by Larry Eder
This Day in Track & Field–February 5
1938--Glenn Cunningham won his 5th Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in front of another capacity crowd of 16,000 in Madison Square Garden, His time of 4:11.0 matched the Meet Record that he already shared with Joe Mangan. Cunningham, content to sit through a slowish ½-mile split of 2:07, went on to win by 12 yards over Archie San Romani, who was followed closely by future and past winners of the race—Chuck Fenske(1940) and Gene Venzke(1932).
Sprinters and hurdlers had to run 3 rounds, with World Records being set in both events.
After running 6.2 in his heat of the 60y, Columbia’s Ben Johnson matched the WR of 6.1 in his semi-final (a record he already shared with others, including Jesse Owens), and took sole possession of the record when he ran 6-flat(6.0) in the final.
Allan Tomlich tied the World Record of 7.4 in the 1st round of the 60y-Hurdles, and that time was matched by Forrest “Spec” Towns in his semi-final race. Towns, the 1936 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m-Hurdles, ran another 7.4 in the final, beating Tomlich, the 1937 U.S. Outdoor Champion(Towns was 3rd), by 4 feet.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/02/06/96796282.html?pageNumber=71
Results: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/02/06/96796337.html?pageNumber=75
1944—Gil Dodds won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 4:10.6. He would win the race again in 1947 & 1948.
A War Bond auction was held during the meet, bringing in pledges amounting to $51,775.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/02/06/96568078.html?pageNumber=102
1955–The Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games produced a World Record, but most of the 16,000 fans in attendance didn’t see Denmark’s Gunnar Nielsen break the tape in 4:03.6. Their attention was focused on the battle that was going on behind him between two of the best Americans, Wes Santee and Villanova’s Fred Dwyer.
The race is #3 on Howard Schmertz’s list of “My 10 Most Memorable Millrose Moments”, and here is how he remembered that night (Schmertz followed his father Fred as the Millrose Director). “The 1955 Wanamaker Mile was a World Indoor Record race, which fact alone would make it a memorable one. But it is my Most Memorable Millrose running event, not because of the record, but because it was a world record that very few of the 16,000 spectators witnessed. One week previous, Wes Santee, America’s top miler, had defeated Gunnar Nielsen by 40 yards in the Boston A.A. Games, creating a World Indoor Record of 4:03.8. His time smashed the record of 4:05.3 set by Gil Dodds in the 1948 Wanamaker Mile. In the 1955 Wanamaker, a fast early pace indicated that Santee’s week-old record might fall. With a half-lap to go, Santee led, trailed by Fred Dwyer and Nielsen. Suddenly Nielsen charged past Dwyer and Santee and set sail for home.
At the end of the back stretch, as the tiring Santee veered out in a vain attempt to hold off Nielsen, Dwyer, trying to catch Nielsen, attempted to pass Santee on the inside. As Dwyer came abreast of Santee, Wes moved in, forcing Fred off the track and into the infield. Dwyer, unable to regain the track, ran the last turn in the infield and at the head of the stretch came back on the track ahead of Santee. In frustration, Santee grabbed Dwyer’s shoulder and Dwyer wrapped his arms around Santee’s waist. To the amazement of the crowd, the two pirouetted down the homestretch. Nielsen, well out in front and virtually unnoticed, broke the tape with a world record 4:03.6. Dwyer came out of his clinch with Santee to finish second but was disqualified for running in the infield. No wilder race has ever been seen in the Garden.”
You can catch a brief glimpse of the incident in this video: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/250160/
SI Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1955/02/14/the-riotous-wanamaker-mile
http://villanovarunning.blogspot.com/2010/11/wes-santee-fred-dwyer-fight-for-1955.html
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/02/06/83351724.html?pageNumber=184
1982–Running by herself, as she often did, Mary Decker (Slaney) won the 3000-meters at the L.A. Times meet in 8:47.3 to break Grete Waitz’s 2-year old World Record of 8:50.8. Decker also got credit for another World Record when she passed 2000-meters in 5:53.4. The previous mark of 5:55.2 was set by Francie Larrieu (Smith) the previous year.
In another exciting duel between former Villanova teammates, Don Paige beat Mark Belger over 1000-yards and his winning time of 2:04.7 broke his own year-old World Record by .2s. Belger finished 2nd in a personal best time of 2:05.8.
1983—Carl Lewis set an unexpected World Record of 6.02 for 60-yards in Dallas, while Billy Olson was disappointed that his winning height in the Pole Vault was “only” 18-8 ¼ (5.70), a height no one else had ever cleared indoors.
Competing in front of dozens of family members and friends, the Texas native was hoping for a repeat of his performance from the previous night in Toronto, when he became the first indoor 19-footer.
Clinton Davis (Steel Valley,PA) set a National H.S. Record of 55.65 for 500-yards.
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1983/02/14/one-flies-high-one-just-flies
1988—Not surprisingly, the Mile was in the spotlight at this year’s Millrose Games, with 5 separate races at the distance providing a series of highlights.
Marcus O’Sullivan (3:56.89) broke open a close race with 2 laps to go, sprinting away from Great Britain’s Peter Elliott (3:57.63) to win the 2nd of his 5 Wanamaker Miles.
Finishing 3rd in the Women’s Mile, Villanova’s Vicki Huber (Rudawsky) ran 4:28.31 to set a Collegiate Record (since broken). The winner of the race was Romania’s Doina Melinte, who set a meet record of 4:21.45.
Mt.St.Mary’s Charles Cheruiyot won the IC4A event with a quick time of 3:57.95, with Providence’s Frank Conway (4:00.61) finishing 2nd ahead of Cheruiyot’s MSM teammate, Peter Rono (4:03.58), who would go on to win Olympic gold in the 1500-meters in Seoul later in the year!
Bob Kennedy (Westerville,OH), who would become one of America’s greatest distance runners, won the Jumbo Elliott H.S. race in a slowish 4:21.46.
Some of the legends of the sport competed in the Masters Mile, a race won by Web Loudat (4:20.04) over Albin Swenson (4:20.78), Frank Shorter (4:21.95), Barry Brown (4:22.08), Jim Ryun (4:29.60), Mike Manley (4:42.06), and Peter Snell (4:53.63)!
In other events, Jackie Joyner-Kersee (22-8 ½ [6.92]) won the Long Jump, France’s Thierry Vigneron beat Earl Bell on misses in the Pole Vault (both cleared 19-1/4 [5.81]), and Diane Dixon (52.48) beat Valerie Brisco (53.06) in the 440y.
Wanamaker Mile (w/commentary from Charlie Jones, Frank Shorter, Eamonn Coghlan):
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&do=videos&video_id=196340
Masters Mile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YysHj9iz2M
Other Videos; https://millrosegames.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=574&year=1988&do=videos
1988—East Germany’s Thomas Schönlebe, the winner of the 400-Meters at the previous year’s World Outdoor Championships in Rome, ran 45.05 in Sindelfingen, Germany, breaking his own 2-year old World Indoor Record of 45.41.
1993—Like many editions before this one, there was an Irish flair to the Millrose Games. The Irish National Anthem was played, and many of the 18,176 fans in attendance were waving Irish flags. They were hoping to encourage native son (and Garden favorite) Eamonn Coghlan, a 7-time winner of the Wanamaker Mile, who was hoping to become the first 40-plus runner to run under 4-minutes in the Masters Mile. While he fell short of his goal, the 40-year old did lower his Masters Record to 4:05.95.
And then there was Marcus O’Sullivan, like Coghlan, a former Villanova recruit from Ireland. O’Sullivan had finished 2nd to Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli at the 1991 Millrose Games before winning his 5th Wanamaker Mile in 1992. He was up against Morceli again, as well as Spain’s Fermín Cacho, the 1992 Olympic Champion at 1500-Meters.
O’Sullivan took the lead from Morceli with ¼-mile to go, but the Algerian soon went to the front again, holding off many challenges from his rival before winning in 3:55.06 (3:55.36 for O’Sullivan). Cacho, not accustomed to the Garden track, finished 5th in 4:01.75.
“I felt Morceli was vulnerable tonight,” O’Sullivan said. “I didn’t think he was in the best of shape. I really thought I had a chance to get him. My mistake was that the first rule you learn is you only make one move. Tonight, I made two or three.”
1999–Mel Mueller set an American Record of 14-8 ¾ (4.49) in the Women’s Pole Vault at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden. Jeff Hartwig won the Men’s event with a clearance of 19-1/4 (5.80).
Kenya’s William Tanui won the Wanamaker Mile in 3:59.24.
Results: https://hmrrc.com/View/PDFs/Results/99milr.htm
Wanamaker Mile Winners: http://www.runningpast.com/wanamaker_mile.htm
2005—Syosset(NY) H.S., with a lineup of Adam Lampert (1:58.4), Chris Howell (1:54.6), and brothers Sean (1:52.1) and Dan (1:57.1) Tully set a National H.S. Record of 7:42.22 in the 4×800 relay at the Armory Invitational in NY (since broken/still #10 All-Time School). Syosset was pushed to the record by Shaker (NY) H.S., which ran 7:42.84, the 3rd-fastest time in history at the time. The previous Record of 7:42.67 was set by York H.S. (Elmhurst,IL) in 2002.
Said Syosset coach Bart Sessa, “…only time we ever ran that order! It was the day after Millrose at Madison Square Garden where we had run the 4×4 without Howell in the lineup. Then at the Armory the next day, Howell ran a lifetime best and didn’t run faster until his soph year at Penn, and we needed every tenth….Shaker was a tremendous team”.
The team went on to win the 4×800 at the Indoor and Outdoor National Scholastics, as well as at the Penn Relays.
2016—18-year old Vashti Cunningham, a senior at Bishop Gorman H.S. in Las Vegas, outdueled American Record holder Chaunté Lowe to win the High Jump in Albuquerque, winning on fewer misses as both cleared 6-4 ¾ (1.95).
Cunningham first cleared 6-3 ½ (1.92) to break the 32-year old High School Record of 6-3 (1.905?) that was set by Lisa Bernhagen (Wood River,Idaho) in 1984 before raising the record to 6-4 ¾.
The daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham went on to win U.S. and World Indoor titles the following month, raising her H.S. and American Junior Records to 6-6 ½ (1.99) at the U.S. Nationals.
She has since medaled at the 2018 World Indoor Championships (silver) and the 2019 World Outdoor Championships (bronze). She was 10th at the 2017 World Outdoor Championships, 6th at the 2021 Olympics, 11th at the 2023 Worlds, and 5th at the 2024 Olympics.
2022—When preps Alan Webb and Drew Hunter ran their first sub-4 minute miles at NY’s Armory, they finished behind more experienced runners in their respective races. Not so with Colin Sahlman, the linchpin of California’s powerhouse Newbury Park team.
Competing in the open mile at the Dr.Sander Invitational at the Armory, he not only broke 4-minutes for the first time, running 3:58.81, but he won the race over the likes of Conor Holt (4:00.01), Jonah Koech (4:00.24), Ryan Hill (4:00.39), and Robby Andrews (4:01.17)!
Moving into 3rd place with a ¼-mile to go, Sahlman took the lead heading into the final turn and stormed away from the rest of the field down the homestretch, running 27.8 for his final 200-meters. He became the 13th U.S. prep to break 4 minutes and moved into 3rd place on the all-time indoor list, trailing only Hobbs Kessler (3:57.66) and Hunter (3:57.81), with Webb (3:59.86) now sitting in the #4 position. Four of the five indoor sub-4 prep times (Hunter also ran 3:58.25) have been run at the Armory!
Newbury Park’s incredible depth was also on display in the Invitation 3000, which took place shortly before the mile went off. Junior Lex Young finished 4th with a time of 7:57.06, falling just short of the National H.S. Record of 7:56.97 that was set by his brother Nico in 2020. Finishing 8th in 8:01.72 was another junior, Aaron Sahlman, Colin’s younger brother, who is now #4 on the all-time H.S. Indoor list. (The race was won by Binghamton University’s Dan Schaeffer in 7:53.74).
Results: https://results.armorytrack.com/meets/11201
Post-Race Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEqJNmZDRQ0
Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLwXP_O2a2E
Significant Birthdays
Born On This Day*
Doris Lemngole-Kenya 23 (2002) 2024 NCAA Champion—Steeplechase, X-Country/Alabama freshman)
Other NCAA placings: 2023 X-Country (2nd), 2024 Indoor (3000-3rd, 5000-4th)
Set a Collegiate Record of 14:52.57 for 5000-meters at Boston University on December 7, 2024
PBs: 4:11.90 (2024), 4:36.80i (2025), 8:50.70 (2024), 14:52.57 (2025), 9:15.24sc (2024)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lemngole
https://rolltide.com/sports/xctrack/roster/doris-lemngole/12827
https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/8614328/Alabama/Doris_Lemngole
Jenn Suhr 43 (1982) 2012 Olympic gold medalist—Pole Vault; 2008 Olympic silver medalist;
Struck by a virus at the 2016 Olympics, she finished 7th in Rio; didn’t make the final at the 2017 World
Championships; 7th at the 2019 Worlds in Doha
2016 World Indoor Champion (2nd-2008); silver medalist-2013 World Outdoor Championships;
39 at the time, she came close to making her 4th Olympic team in 2021—finished 5th at the U.S. Trials, clearing
15-1 (4.60), the same height as 3rd-placer Sandi Morris
World Indoor Record holder: 16-5 ½ (5.02/2013); Set a higher American Indoor Record of
16-6 (5.03) in 2016, but the mark wasn’t ratified as a World Record because the mandatory drug-
testing wasn’t done within the strict IAAF time frame!
Set an outdoor personal best of 16-2 (4.93) in 2018;
17-time U.S. Champion (seven indoors, ten outdoors)
World Rankngs:’06 (6), ’07 (8), ’08 (2), ’09 (8), ’11 (1), ’12 (1), ’13 (3), ’14 (3), ’15 (4), ’16 (3), ’18 (4)
(#1-American 9 times)
Was coached by her husband–Rick Suhr…couple were married in January, 2010
First tried the event in 2002, while she was still in high school. Coach suggested she try it and she
“jumped” 9-feet. Won the NY State Pentathlon title during her senior year at Fredonia H.S. DIdn’t start
training seriously for the Pole Vault until she was 22
Went to Roberts Wesleyan, then switched to the University of Buffalo to concentrate on track. Switched
back to Roberts, where she graduated as the school’s all-time leading basketball scorer(a record since
broken).
Announced her retirement in June, 2022
Currently coaching at her alma mater-Roberts Wesleyan—husband coached RW vaulter Brynn King, a transfer from
Duke who competed in the qualifying round at the 2024 Olympics.
From her Facebook page:
“It is official. The words will come to me soon but my heart and soul are ready for the next phase of my life. Pole
vault unlocked more than I could have wished for and let me experience more than I could have dreamed of. I
started pole vaulting as a senior in college, unaware of where this life would lead and provide for me. I will forever
be grateful. I say good bye, not with a heavy heart, but with an enthusiasm I haven’t felt in some time. Thank you
for your endless support and uplifting comments. This small town girl is ready for just that, some small town living.”
Rankings: http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/rankings
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenn_Suhr
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/114797
Looking back at her career(2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cwaAyfNl0s
Astrid Kumbernuss-Germany 55 (1970) 1996 Olympic gold medalist—Shot Put (2000-bronze, 2004-Qual.)
3-time World Champion (1995, 1997, 1999); DT:218-6 (66.60/1988)
PB: 69-7 ½ (21.22/1997)
Ranked #1 in the world 4 times (’95,’96,’97,’99)…made the top-10 a total of 14 times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_Kumbernuss
https://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/rankings
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70041
Jack Yerman 86 (1939) 1960 Olympic gold medalist—4×400…team set a World Record of 3:02.37
Jack Yerman-46.3, Earl Young-45.5, Glenn Davis-45.3, Otis Davis-45.3
Won the 400 at the 1960 U.S. Olympic Trials
All-American at Cal-Berkeley: NCAA-1958 (3rd), 1960 (6th)
“Your Time Will Come”– https://www.amazon.com/Your-Time-Will-Come-Incredible/dp/0557197651
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Yerman
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79222
https://www.chicoer.com/2022/02/22/the-victory-lap-jack-yermans-incredible-journey-the-biblio-file/
Gaston Roelants—Belgium 88 (1937) 4-time Olympian; 1964 gold medalist—steeplechase;
1960-4th/steeple, 1968-7th/steeple, 11th/marathon; 1972-DNF/marathon;
Set two World Records in the steeplechase: 8:29.6 (1963), 8:26.4 (1965)…also set World Records in the 20km
and the 1-hour run
PBs-8:26.4 (1965), 2:16:30 (1974)
http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=230
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Roelants
Olympic Stats: https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/65277
