May 1968 #1
How do you spell Penn Relays? V-I-L-L-A-N-O-V-A, that's how. The Wildcats dominate with a record five relay wins, the mile, two mile, four mile, distance medley and sprint relay.
Of special note is the continued emergence of Larry James as a quarter mile force. The junior has been progressing nicely this season. In February he won the indoor USTFF 500 in 56.0, only half a second off the WR. In March he won the indoor NCAA 440 in 47.0, the fastest ever run on an 11 lap to the mile track. April 6 saw him run his first out of the blocks 440 since high school when he ran 45.2 in a dual meet with Tennessee*. These were merely steps leading to his performance at Penn where he anchored the Wildcats mile relay team to victory with a blistering 43.9 lap, the fastest ever run by a human being under any circumstances.
Whereas James has suddenly appeared on the world stage, he has been competing in track since he was 11. Obviously, he was an extremely talented prospect when he went out for football as a ninth grader at White Plains HS in New York. One needs to question the wisdom of the freshman coach who played him at left guard. Seeing the futility in getting beat up by big guys, James abandoned further gridiron adventure to concentrate on track. As a senior, he was state champ in the low hurdles (18.7) and placed second in the 300 intermediates (38.0). Then it was off to Sacramento for the Golden West meet where demonstrated his versatility, by triple jumping 48-7 to place fourth. More importantly, he was a key cog on White Plains' national record-setting 880 (1:25.4) and mile relay (3:12.7) teams. All this said, he was only the second best quarter-miler on the team behind Otis Hill.
Dave Patrick anchors the sprint medley, distance medley and the two mile yet neither he nor James is selected the outstanding athlete of the meet.
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Dave Patrick |
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Frank Murphy |
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Ian Hamilton, Charlie Messenger, Frank Murphy, and Dave Patrick after their WR 2 mile relay set earlier in February at the Mason Dixon Games in Louisville. |
Click your heels together three times and say “There's no place like the Drake Relays” and we are in Des Moines where Saint Cloud State senior Van Nelson captivates the crowd with three mile (13:17.4) and six mile (28:22.2) victories.
Texas, anchored by Dave Morton's 45.4, runs 3:05.5, the fastest mile relay in the country this season. Lamar Tech and Ohio, anchored by Randy Clewis (45.6) and Emmett Taylor (45.2) are second and third in 3:07.3 and 3:08.1.
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Van Nelson |
Texas, anchored by Dave Morton's 45.4, runs 3:05.5, the fastest mile relay in the country this season. Lamar Tech and Ohio, anchored by Randy Clewis (45.6) and Emmett Taylor (45.2) are second and third in 3:07.3 and 3:08.1.
Sunday none of this mattered when the news came that the plane carrying the Lamar relay team of Don Delaune, Mike Favazza, Waverly Thomas, Clewis, half-miler John Richardson and coach Ty Terrell had crashed, killing all aboard.
MT. SAC
Continuing west we arrive at the Mt SAC Relays where the highlight is the removal of Jim Ryun as a world record holder. Okay, we're stretching this a bit. Jim was co-owner of a world best, specifically the distance medley. As the DMR is not a recognized WR event, his Kansas team's 9:33.8 was only listed as the fastest ever. As such, it is the target for the Fort McArthur squad of Bob Tobler, Darnell Mitchell, Tom Von Ruden and Preston Davis.
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Bob Tobler |
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Tom Von Ruden |
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Preston Davis |
Randy Matson is up for the challenge of his two closest shot put competitors, Dave Maggard and George Woods. Though not reaching the 70 foot mark that only he had thrown, his 69-1 easily tops Maggard's and Woods' bests of 65-10 and 65-9.
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Randy Matson |
* Here is a
reality check for old timers. That Villanova – Tennessee meet mentioned in the third paragraph drew a crowd of 9200. What would any top collegedual meet draw today? Let's rephrase that sentence to include the words “if dual meets existed today”. Your writer recalls early morning runs with a buddy in which, in addition to world problems, the impending USC – UCLA dual was doped out with the score changing on each run. “Sure, SC has three discus guys with better marks, but the UCLA kid is only four feet behind their second and third guys. If he can get a second, that's a six pointchange.”
The high school event to watch this year is the high jump. On April 20, Compton's Reynaldo Brown clears 7-0½ to break Clarence Johnson's national record by a quarter of an inch. He had a week to bask in the glory of this achievement before Wasco's (CA) Otis Hailey claims the record with a leap of 7-1¾. They won't meet until the state meet. Rest assured, our diligent reporters will be there covering it.
In a previous entry we had discussed the great talent of the Compton and Centennial high schools. Let's put this in perspective. Imagine that you are Pat Bradford. On April 23 Pat jumps 6-11¾ to become.....not state record holder, not district record holder, not school record holder, but #2 guy at Compton High. Oh, and by the way, Compton has a third unnamed kid who has cleared 6-5¾. Wonder if he will letter?
In addition to Hailey's HJ, three other national records have been bettered this season. Bob Bornkessel of Shawnee Mission High in Kansas clipped six tenths from Joe Kurzrok's 37.3 record set in last season's Golden West.
Port Neches of Groves, TX no longer holds the 440 relay record but it hasn't left the state. Fort Worth's Kirpatrick High blazed 41.1 to shave off a tenth.
As long as we are in Texas, let's pay homage to the greatest prep shot putter ever, Sam Walker. The Samuel High (Dallas) senior once again broke his own record with a throw of 72-3¼. How dominant is he? He has now bettered Karl Salb's record of 69-6 six times this season and holds 8 of the 10 all time best marks. Only Salb and Dallas Long (69-3) remain on that list. As we are early in the season, it is likely that by season's end, the top ten will be Sam's exclusive territory.
The second T&FN May issue is coming up soon. A highlight will be the name of that third Compton jumper. Stay tuned.