March 8, 2017 (4th paragraph updated on Sept. 30, 2021)

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -

In 1973, two Western Washington University (then Western Washington State College) student-athletes set school outdoor track and field records that still stand heading into the spring of 2017.  (Vorce record was broken on Apr. 5, 2025)

Mike Vorce, then a junior, ran the men's 440-yard hurdles in 51.9 seconds; and Wendy Taylor, a senior, ran the women's 100-meter hurdles in 13.7 seconds.

When imperial records (English, yards) were abolished in 1976, Vorce's time became Western's 400-meter standard because the 440-yard race he ran was more than two meters longer, equivalent to a 51.6 400-meter time.

Now, 48 years later, those times remain the oldest on the Vikings' records list, just one years behind the school's all-time record for longevity.

Western's longest-standing record was 49 years. In 1966, John Hunt went 24-feet, 3/4-inches in the men's long jump, a standard that stood until 2015 when Brett Watson leaped 24-1 3/4.

Both Taylor and Vorce were later inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame, Taylor in 1980 and Vorce in 1983.

Mike Vorce

Vorce made four trips to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national track and field championships to compete in the 440-yard hurdles, placing fourth in 1972 (52.2), third in 1973 (51.9) and second in 1974 (52.2). The 1972 event, held in Billings, Mont., was televised on CBS Sports Spectacular.

At that time, the competition at the NAIA nationals was intense as numerous black athletes went to member schools of that organization because they were not admitted in large numbers to a majority of NCAA Division I institutions. Also, athletes from foreign countries who were too old to compete under NCAA rules were able to run at NAIA schools without restriction, further upping the competitive level.

Vorce's 51.9 clocking came at the 1973 nationals on May 26 at Arkadelphia, Ark. He led in that race up to the final barrier, which he hit and nearly fell.

At 5-foot-10, Vorce lacked the height that most top intermediate hurdlers possess. But he made up for that with an overpowering competitive mindset, able to drive himself past the limitations of pain and fatigue.

Basically, Vorce just needed to know who he had to beat to win the race and, no matter the odds, he would do whatever was necessary to achieve that.

Following a race, Vorce would often fall to the ground totally spent.

"Mike was unequaled when it came to guts," said Western head coach Dick Bowman, who coached Vorce from 1971 to 1973 (passed away on June 27, 2013). "He doesn't know defeat. It doesn't seem to matter how far behind he is, he always seems to find a way to catch up."

Ralph Vernacchia, who coached Vorce his senior year at WWU, said, "I still think his most amazing performance was a 14.3 in the (120-yard) high hurdles in 1974 ... You had to see him compete and race to believe it!"

That time was the school record in the 110-meter hurdles for 41 years.

Vorce came to Western from Murdock, a little town located along the Columbia River in the southwestern part of Washington State. There he attended Lyle High School, a Class B institution with an enrollment of 100 students.

At LHS, Vorce lettered three years in football, basketball, baseball and track. As a senior, he won both the 120-yard high hurdles and the 180-yard low hurdles at the 1969 Class A state meet.

Western played host to the meet and that played a big part in Vorce's decision to attend the Bellingham-based school.

"I liked the area and the campus when I was up here for the state meet and that had a big effect on my decision," he said.

But, in what may come as a surprise, Vorce did not intend to run track at Western. Rather, he wanted to play baseball for the Vikings.

"Baseball was my first love," explained Vorce, "but I learned the coach had his team pretty much picked, so I got to know a couple guys on the track team and began working out, although I did not compete in any meets (my first year)."

As a redshirt freshman in 1971, Vorce won the first of four straight Evergreen Conference titles and, though failing to place, made the first of four consecutive trips to nationals.

How did the hurdles become Vorce's event of choice?

"Well, I'm too slow to be a sprinter, not fast enough in the distance races, and I've always been a good hurdler," said Vorce in a 1974 interview. "Plus, I'm strong, have good endurance and a fair amount of quarter-mile speed."

And hurdling just came naturally to Vorce.

"The rhythm is most important," he explained. "You don't jump a hurdle, rather you run over it without interrupting your motion."

"Probably the most important thing in running the intermediates is getting your steps down correctly. Some taller runners can go with only 13 steps between hurdles. I take 15 for all except the two on the final turn when I needed 16. The main thing is keeping a continuous step."

But what the bearded and bespectacled Vorce liked most about the event was the challenge it presented. He calls the 440 hurdles the most physically demanding event in track.

"You have to enjoy working hard to run it," Vorce said. "It's a grueling race and unbelievably tiring."

And what was it about track that set it apart from other sports for Vorce?

"Basically its individuality," he said. "It's your inner self creating. This gives a great feeling of freedom because when I run, I don't hold anything back."

Vorce credited assistant coach Marty Walsh with teaching him how to train correctly and Bowman for helping him with technique.

When Vorce completed his eligibility, he was the school record holder in the 440-yard intermediate hurdles, 120-yard high hurdles (14.3) and 440-yard relay (42.6).

A student at Huxley, one of Western's cluster colleges, Vorce majored in environmental education and graduated in 1974.

Vorce traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., where he ran for the Knoxville Track Club with his sights set on competing at the 1976 Olympics.

But, a year later, he returned to Lyle where he built houses, worked at the local lumber mill for 14 years, then at a sports auction house. Since 1997, Vorce has been an assistant track coach at LHS. He drove school bus and did groundskeeping at the school until retiring, except for coaching, in 2016. He and wife Luella raised two sons at their home in the Lyle area.

Vorce has played softball for the last 40 years, competing most recently at the Senior World Championships in Las Vegas. He continued to run hurdle races until age 58.

A good life for a kid from a little town (Murdock) with no zip code.

Wendy Taylor (Charney)

Taylor was a first-team Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) All-American in 1973. That year she placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a meet record time of 14.2 seconds at the AIAW national championships (Hayward, Calif.). She also ran a leg on Western's 880-yard medley relay team that placed fourth.

Her school-record clocking of 13.7 (wind-aided) came earlier that season at the University of Washington Invitational on Apr. 14, 1973.

Taylor also was first at the Northwest College Women's Sports Association Regional Championships in both 1972 (meet record 14.1), when she finished third (14.5) at nationals, and 1973.

Taylor set four school records at Western, including the 100-yard dash (11.0), 100-meter hurdles (13.7), shot put (35-9 1/2) and 880-yard medley relay (1:50.8).

Taylor, who was inducted into the Abbotsford Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, also was outstanding on the international stage. She placed sixth in the 100 hurdles at the World Games held in Moscow in 1973 and third at the USA-USSR meet held at Berkeley, Calif., in 1971. She also competed in the Pan American Games in 1971 and the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970 and 1974. She won a gold medal at the Canada Games in 1969 and placed first at the Canadian Senior Championships in 1972 and 1973.

At one time, Taylor held the Canadian 100 hurdle record of 13.8.

Taylor chose to attend Western for two reasons. One, it had a first-class education program as she wanted to teach (her mother was the director of primary education in Abbotsford), and two, with women's athletics at Western just coming into existence, she could commute from her hometown of Abbotsford, B.C., and be coached by Gerry Swan, a former Western track athlete who coached her in high school and directed the Valley Royals Track Club.

Taylor did not compete seriously in track and field until she was in grade 10 at Abbotsford Secondary School.

"I was in his (Swan's) class room and one day in January, he said, `Bring your gym gear tomorrow morning, we're going to be doing some running after school.' And it started from there," recalled Taylor.

"I don't think that I hurdled in Grade 10, so he must have seen something and once he became my coach, I was a hurdler from that day on."

Taylor was a hard worker and enjoyed weight training, which was just coming into its own at that time. The strength she gained from that became her greatest asset, according to Swan, and her cut-down over the hurdles was exceptionally good for women at that time.

In her first year of training, Taylor was a B.C. high school champion in the 80-meter hurdles and went on to medal at the Canadian Youth Championships.

"Wendy was a serious girl and one who took her training very seriously," said Swan. "She was well liked by her friends and teammates on the various teams that she was part of. I would term her a quiet leader. She was a good competitor, although, I am not sure that she really enjoyed the competitive side of the sport."

"I didn't like competition," admitted Taylor. "I liked the training, but I didn't like competing because I just didn't have that self-confidence ... Now all of these athletes have their own psychologists."

"One time, I believe it was in Ottawa, I didn't want to run. So, I didn't warm up and I had a hot dog about a half hour before I ran because I was going to false start. That was my plan. Well, I didn't false start and I had one of my best races ever because I didn't have to think about the race. So, I was not aggressive. I'm much more aggressive competitively now (in bicycling) than I ever was when I was competing back then."

Following high school graduation, Taylor attended Trinity Western University where she sustained a serious lower leg injury that required surgery. Because of that injury, she had to change her lead leg, but was still good enough to win the Canadian Junior Indoor championship.

After graduating from Western in 1974, Wendy married Lloyd Charney. They moved to Merritt, B.C., where they raised two children. She taught at Merritt Secondary for a short time before leaving to manage properties the couple had purchased. Lloyd was a long-time teacher and coach at Merritt Secondary.

"My husband and I ride our bikes every day," said Taylor-Charney. "I used to run, but my knees got a little tender, so now we bike about 22 kilometers every day. Last year in Bampf we did a 50k, and this year we're going to do an 80k in the Okanogan. So, we're into biking every day."

"When we were walking the sea wall in Vancouver, if we saw someone in front of us doing a good clip, we'd make him our target. I think about that now. If I'd had that competitive attitude when I was in track it would have been so much better. But that's the way it goes."

Viking hurdle greats never met

Despite attending and competing at the same school for two years, Vorce and Taylor never met. At that time, with women's athletics just starting at Western, the Viking men's and women's track and field athletes practiced and competed separately. And Taylor was commuting and working out primarily in Abbotsford.

By Paul Madison who served 48 years as sports information director at WWU from 1966 to 2015