STRIDING TO SUCCESS LOYOLA'S TORRENCE: FOOTBALL DRILLS TO CROSS-COUNTRY HILLS.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

With the start of spring practice only days away and David Torrence set to begin his second season of playing wide receiver in Loyola High's football program, Cubs cross country coach Lalo Diaz sat down the freshman for a conversation that would change the course of his life.

As one of the top distance runners in track that spring, Torrence had demonstrated his talent for the sport. But Diaz also knew the tough task he had of selling Torrence on cross country against the Los Angeles private school's powerhouse football team.

``I just wanted to give him an honest assessment of where his future would be best served,'' Diaz recalled last week. ``I told him that he could either be a J.V. football player or a varsity runner and left it up to him to decide which way he wanted to go.''

In the end, Diaz's pitch worked. After some deliberation, Torrence decided to forgo his football career, one that started alongside Bo Renaud and Rafael Rice - now two of the area's top running backs - on the Cubs' freshman team back in the fall of 1999. With it, he gave up running 10-yard routes for 60-mile weeks.

``I always thought I was going to be one of the starting varsity receivers,'' said Torrence, a Tarzana native. ``I was kind of small, but I was able to use my speed on the field. But it was a good choice and now I'm hooked on running.''

Not once has Torrence regretted his decision - and especially not this season. Loyola's nationally ranked football team has stumbled, losing three of its past five games, at the same time the cross country team has shot all the way to No. 3 in the latest Southern Section Division I rankings.

For the first time, Torrence, now a senior, has found himself fielding questions from some of his old friends on the football team about how the cross country team is doing. The spotlight, according to Diaz and Torrence, is being shared at the school.

``It's always been that football has been the main sport at Loyola,'' Torrence said. ``They're always nationally ranked and state ranked and everything. And cross country has always been sort of the low sport. But right now we're just hoping to represent Loyola well.''

It was only three years ago, however, that Torrence was on the other side. He played flag football growing up and joined Loyola's freshman team after receiving a letter inviting him to try out that summer. Torrence moved into the starting lineup as a freshman, though he never caught a touchdown pass.

Whenever he looks back on it, Torrence also can remember occasionally watching Loyola's cross country team work out during breaks in football practice. There was one question, in particular, that kept Torrence watching and wondering about the school's runners.

``I always thought, `Why would anyone want to race three miles with hills?' '' Torrence said. ``I thought those guys were completely insane. Running was punishment for us. For them, I guess, it was fun.''

But after going out for track in the spring - just to stay in shape for football season - Torrence became a convert to cross country the next fall. Now he is one of Loyola's three senior captains and hopes to run at either UCLA or UC Santa Barbara next fall.

First, however, Torrence would like to lead Loyola to its first-ever berth in the state championships later this month. In Torrence's sophomore season, Loyola missed qualifying for the state meet by just six-tenths of a second. Last year, the Cubs were just shy once again.

For Torrence, there was no one to blame for the team's shortcoming than himself. He clocked a 15:25 in the Mount San Antonio College Invitational as a sophomore - nearly one of the 25 fastest times ever run in that age group - but struggled throughout his junior season.

Almost inexplicably, his Mt. SAC time dipped by 44 seconds. One Internet site even posed the question, ``What happened to David Torrence?'' entering this season. And Torrence took the questioning personally.

``I've tried to put all my frustration from junior year into these races,'' said Torrence, who will lead Loyola in the Southern Section preliminaries Saturday at Mt. SAC. ``This year, I said there was no way I wasn't going to improve on my times.''

As a result, Torrence has gone well beyond just regaining his old form. He ran a 15:14 and finished ninth in the Mt. SAC team sweepstakes last month. Torrence calls it his best race ever.

In addition, Loyola took second in the race by only five seconds to state-championship favorite Long Beach Poly. In the process, the Cubs shattered their school record by 90 seconds and achieved one of the biggest goals of the season.

``I think we still have a long way to go before we realize our potential,'' sophomore Mark Matusak said. ``We still haven't peaked yet.''

Even with all his team's success, though, Torrence sometimes thinks about how close he came to putting on pads for his high school career. He still makes a point of going to Loyola's football games whenever they don't conflict with a meet that weekend.

``I was doing really well, but what convinced me was what Coach Diaz said,'' Torrence said. ``It was a hard choice. If I had gone out for the team again, I'd probably still be playing football. But it was the right choice.''

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Photo:

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Former football player David Torrence is now the leading runner for the Loyola High cross country team.