This Day in Track & Field-January 24, Ted Meredith wins close 600 yards (1917), Ron Clarke wins 3 mile in Oakland, sets WR (1969), Mary Cain sets WJindoor record at mile (2014), by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])

This Day in Track & Field, November 2, Grete Waitz wins her 8th of 9 NYC Marathons (1986)!

This Day in Track & Field, October 31, Frank Shorter’s Birthday!

This Day in Track & Field History, October 30, 2025, Julie Brown sets AR for 5,000 meters ( 1976), compiled, edited and written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field–January 24

1917—Running in front of 10,000 fans in Madison Square Garden, Joie Ray, leading from the gun, won the first of his 7 Wanamaker Mile-and-A Half titles at the Millrose Games. His winning time of 6:45.0 for the popular (at the time) distance was the fastest ever run in the U.S., indoors or outdoors.

After recovering from a recent bout of pneumonia, Ted Meredith held off Joseph Higgins to win the 600-yards in 1:14.6. Meredith was the gold medalist in the 800 meters and the 4×400 relay at the 1912 Olympics.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/01/25/102313996.html?pageNumber=10

1925– Paavo Nurmi was beaten for the first time on his U.S. tour, but he still set two more World Records. Running in a handicap 2000-yard race at the Brooklyn College A.A. meet at the Thirteenth Regiment Armory in Brooklyn, NY, Nurmi finished a step behind countryman Gunnar Nilson, who had a 100-yard head-start but still got credit for new marks at 1-1/8 miles (4:58.0) and 2000y (5:00.8).

However, Nurmi also lost two records, as Ville “Willie” Ritola won the 5000-meters in 14:39.4 to better Nurmi’s 18-day old mark of 14:44.6. Ritola also beat Nurmi’s record for 2-3/4 miles with his en-route time of 13:01.0 and improved his own mark for 3 miles (14:11.6).

Magazine cover of the era featuring Paavo Nurmi

Another world mark was set by a Georgetown lineup of Ed Brooks, Jack Holden, Willie Sullivan, and George Marsters, which won the 2-mile relay in 7:47.4. Fordham’s John Gibson, who would later set a World Record in the 440y-hurdles and would become the coach at Seton Hall (1945-1972), won the 1/4-mile in 52.8.

Other notable winners included Harold Osborn in the High Jump (6-4 [1.93]) and Loren Murchison in the 100-Meters (11.4). Osborn won gold medals in the High Jump AND the Decathlon(!) at the previous year’s Olympics in Paris, while Murchison would win 14 (at least- still checking) Millrose sprint titles.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/01/25/101635808.html?pageNumber=107

1969– Ron Clarke, Australia’s prolific record-breaker, picked up the indoor 3-mile best when he ran 13:12.6 in Oakland, California.

Ron Clarke. (2024, May 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clarke

1969—Willie Davenport, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m-Hurdles, set a World Indoor Record of 13.5 for the imperial event (120y) in Houston. He would equal the Outdoor Record of 13.2 in the 110m-Hurdles during the summer.

1970– Australia’s Ralph Doubell, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist at 800-meters, set a World Record of 2:05.5 for 1000 yards on Albuquerque’s fast 10-lap board track. The previous mark of 2:06.0 was set in 1962 by New Zealand’s Peter Snell. It was the 2nd year in a row that the fun-loving Doubell (see below) set a record on this track, having set a new standard of 1:47.9 for 880 yards in 1969. Finishing 2nd to Doubell was Kansas State’s Ken Swenson, who set an American Record of 2:07.7. A step behind Swenson was Tom Von Ruden, the previous record holder.

From Sports Illustrated’s Vault:

“Ralph Doubell flew into Los Angeles late last Wednesday afternoon. It had taken 24 sleepless hours to transport his mammoth hangover from Australia to California, which is tough even on an Aussie, and so he forgot about his playboy image and went to bed. Sixteen hours later, the handsome Olympic 800-meter champion arose, worked his way through four bottles of German beer, one Bloody Mary, three glasses of rose’ and 237 pages of Portnoy’s Complaint, and retreated again into the feathers. By Friday, he was feeling much better. Since he was to run the following night in the Sunkist Invitational, he was tapering off with Coke.

“I feel the attitude of American runners about not drinking is extraordinary,” he said. Then, grinning, he added, “Most Australians do. Last Friday, I went out with my coach, and we got stoned on champagne. Of course, you can’t do that all the time, about once every fortnight.”

Sports Illustrated Vault:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1970/01/26/bubbles-and-bounces

1976—Poland’s Władysław Kozakiewicz cleared 17-11 ¾ (5.48) in Warsaw to set a World Indoor Record in the Pole Vault.

1976– Clifton Perry (Menchville, VA) ran 1:10.0 at the Navy Invitational to set the still-standing high school record for 600 yards. Perry’s mark might last forever since the event is rarely contested.

2004– Past and future stars were present at NY’s Armory for the New Balance Games, which featured a great duel between high schoolers Galen Rupp and Josh McDougal in a special 2-mile. Here’s what I wrote in Eastern Track at the time:

“With more than a dozen Hall of Famers (including Armory veterans Al Oerter, John Carlos, Larry James, and Bob Beamon) were on hand for the official opening of the National T&F Hall of Fame, and potential future candidates running on the track, it was a great day to be a track fan in NY.

(From the NY Times: There were 17 of the 197 members of the Hall. In the back row on the stage during the ceremony, Frank Shorter sat between Mal Whitfield and Alberto Salazar. To their left, Al Oerter sat between Billy Mills and Coach Mel Rosen.

Jim Beatty, Chandra Cheeseborough, John Carlos, Bob Beamon, the racewalker Ron Laird, Grete Waitz, and Hal Davis were there, as were three Villanova heroes: Don Bragg, Larry James, and Charlie Jenkins. The widows of Mike Larrabee and Greg Rice also attended.”)

After the HOF ceremonies were completed, the elite portion of the meet took center stage, beginning with the H.S. Girls mile. With Saratoga Springs teammate Nicole Blood warming up for the Elite Women’s Mile, Lindsey Ferguson set the pace through the first 3/4 (71.1, 2:27.2, 3:41.7), with most of the field staying close.

On the last lap, Laura Cummings and Heather Iatauro waged a great battle, with Iatauro just getting the nod at the finish (4:53.79-4:53.82).

Next up was the Elite Women’s Mile, which was won for the 2nd year in a row by Great Britain’s Hayley Tullett, who ran 4:27.28, the fastest time in the world this year. Running her own race in the back of the pack was Saratoga soph Nicole Blood, who went through splits of 68.5, 2:19.1, and 3:34.2 before finishing up in 4:48.82, a personal best and the fastest girls’ prep time of the year.

Then came the NY Road Runners “Record Challenge” 2-mile. There had been some pre-meet talk on the internet about Oregon’s Galen Rupp going after Gerry Lindgren’s legendary 40-year old H.S. Record of 8:40.0. Still, expectations had been lowered (but not by much) as race time approached.

Adding spice to the mix was the late addition of Josh McDougal, the home-schooled prep from Peru, NY. Rupp and McDougal had finished 2nd and 4th at December’s Foot Locker X-Country Championships, and each had already run a quick mile this season (Rupp-4:10.95, McDougal-4:13.79).

Kenyan Patrick Nthiwa, the eventual winner (8:39.50), was alone in the latter stages of the race, but all eyes were on the “race-within-a-race”.

With marathon legends (and Hall of Famers) Alberto Salazar (Rupp’s coach) and Frank Shorter cheering them on from trackside, Rupp led McDougal by a step or two through most of the race (64.7.2:10.8, 3:16.6, 4:23.4, 5:29.4, 6:36.3) before McDougal went ahead with a 1/4-mile to go (7:44.9).

McDougal pulled away from his West Coast rival in the final two laps and finished at 8:50.40, easily breaking Brian Dalpiaz’s 1-year-old Armory and NY State Record of 9:01.92. His time was also faster than John Gregorek’s NY outdoor record of 8:50.7 (1978). Rupp finished well in 8:54.45.”

McDougal would later outdo Rupp in a memorable battle at the 2007 NCAA X-Country Championships. While injuries cut short McDougal’s career, Rupp, the silver medalist in the 10,000-meters at the 2012 Olympics, and the bronze medalist in the marathon in 2016, is now one of the world’s best distance runners.”

And then there was the H.S. boys mile, one of the best high school races this “old-timer” has ever seen. Hakon DeVries, who had run 4:14.36 on this track two weeks earlier at the Hispanic Games, had said that he wanted to run 4:10 and was willing to set the pace himself if necessary.

True to his word, DeVries gapped the field with quick splits of 59.8 and 2:04.9. The rest of the pack was now closing in on DeVries. Steve Hallinan and Jeremy Zagorski took the lead right before the 3/4-mile split (3:10.8), and it looked like DeVries would be swallowed up by the chasing pack, but he hung in there and maintained his position near the front.

Despite the fast pace, at least 9 runners were still in contention with a lap to go. With the crowd on its feet and Hall of Famers looking on, they roared down the backstretch, with the outcome in doubt. Zagorski looked like a winner heading into the home stretch, but the never-say-die DeVries went by him, only to be passed by Gavin Coombs right at the finish. The final official times for the top two (4:11.35-4:11.38) don’t reflect how close they were at the line.

There have been faster H.S. races at the top, but there has never been an indoor H.S. race that saw so many athletes run so fast. (six sub-4:13, eight sub-4:16, eleven sub-4:20). As far as I can tell, the 6th-11th placers ran the fastest times ever for those positions.”

1. Gavin Coombs (Griswold, CT) 4:11.35

2.Hakon Devries (John Jay-E.Fishkill,NY) 4:11.38

3. Jeremy Zagorski (Parsippany Hills, NJ) 4:11.87

4. Kevin Tschirhart (Northport, NY) 4:12.69

5. Steve Hallinan (Cardinal O’Hara, Pa) 4:12.72

6. Andre Silva (Middle Country, NY) 4:12.86

7. Chris McCabe (Fordham Prep, NY) 4:14.86

8.Ari Zamir (Ridgewood,NJ) 4:15.73

9.Will Melfochic (CBA Lincroft,NJ) 4:17.53

10. Eric Giddings (South Portland, ME) 4:17.74

11. Carmen Cavella (Washington TWP, NJ) 4:19.74

Dyestat Coverage(Includes photos of the 2-mile race)

https://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/index.htm

Stars Come Out

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/sports/track-and-field-stars-come-out-for-hall-of-fame-dedication-at-armory.html

Donna (Dye) On The Side (Great Photos)

Hall of Fame: http://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/donna-fame/index.htm

Meet: http://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/donna/index.htm

2009– Oklahoma State freshman German Fernandez ran 3:56.50 in Fayetteville to set a World Junior Indoor Record in the Mile.

https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/german-fernandez-runs-fastest-ever-junior-ind

http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=3666751

Results: https://www.flashresults.com/2009_Meets/indoor/RazorbackInvite/index.htm

2014– Mary Cain, a Bronxville(NY) H.S. senior, won the mile at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University in 4:24.11 (#5 All-Time U.S./at the time). She got credit for an American Junior Indoor Record (missed the World Junior Record by .01s!) but not an H.S. Record since she had already signed a professional contract. However, she remained the H.S. Record holder since she ran 4:28.25 the year before as a junior! She also set an American Junior Indoor Record of 4:06.63 for 1500 meters en route.

Finishing 2^nd to Cain was Dartmouth senior Abbey D’Agostino, who ran 4:28.31 for the mile and 4:09.77 for 1500 meters, a Collegiate Record at the time! Her mile time was the =3rd-fastest by a collegian at the time. 3^rd in the race was early leader Jordan Hasay, Cain’s training partner, in 4:28.37.

www.letsrun.com/news/2014/01/mary-cain-just-misses-world-indoor-junior-mile-mark-01-sets-new-American-record-424-11/

http://www.runblogrun.com/2018/12/mary-cain-reconsidered-1.html

2015—It had already been an exciting season for the College Women’s Pole Vault. Arkansas senior Sandi Morris had set a Collegiate Indoor Record of 15-1 ½ (4.61) on January 16, while Demi Payne, a junior at S.F. Austin, topped that a day later by clearing 15-2 ¼ (4.63) at Texas A&M in front of her family. That mark bettered the outdoor record of 15-1 ½, set by Arkansas’ Tina Sutej in 2011.

Payne put an exclamation point on the season (at least as far as marks go) by setting two “absolute” Collegiate Records on this date in Albuquerque, first clearing 15-3 (4.65) and then an incredible 15-7 (4.75). Only legends Jenn Suhr and Stacy Dragila had ever vaulted higher among Americans. (Morris gained revenge by winning the NCAA Indoor title in March, with Payne heightening… Payne would beat Morris to win the NCAA Outdoor title). Both made it to the World Championships in Beijing, Morris tying for 4^th place, while Payne didn’t make the final.

Morris had won silver medals at the 2016 Olympics, the 2016 World Indoor Championships, and the 2017 World Outdoor Championships before winning gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. She added two more silvers to her collection at the 2019 and 2022 Worlds.

At the time, Payne was a junior at Kansas (with a best of 13.10/4.22). Her 2013 season ended early when she found out she was pregnant. The Texas native moved back home to be closer to her family and receive their support during her pregnancy.

She gave birth to her daughter Charlee Taylor on October 22, 2013, and enrolled at Stephen F. Austin. With the

encouragement of her father, she was back training five days after giving birth!

Her dad is Bill Payne, an All-American vaulter at Baylor who competed at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden (Didn’t make the final) and had a best of 19-2 ¾ [5.86/1991]).

Post-script: Payne was hit with a 4-year ban after testing positive for a banned substance in March 2016.

2015 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wk3GOObTCA

http://www.newsweek.com/sandi-morris-and-demi-payne-pole-vaulting-342192

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hopOOQYPcM

2021—Ryan Crouser opened his 2021 season in a big way by setting a World Indoor Record of 74-10 ½ (22.82) in the first round of the Shot Put at the American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The previous mark of 74-4 ¼ (22.66) was set by Randy Barnes in 1989. Crouser also had a 2^nd mark that surpassed Barnes’s record: 74-5 ¾ (22.70).

Ryan Crouser won and holds the world lead in the shot put, 22.80m. Photo by Kevin Morris, 2024 USATF Indoor Championships.

Crouser would later get the Outdoor World Record with his toss of 76-8 ¼ (23.37) at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June and would win his 2^nd Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in August. (He would later win World titles in 2022 & 2023 and a 3^rd Olympic title in 2024, as well as improving the WR to 77-3 ¾ [23.56] in 2023).

Grant Holloway won the 60m-Hurdles in 7.35 to equal his own American Record. He set a World Record 7.29 the following month and won the silver medal in the 110m-Hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics. He would win his 2^nd & 3^rd World outdoor titles in 2022 & 2023 and Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.

https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/ryan-crouser-shot-put-world-indoor-record

World Record Video

Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57rqdlFZC0g

Significant Birthdays

Born On This Day*

Twanisha “Tee Tee” Terry 26 (1999) 2024 Olympic gold medalist—4×100… 5^th in the 100

Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas, Sha’Carri Richardson

2019 NCAA Indoor Champion-60m (USC/2021-2nd)

2-time NCAA Champion-4×100 (2019, 2021)

3-time finalist in the NCAA 100-2018 (3^rd), 2019 (3^rd), 2021 (2nd/200-5^th)

2-time World Champion-4×100 (2022, 2023), semi-finalist in the 100m in 2022

2014 National Scholastic Champion- 100 m