By 1974 St Kevin's had long since passed the bleak early and mid 1960's and the mediocrity of the late 1960's and early 1970's. It had a competitive Senior team of young talented athletes and a full range of Junior teams brim full of talent to keep the Seniors supplied for years to come. A competitive base had been established at University where the other A.P.S Old Collegian clubs were also based and it was a situation with which the club felt comfortable. However, the V.A.A sought to expand its competitive venues and in 1974-75 Clubs were redistributed as a result. Old Scotch went to Heidelberg, Old Xaverians to Box Hill and St Kevin's to Sandringham. This, along with injuries to key athletes, proved a real hiccup in the Club's progress. Sandringham was a far from appealing venue, it was miles from the Club's main recruiting area, served poorly by transport, affected badly by wind and the track surface was just slightly softer than the road running beside it. The two seasons at Sandringham saw the Club struggle in every team and B Grade's 3rd placing in 1975-76 was our only finals appearance at the beachside venue. John Cox won the Syd James trophy in 1974-75 to become the award's ninth different recipient in its first nine years.

Highlights of the first season at Sandringham were the win of Peter Bourke in the Victorian U-17 1500m championship, the performances of John Higham in the 800m and 400m and Ray Mooney's Decathlon performances. John, in his last season with the Club, on consecutive December nights against an international field took the 400m record to 47.3 and the 800m to 1:47.6. John would transfer to the M.U.A.C Club to gain better standards of competition in his bid to make the 1976 Montreal Olympic team. Amazingly, John had done no better than to win the A.P.S B Division Open 880 yards at school in 1969 yet would represent Oceania at the World Cup; Australia at the Pacific Conference Games; be selected for the 1980 Moscow Olympics; be Australian 400m Champion in 1977-78 and 800m Champion in 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79; and have the best times of 400m - 45.9 and 800m - 1:45.6.

Ray Mooney's best ever Decathlon came in the summer of 1975-76 with his 6728 points (1963 tables) to take the silver medal in the Victorian Championships.

One outstanding run came to an end at the end of 1975 and that was Jack Baker's unbroken run as Club Delegate to the V.A.A's Council that had started in 1948. Up until the mid 1980's the Council met monthly at the old Amateur Sports Club in the city and anyone who had attended one of those meetings will testify to Jack's outstanding commitment in this area.

The Winter of 1975 saw the Club award its first ever Cross-Country Championship trophy with Peter Kehoe being its winner in 1975 and 1976. Len Johnson's first Marathon at the 1976 Victorian Marathon at Point Cook saw him better Frank Devlin's ten year old record with his 2 hour 42 minute 52 second time. His late bloom as a runner would see him progressively lower the Marathon record and set new standards of distance running performance at St Kevin's.

The Club applied successfully to the V.A.A to be relocated to the newly laid track in GlenHuntly for season 1975-76. The committee of the time hoped that the new venue would "offer greater protection from the wind" than Sandringham which would amuse many who would battle the gales in sprint events over the next seven seasons. While not an ideal venue, the GlenHuntly track was certainly better placed to the Club's membership in Waverley, Malvern, Hawthorn, Camberwell and Caulfield. That first season at GlenHuntly would prove pivotal to the Club's future as it finished 2nd in the B Grade final. By finishing runner-up it was invited to join the newly instituted A Reserve grade for season 1977-78.

Season 1977 was a turning point in St Kevin's A.A.C's Winter operations. For the first time, the Club was officially graded for Winter competition. Over the previous six seasons several Club members had made a regular practice of competing in the V.A.A's Cross-Country and Road Racing programme. However, the Club had never taken a serious approach to Winter running, content with the A.P.S.O.C commitment and happy to let diehards enter V.A.A events if they wished. In 1976 this ad hoc approach had resulted in Barry J. Jones, Peter Kehoe, Len Johnson and Frank Devlin winning the E Grade 10km Road Race Championship. In our first officially graded season the Club won the E Grade Sandown Relay and the Club was on its way to its eventual rise to A Grade. Season 1977 was also the Club's best in A.P.S.O.C competition since 1969 with 2nd placings in the Dyson Relay and Jamieson Handicap and 3rd placings at the MacDougall Relay and Cooke-McClelland Shield.

There had been some dissatisfaction with the Club's image and directions for a time and younger members had progressively taken positions on the committee over three seasons. Wil Williamson was Secretary and New Focus Editor; Peter Griffin was Treasurer; and Peter Kehoe Vice President. Constitutional changes dropped the term "Old Boys" from the Club's name to reflect the reality since foundation: that the Club never has been or never was exclusively for 'Old Boys' of St Kevin's College. The current name, St Kevin's Amateur Athletic Club, was finally settled upon. The names Old St Kevin's A.A.C and St Kevin's Harriers were other options considered. The old navy blue singlet with the green and gold vee which had served the Club since 1944, affectionately referred to as "the truckie singlet", was replaced by the current design. The changes, particularly of the singlet, horrified many long-time members. However, seventeen years later the present uniform is now the Club's traditional strip and staunch resistance would ensue any moves to change it.

A new venue, a new grade, a new name and a new uniform ushered in the 1977-78 Summer season. It was an exciting period for the Club as the A Reserve Grade required the Number one senior team to rotate around the ten numerous interclub venues each Saturday. This Grade was the highest standard of competition St Kevin's had contested for over twenty years. An indication of the talent of the team was the fact that Club records were set that season in ten separate events. The team of this period included:

Sprints: Wil Williamson, Michael Gray, Peter Griffin, Bernie Nolan, Luke Travers, Richard Callanan, Stephen Griffin, Dave Reynolds

Distance: Peter Bourke, Terry O'Halloran, Rob Neylon, Len Johnson, Frank Devlin, John Lewis, Peter Campbell, Andrew Merry

Long & Triple Jumps: Peter Griffin

High Jump: Ian Hurley

Shot Putt: John Allen

Pole Vault: Ray Mooney

Discus: Ray Mooney

Javelin: Ray Mooney

110m Hurdles: Peter Griffin, Wil Williamson, Tim Mahon

400m Hurdles: Peter Griffin, Richard Callanan

Walks: Gavan Bennett

Hammer: Jim Noonan

The team visited a variety of venues: Box Hill, Sandringham, Preston, Doncaster, Aberfeldie, GlenHuntly and Olympic Park. It finished 8th overall and its finest performance was at Box Hill on November 26 1977 when it beat Waverley, Old Scotch and Essendon in the four team competition.

Back at GlenHuntly the C Grade team struggled for numbers to finish 4th in the six team competition. The U-13 team was runner-up to Malvern in the Venue Final and the U-14's 3rd. Regular C Grade competitors of the season included Michael Lewin, Rob Jennings, Pat O'Shea, Keith Lodge, Michael O'Halloran, Barry Jones and Graham Stockdale.

Peter Griffin won his 3rd Syd James trophy and finished 6th in the Victorian Long Jump title. Ray Mooney was 5th and 6th in the Victorian Decathlon and Javelin Titles respectively.

The 1978 Winter season saw further improvement in Cross-Country with Premierships in the V.A.A's E Grade in Cross-Country and Road Racing. John Lewis was to win the first of his five Club Winter Championship awards from Rob Downes and Frank Devlin. Len Johnson was to provide the highlight of the season with his Marathon performances. In May 1978 he ran 2 hours 23 minutes 56 seconds at the Commonwealth Games Selection trial at Point Cook taking over ten minutes off his previous best for the 42.1 kilometre distance. That previous Summer he had set Club records in the 1500m, 5000m, 10000m and 3000m Steeplechase to clearly establish his place as the Club's best performed distance runner to that point. In December 1978 he ventured to Fukuoka Japan to run what was then considered the unofficial World Marathon Championship. His time of 2 hours 19 minutes 30 seconds and placing of 22nd was truly outstanding and world class for its time. Len's improvement over the proceeding four years had been remarkable and came after a school career of moderate athletic success. Fukuoka would be the high point of Len's career and his appearances for the Club after this point would unfortunately be few in number. Len is now better known as The Age newspaper's chief athletics writer; his career in journalism sparked by articles written for the New Focus.

The move to A Reserve Grade had been good and bad for the Club. Competition standards had certainly dragged out the best possible performances from athletes but the rotational nature of the Grade had left the Club fragmented. Much of the administration was tied up in the Senior Grade and juniors seldom got to see the Club's top runners. The taste of A Reserve had also shown several around the Club that they could successfully compete at the next highest level - A Grade. This led to the gradual loss of many young and talented athletes to Clubs that could offer this competitive grade. When the A Reserve Grade team finished 11th in 1978-79, and relegated the following year back to B Grade, the loss of athletes was substantial. The Club's B and C Grade teams at GlenHuntly also struggled with only the juniors showing any form of success.

John Lewis was to dominate Winter 1979 for the Club. He recorded fastest times in the A.P.S.O.C's Basin Handicap, Orchard Handicap and Hare & Hounds. This enabled him to win the inaugural A.P.S.O.C Athlete of the Year; one of only two St Kevin's runners to win this award. During the period 1978-85 John would be the benchmark by which all the Club's Winter performances would be judged as he became the best performed and most successful Cross-Country runner in the mid 1980's. A win at the Sandown Relay in D Grade was a highlight of 1979 as was Peter Kehoe's best ever Marathon performance of 2 hours 39 minutes 10 seconds at Point Cook.

As the 1970's closed the Club found itself on the start of a trough in its Track and Field fortunes after a decade of generally good Summers. The Winter was certainly gradually improving but an A.P.S.O.C victory seemed light years away.