San Diego High

Sport: Cross-Country

Class, Age: Sr., 16

Last Week: Won the Individual Sweepstakes race, for the second straight year, at the Mt. San Antonio College Cross-Country Invitational with a 15:08 over the 3-mile course.