This Day in Track & Field, April 11, Harry Liversedge sets AR at javelin (1914), Parker Valby sets CR at 10,000m (2024), by Walt Murphy

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

This Day in Track & Field–April  11

1914—19-year old Harry “The Horse” Liversedge, a senior at San Francisco Polytechnic H.S., threw the javelin 184-9  ½ (56.32) at Stanford to not only smash the previous High School Record, but also the official American Record of 169-10  ¼ (51.77), which was set by Bruno Brodd in 1913.

         A week earlier, Liversedge, in his debut in the event, had thrown 171-3  ¼ (52.20) in an exhibition event, also at Stanford. Later in the year, Liversedge enrolled at Cal-Berkeley, where he played rugby and football in addition to competing in T&F. He was the 1916 IC4A champion in the Shot Put and went on to win the bronze medal in that event at the 1920 Olympics.

         In addition to his athletic achievements, Liversedge also had a stellar military career, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the Marine Corps. He led the invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II and it was a Marine patrol under his command that raised the flag on Mount Suribachi. Read more at the links below.

Cal’s Most Heroic Olympian:

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2012/6/13/3011285/harry-liversedge-cals-most-heroic-olympian

Marine Obituary: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hbliversedge.htm

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78707

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_B._Liversedge

H.S. Record: http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19140406-01.2.12#

1959–The World Record of 63-2 (19.25) in the Shot Put, shared by Parry O’Brien and Dallas Long, was bettered by Long and Bill Nieder on this day, but neither got credit for a new record. Competing in separate “exhibitions”, Long and Nieder threw 64-5  ½ (19.645m?) and 63-8  ½ (19.415m?), respectively.

1981–Willie Banks bettered his own American Record in the Triple Jump with his winning leap of 56-9  ½ (17.31) in San José,CA.

1987–Djibouti’s Ahmed Saleh (2:10:55) repeated as the men’s individual champion on the first day of the 2nd World Cup Marathon, which was held on the same course in Seoul, Korea,  that would be used for the 1988 Olympic race. The Soviet Union’s Zoya Ivanova (2:30:39) won the women’s race the following day(4-12).

            NBC had planned all along to send a crew, including announcers Charlie Jones and Frank Shorter, to cover the event, since it would help serve as a dress rehearsal of sorts for their Olympic broadcast the following year. But I wasn’t part of that plan until Jones convinced NBC to bring me along, since I had been part of the network’s T&F production team at the 1983 and 1987 World Championships and would serve in the same role at the 1988 Olympics.

            Part of the trip involved a stop at the radio station that was part of the Armed Forces Network, where Jones and Shorter were interviewed prior to the races.

2024 (New)—Making her debut in the event, Florida’s Parker Valby set a Collegiate Record of 30:50.43 for 10,000-meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.

Full Race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCyxF265kzo

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a60475120/parker-valby-collegiate-10000-meter-record/

Born On This Day*

Patrick Sang—Kenya  61 (1964)  silver medalist in the Steeplechase at the 1992 Olympics and 1991 and 1993 World

                     Championships; 3-time All-American at Texas (NCAA-4th/1984, 2^nd/1985, 5^th/1986);

                 PB-8:03.41 (’97)

                 Among the athletes he coaches is Eliud Kipchoge, arguably the greatest marathoner in history.

                 www.tallahassee.com/story/life/family/2019/10/15/moon-and-back-less-than-two-hours/3984166002/

                 https://www.ineos159challenge.com/team/eliuds-team/patrick-sang/

John Ngeno–Kenya 72 (1953)  3-time NCAA Champion-6m/10k (Washington State/’74y, ‘75y, ‘76m)

             1975 NCAA Champion-3-miles (4^th-1973, 1974, 2^nd-1976)

                 3-time NCAA Indoor Champion—3-miles (1974-1976)

                 NCAA X-Country/1973-9^th, 1974-2^nd, 1975-3^rd

                 1974 U.S. X-Country Champion

                 PBs:13:20.6 (1976), 27:58.80 (1977)

                 https://magazine.wsu.edu/web-extra/chaplins-athletes/

Bob Frey  81 (1944)  1966 NCAA Champion-mile relay (UCLA/Anchor)

                 Ran lead-off leg on U.S. team that set a World Record of 2:59.6 in the 4×400 relay at the L.A. Coliseum in 1966

                     (first team to break 3-minutes)

                 Bob Frey (46.3), Lee Evans (44.5), Tommie Smith (43.8), Theron Lewis (45.0)

                 Helped UCLA end its 33-year losing streak to USC in their annual dual meet in 1966 by winning the 440y and

                     running on both winning relays.

                 https://vault.si.com/vault/1966/05/16/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-try-33-more-times

                 Dual Meet History