CONLEY MEET BRIEF HISTORY

Doug Conley was a 1966 graduate of Tempe High school. He graduated from ASU in 1971 and started teaching at Tempe High that same year and became a math teacher and cross country coach. In 1973, he wanted a way to showcase the best high school cross country teams in the state of Arizona. He came up with the idea of hosting an invitational where only the best teams in Arizona would be invited. With the cooperation of the local newspaper, the Tempe Daily News (now The East Valley Tribune) , he arranged for this meet and it was called The Tempe Daily News Invitational. It was held at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tempe. The winning team that year was Tempe High and the individual winner was David Shootz from Amphitheater High in Tucson. (Girls started running the Conley Meet in 1981, the same year Conley started the girls' cross country program at Tempe High. The first winning team was Sahuaro of Tucson and the winning girl was Leslie Heywood of Amphitheater.)

Doug's cross country team at Tempe High in 1973 won the state title and was ranked second in the U.S by Track and Field News . His 1974 team was 9 th in the state and 7 th in the U.S., his 1975 team was 9 th in AZ and 13 th in the nation and his 1976 team was 5 th at state and 20 th in the U.S.

Doug Conley was killed in a tragic auto accident in 1981 and shortly after his death, the meet name was changed to the Doug Conley Invitational.

Dave Shapiro started assisting with the Conley Meet in 1979. He was the editor of the Arizona Cross Country Newsletter and assisted Doug in choosing the teams to be invited and in hosting the meet. He still is the athletic director and cross country coach at Chandler High.

Jim Wehrman became the Tempe High cross country coach in 1985 and, along with Dave Shapiro, was co-meet director through 2004. He left Tempe High after coaching the cross country boys for 20 years. Because of their long service with the Conley Meet, the nonvarsity boys' race was named the Dave Shapiro Race and the girls' nonvarsity race was named the Jim Wehrman Race starting in 2007. Both of them are still very interested in the Conley Invitational and attend the meet on a regular basis.