by RBR Admin
This Day in Track & Field–January 13
1899-Penn senior Walter Tewksbury set a World Record of 6.4 for 60-yards in NY City. He would win 5 medals at the following year’s Olympics in Paris: Gold (200m, 400m-Hurdles), Silver (60m, 100m), Bronze (200m-Hurdles).
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79119
1973–The serious track fan will spare no expense or energy to see a good meet–or two–or three! The CYO Invitational in Maryland was the first of my trifecta of meets this weekend. I left my job on Wall Street early and rushed to the local heliport to hop on a 4pm helicopter that took me to LaGuardia Airport. Took the shuttle flight to Washington,DC, where I had arranged to have a taxi take me to College Park, Maryland, for the CYO meet.
Steve Smith set an American Record of 17-8 ½ (5.40m), Rey Brown (7-1/2.16m, jump-off) beat Dwight Stones and Pat Matzdorf to win the High Jump, and Great Britain’s Ian Stewart, who overtook Steve Prefontaine to win the bronze medal in the 5000-meters at the previous year’s Olympics in Munich, won the 2-mile (8:28.4).
When that meet was over, around 11pm, I worked my way down a hill, past the lovely-smelling Agricultural Department facilities on the University of Maryland campus, to wait for the early-morning Greyhound bus back to NY City.
Bleary-eyed after the long bus ride home, I then drove to West Point to watch the mid-day annual dual meet between Army and Manhattan College (I’m a big fan of the Jaspers). One of the highlights of that meet was watching Manhattan’s Ken McBryde win the Triple Jump with a leap of 50-5 (15.36m). McBryde would finish 3rd at the NCAA Indoor Championships later in the season to help Manhattan win the team title.
Two down, one to go. Next up was a drive to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island to watch the Knights of Columbus meet. Among the winners on the track were Hasely Crawford in the 60y (6.1), Rick Wohlhuter in the 880y (1:53.5), and Byron Dyce in the 1000y (2:10.7–Dave Wottle was 5th—See below!).
However, the biggest story of the night unfolded on the infield during the playing of the National Anthem. With the war in Vietnam still going on, these were still emotional times, and many fans in the stands started booing as at least one member of the Eastern Michigan mile relay team continued his warmup while the Anthem played. The booing continued for almost 30-minutes and led meet officials, citing a rule that calls for the disqualification of any athlete “whose conduct is offensive to spectators…”, to bar the entire team from competing in the relay. Eastern’s coach, Bob Parks, told the NY Times, “I’m as conservative as anyone around. I stand and sing for the anthem. I think the kids should too, and I’m going to give them hell. But why disqualify the whole team? The athlete who did it volunteered to be replaced by a substitute”.
A dramatic ending to what otherwise had been an “excellent adventure” for this tired tracknut, who got a good night’s sleep after the ride home to Queens!
Anthem Reaction: http://tinyurl.com/NYTimesAnthem
For 50 years, Wottle, one of the heroes of the previous year’s Olympics in Munich for his dramatic win in the 800, thought the booing was aimed at him because of his disappointing finish in the 1000. It wasn’t until 2023 that a relieved Wottle found out from former Duke coach Norm Ogilvie, who had attended the meet with his father, told him the real reason for the reaction!
1978–One of the fun things about track and field is that unexpected performance, one that has fans saying to each other, “Where did that come from?”. Such was the case on a snowy night in 1978 in College Park, Maryland, the site of the CYO Invitational, held on Maryland’s 11-lap to the mile board track.
Dick Buerkle, who had been a 4:28 walk-on miler at Villanova, had established himself as a formidable distance runner, ranking #4 in the world at 5000-meters in 1974 and making the 1976 U.S. Olympic team at that distance. But no one, including CYO meet director Bob Comstock, took the bald-headed Buerkle seriously as a miler heading into the 1978 season.
But Buerkle was so confident he was going to run well that he phoned his parents to urge them to come to the meet, telling them he was going to break the World Record in the Mile! And it didn’t faze Buerkle that he would be running on Friday the 13th!
After talking his way into the race, Buerkle fulfilled his promise to Comstock to set a fast pace, much as he had done at the previous week’s Muhammad Ali Inv., when he finished 3rd in the 1500-meters in 3:40.0. Running from the front, and getting pressure from Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi, the former outdoor record holder in the Mile, Buerkle went through splits of 57.2, 1:58.9, and 2:58.3 before finishing off in 3:54.9 (actually 3:54.93) to break Tony Waldrop’s 4-year old world indoor record by .1s. Bayi finished a distant 2nd in 3:58.4.
Buerkle was not the only record breaker at the meet. Canadian Greg Joy won a sensational High Jump battle over diminutive Franklin Jacobs, clearing 7-7 (2.31) to better Dwight Stones’s previous World Indoor Record of 7-6 ½ (2.30). Jacobs cleared a personal best of 7-6 (2.29). There were also two American Records–Mark Belger ran 1:48.1 for a new mark in the 1/2-mile (but was disappointed he didn’t get the World Record), and Joni Huntley broke her own U.S. High Jump record twice, first clearing 6-3 (1.905) and then 6-4 (1.93).
(Thanks to Bob Hersh’s story in the March, 1978, edition of Track & Field News)
TFN Cover Photo https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1978_03.jpg
SI Cover(New Master of the Mile):
Unlikely Record Holder: http://villanovarunning.blogspot.com/2010/01/unexpected-world-record-holder.html
1985–Diana Richburg ran 2:39.28 for 1000-meters in Sherbrooke, Canada, to break her own American Record of 2:40.1. Richburg had competed In the first round of the 1500-meters at the 1984 Olympics in L.A.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77949
1989–Louise Ritter, the surprise gold medalist the year before at the Seoul Olympics, equaled her American Indoor Record of 6-6 (1.98) in the high jump in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/louise-ritter
1996–Idaho State’s Stacy Dragila set the first American Records of her career when she jumped 12-9 (3.89) and then 12-11 ¾ (3.96) on her “home” runway in Pocatello, Idaho.
Dragila, the first woman to win Olympic and World Indoor and Outdoor titles in the event, was inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 2014.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/stacy-dragila
2001–Jumping at the Snake River Open in Pocatello, Dragila became the first woman to clear 15’ indoors (4.57m).
2006–38-year old Pat Manson cleared 18-1/2 (5.50) at the Air Force Academy to extend his incredible streak of having cleared 18-feet to 21 years in a row! (The streak ended in 2007). Manson now conducts pole vault camps in Boulder,CO. www.patmanson.com/
2007–Rutgers, with a lineup of Joe Porter, Bruce Owens, Marcel Coleman, and Rob Waters, ran 1:25.05 in the 4×200 relay at Penn State to break Arkansas’ Collegiate Record of 1:25.18. (Penn State lowered the record to 1:24.70 in 2013)
2017—Lake Braddock (Va), with senior Kate Murphy running a 4:37.9 anchor, set a U.S. High School Record of 11:34.54 in the Distance Medley at the Virginia Showcase in Lynchburg. (Shannon Browning 3:41.1, Skyla Davidson 59.2, Samantha Schwers 2:16.3, Kate Murphy 4:37.9).
Sophomore Tyrese Cooper (American,FL) won the 300 in 33.03 to break Michael Cherry’s 4-year old National Record of 33.05. He would lower the record to 32.87 later in the season. (Brian Herron/Lakeside,GA ran 32.64 in 2018)
Murphy, who ran 4:07.21 for 1500-meters as a junior in 2016, would sit out her entire freshman year at Oregon in 2018 and has since “medically retired”. (Hasn’t competed since 2017)
From the MileSplit article (August,2018) linked below:
“But a rare vascular condition–popliteal artery entrapment syndrome–limited Murphy’s final season of high school track. Last September, she had surgery to remove the popliteus muscles in both of her knees, along with a section of her right calf muscle. But a rare vascular condition–popliteal artery entrapment syndrome–limited Murphy’s final season of high school track. Last September (2017), she had surgery to remove the popliteus muscles in both of her knees, along with a section of her right calf muscle.”
DMR Video(last 2 laps): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97FshY3Q7Mw
2017—Oklahoma State’s Kaela Edwards ran 2:40.79 in Lincoln, Nebraska, to set a Collegiate Record for 1000-meters. (Since broken, still #4 All-time).
2023—In a battle between two of the best 400-meter hurdlers in the world, Shamier Little beat Arkansas’ Britton Wilson in the 600-meters at the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville. Little’s time of 1:24.65 moved her to #7 on the all-time World list (now #9, #6-U.S.), while Wilson’s 1:25.16 broke Athing Mu’s Collegiate Record of 1:25.80 (2021). She is now #8
all-time-U.S.
Results: https://results.flashresults.com/2023_01-13_ArkInvite/index.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4p0rCzr5KY
All-Time Lists: https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/
2023—H.S. Senior Amanda Moll won the Invitational Division at the Pole Vault Summit in Reno with a clearance of 15-1 ½ (4.61) to set new U.S. High School and Junior (Under 20) Records. Twin sister Hana, the 2022 World Junior/Under-20 Champion, cleared a personal best of 14-9 ½ (4.51). She would go on to set an Outdoor H.S. Record of 15-3 (4.65) in the qualifying round at the World Championships in Budapest! She tied for 9th in the final (she had finished 3rd at the U.S. Championships).
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=653249
Significant Birthdays
Born on This Day*
Chris Nilsen 27 (1998) 2021 Olympic silver medalist—Pole Vault…Also a silver medalist at the 2022 World
Championships…won bronze at the 2023 Worlds; Didn’t make the final at the 2024 Olympics
Set an American Indoor Record of 19-10 ¼ (6.05) in 2022…also cleared an outdoor best of 19-8 ¼ (6.00) in
2022…2024 SB: 19-4 ¼ (5.90)
Bronze medalist at the 2022 World Indoor Championships…4th in 2024
3-time U.S. Champion (2021-O.T., 2022, 2023)…3rd at the 2017 U.S. Championships—didn’t make the final at
the World Championships in London…2nd at the 2018 U.S. Championships, 7th in 2019
2022 U.S. Indoor Champion
Upset LSU’s Mondo Duplantis to win his 3rd NCAA title in 2019—despite hitting the crossbar hard, he cleared a
lifetime best (at the time) of 19-6 1/4 (5.95)…also won NCAA titles in 2017 (Indoor) and 2018 (Outdoor)
PBs: 19-10 ¼i (6.05/2022/NR/=#7 All-Time World/ind-out), 19-8 ¼ (6.00/2022)
College PBs: 19-5 ½i (5.93/2020/#3 All-Time), Outdoor best: 19-8 ¼ (5.95/2022)
Passed up an opportunity to turn pro in order to use his final year of collegiate eligibility at South Dakota in 2020,
and then Covid hit!
2019 Pan-American Games Champion
Won National Scholastic and U.S. Junior titles in 2016
At 6-5, 185 (1.96/84), he is one of the biggest world-class vaulters
His coach is Derek Miles, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the Pole Vault (moved up from 4th after the
original 3rd-placer was retroactively disqualified for a doping violation.
Set a U.S. High School Record of 18-4 ½ in 2016 (since broken by Mondo Duplantis)
Parents Mark and Karen… Was a kinesiology and sport management major.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Nilsen
https://goyotes.com/sports/track-and-field/roster/chris-nilsen/10299
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/christopher-nilsen-14709278
6.05: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFSLo-ZN660
Slo-Mo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwKdMjHi3b8
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/147316
Alan Webb 42 (1983) Former American Record holder in the mile-3:46.91; Ran 3:53.43 in 2001 to break Jim Ryun’s 36-
year old U.S. High School Record in the Mile (3:55.0/1965); Ran 3:59.86 in 2001 to become the first prep to break
4-minutes for the mile indoors…also set a H.S. Indoor Record in the 1000m in 2001-2:23.68 (now #5 All-Time)
3-time U.S. Champion—1500m (2004[Olympic Trials], 2005, 2007); 2004 U.S. Olympian (1st round)
2-time finalist at the World Championships-2005 (9th), 2007 (8th);
A member of the Penn Relays Wall of Fame:
As a junior, he ran a 3:59.9 anchor (1600m/fastest ever at Penn) to lead South Lakes (VA) to a 2nd-place finish in
the H.S. Distance Medley. The following year, he ran 4:04.7 as SL set a Relays Record of 9:59.66. Also won the
Olympic Development Mile in 2004 and the 5000 in 2004 & 2005
Currently the head coach at Ave Maria University (FL)
https://avemariagyrenes.com/sports/mens-cross-country/roster/coaches/alan-webb/901
PBs: 1:43.84 (2007), 3:30.54 (2007/#7 All-Time U.S.), 3:46.91 (2007/#2 A-T U.S., #10 A-T World),
8:11.48/2-miles (2005/#8 A-T U.S/ind-out.), 13:10.86 (2005), 27:34.72 (2006);
AR Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aTRTvo2ouo
The Alan Webb Story(documentary):
http://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&do=videos&video_id=106500
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Webb_(runner)
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/105610
Triathlon:
Billy Hardin 83 (1942) 1964 NCAA & U.S. Champion—400-meter hurdles (LSU) ; Semi-Finalist 1964 Olympics PB-50.90 (1964);
His father, Glenn “Slats” Hardin, also a 400-hurdler, was the 1936 Olympic gold medalist in the event and is a member of the U.S.
Hall of Fame.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78513
Louisiana Hall of Fame:
Son: http://www.lasportshall.com/inductees/track-and-field/billy-hardin/?back=inductee
Dad: https://lasportshall.com/?inductees=glenn-slats-hardin
Herb Barten 97 (1928) 1948 U.S. Champion-800m; 1948 U.S. Olympian-800m (4th)
All-American at Michigan: NCAA-880y (1947-3rd, 1949-2nd)
PBs: 1:49.8y, 4:14.6y; At 97, he’s the 2nd-oldest living U.S. Olympian in T&F (Bud Held was born on October 25, 1927)
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78083
https://www.wyff4.com/article/upstate-man-competed-in-1948-olympics/7023685
Oldest Living Olympians: https://acsweb.ucsd.edu/~ptchir/
