Athletics at the 1978 Southern Cross Games explained

Athletics events at the 1978 Southern Cross Games were held at the Estadio Olímpico Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia in November. The stadium was one of the first in South America equipped with a synthetic track. A total of 35 events were contested, 22 by men and 13 by women.

Best performances were by Luis Schneider from Chile winning four gold medals (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay), by native Johnny Pérez from Bolivia winning three gold medals (1500 m, 5000 m, and 3000 m steeplechase), by Ivonne Neddermann from Argentina winning two gold (long jump, 4×100 m relay), two silver (100 m hurdles, pentathlon) and one bronze medal (shot put), and finally by Nancy Vallecilla from Ecuador winning two gold (100 m hurdles, pentathlon), one silver (400 m), and one bronze medal (long jump). She was awarded the unofficial title of "Queen of the Games" (Spanish: Reina de los Juegos).

Medal summary

Medal winners were published in a book written by Argentinian journalist Ernesto Rodríguez III with support of the Argentine Olympic Committee (Spanish: Comité Olímpico Argentino) under the auspices of the Ministry of Education (Spanish: Ministerio de Educación de la Nación) in collaboration with the Office of Sports (Spanish: Secretaría de Deporte de la Nación). Eduardo Biscayart supplied the list of winners and their results. All results are marked as "affected by altitude" (A), because the stadium in La Paz is situated 3,650 metres above sea level.

Men

100 metres	Luis Schneider	10.70 A	José Luis Elías	10.77 A	Gustavo Dubarbier	10.78 A
200 metres	Luis Schneider	21.4 A	Ricardo Donda	21.5 A	José Luis Elías	21.6 A
400 metres	Patricio Valenzuela	48.31 A	Felipe Mascaró	49.08 A	Roberto Prado	49.12 A
800 metres	Omar Andematen	1:56.68 A	Álvaro Cortez	1:57.22 A	Felipe Mascaro	1:57.51 A
1500 metres	Johnny Pérez	4:11.56 A	Pedro Foronda	4:12.72 A	Abel Godoy	4:14.09 A
5000 metres	Johnny Pérez	15:54.33 A	Luis Tipán	15:56.54 A	Lucio Guachalla	16:18.14 A
10,000 metres	Luis Tipán	33:28.14 A	Lucio Guachalla	34:11.62 A	Rufino Chávez	34:30.27 A
110 m hurdles	Alfredo Piza	14.64 A	Rodolfo Iturraspe	15.04 A	Francisco Fuentes	15.42 A
400 m hurdles	Alfredo Piza	53.26 A	Rodolfo Iturraspe	54.53 A	Guillermo Gago	56.08 A
3000 m steeplechase	Johnny Pérez	9:53.08 A	Luis Tipán	10:07.39 A	Norberto Limonta	10:34.24 A
4 × 100 metres relay		40.35 A	Jorge Ullanque José Torrico Roberto Prado Ernesto Roca	40.91 A	Daniel Díaz Antuña Ricardo Donda Carlos Gagliano Eduardo Labalta	41.05 A
4 × 400 metres relay		3:18.48 A	Daniel Díaz Antuña Guillermo Gago Carlos Gagliano Rodolfo Iturraspe	3:18.73 A	Roberto Prado Edgar Aguayo Freddy Bustamante Freddy Torrico	3:18.78 A
20 kilometres walk	Oswaldo Morejón	1:56:13 A	Esteban Quelale	1:56.49 A	Víctor Sánchez	2:08.05 A
High jump	Daniel Mamet	2.18 A	Luis Arbulú	2.05 A	Víctor Migliaro	2.00 A
Pole vault	Roberto Steinmetz	4.60 A	Alejandro Jadresic	4.20 A	Andrés Vicuña	4.00 A
Long jump	Francisco Pichot	7.47 A	Alex Kapch	7.46 A	Ronald Raborg	7.25 A
Triple jump	Francisco Pichot	16.27 A	Carlos Gagliano	15.66 A	Oscar Aguirre	13.47 A
Shot put	José Alberto Vallejo	14.46 A	Héctor Rivero	14.11 A	Miro Ronac	11.63 A
Discus throw	Héctor Rivero	47.10 A	José Alberto Vallejo	46.76 A	Eduardo Vieira	43.68 A
Hammer throw	José Alberto Vallejo	63.90 A	Daniel Gómez	62.38 A	Miro Ronac	33.26 A
Javelin throw	Angel Garmendia	70.70 A	Miro Ronac	60.04 A
Decathlon	Roberto Steinmetz	6624 A	Alejandro Silva	6597 A

Women

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100 metres	Beatriz Allocco	11.73 A	Carmela Bolívar	11.83 A	Isabel Alemán	12.06 A
200 metres	Beatriz Allocco	22.94 A	Carmela Bolívar	23.55 A	Isabel Alemán	24.57 A
400 metres	Alejandra Ramos	56.68 A	Nancy Vallecilla	59.05 A	Blanca Ibáñez	59.17 A
800 metres	Ana María Nielsen	2:15.85 A	Mery Rojas	2:19.03 A	Laura Méndez	2:20.73 A
1500 metres	Ana María Nielsen	4:57.12 A	Laura Méndez	5:08.58 A	Trinidad Guerra	5:11.7 A
100 m hurdles	Nancy Vallecilla	13.80 A	Ivonne Neddermann	14.34 A	Emilia Dyrzka	14.74 A
4 × 100 metres relay		46.06 A				46.94 A
High jump	Elizabeth Huber	1.75 A	Laura Ragas	1.65 A	Ximena Mesa	1.65 A
Long jump	Ivonne Neddermann	6.05 A	Ximena Mesa	5.97 A	Nancy Vallecilla	5.90 A
Shot put	Patricia Weber	12.91 A	Lorena Prado	12.49 A	Ivonne Neddermann	12.10 A
Discus throw	Lucy Ascune	39.72 A	Lorena Prado	38.12 A	Elizabeth Garnica	31.02 A
Javelin throw	Ana María Campillay	46.72 A	Elizabeth Guernica	36.78 A	Elizabeth Huber	31.18 A
Pentathlon	Nancy Vallecilla	3798 A	Ivonne Neddermann	3625 A	Ariana Salas	3103 A