This Day in Track & Field, April 12, "Dutch" Warmerdam clears new WR (4.64m, 1941), born this day: Nadia Battocletti (Italy, 2000), by Walt Murphy

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

This Day in Track & Field—April 12

1941—Cornelius “Dutch” Warmerdam jumped 15-2 5/8 (4.64) at Stanford to better his own World Record in the Pole Vault (15-1 1/8 [4.60]), but the mark wasn’t ratified as a WR since the IAAF hadn’t received the necessary paperwork before they had already OK’d his subsequent clearance of 15-5 ¼ (4.72) in June.

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_pole_vault_world_record_progression

Cornelius Warmerdam, photo by Wikipedia, Public Domain , 1942

1958–Glenn Davis, the 1956 Olympic Champion in the 400-meter hurdles, was the star of the show at the Quantico Relays in Virginia. On Friday (4-11), he won the yards version of his specialty (51.8) and the Long Jump (22-1 [6.73]), then came back on Saturday to win the 120-yard hurdles (14.3) and anchor Ohio State to wins in the Shuttle Hurdles and Mile relays. Hall-of-Famer Davis went on to win his 2nd Olympic hurdles title in 1960.

1958—San Jose State’s Ray Norton ran 9.3 for 100-yards at the Armed Forces Day meet on his home track to equal the World Record that was shared by 7 others, including Mel Patton, Dave Sime, and Bobby Morrow.

1974—Francie Larrieu-Smith ran 4:37.88 for the Mile at the Texas Relays, breaking her own American Record of 4:38.7.

AR Progression(unofficial): http://tf-stats.com/american_outdoor_women.php

1976—Kathy McMillan (Hoke County,NC) long-jumped 21-7 ½ (6.59) in Raeford,NC. That mark was not only a National H.S. Record, it also matched Martha Watson’s American Record. She would improve the AR three times that season, finishing with a best of 22-3 (6.78), which was her winning mark at the U.S. Championships! That final mark lasted for 39 years as the High School Record, with Kate Hall (Lake Region,ME) jumping 22-5 (6.83) in 2015! McMillan still has 4 of the all-time top-10 marks by a prep (indoors/outdoors). Later in the year, McMillan went on to win the silver medal at the Montreal Olympics.

She was a member of the inaugural class that was inducted into the National H.S. T&F Hall of Fame in 2018

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79569

http://tshf.net/halloffame/mcmillan-kathy/

All-Time H.S: https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/high-school-all-time-top-10s-girls/

H.S. Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech

1980— The U.S. Olympic Committee’s House of Delegates, in the face of intense pressure from the Federal government, voted in agreement with President Jimmy Carter’s demand for a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow (in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan). Mike Moran, the chief spokesman for the USOC at the time, gives an inside look at that fateful decision and its aftermath in this edition of Rich Perelman’s The Sports Examiner.

(WM-While most of the athletes who had qualified for the Olympics in their respective sports disagreed with the decision, there were some who supported it)

https://www.thesportsexaminer.com/lane-one-remembering-the-worst-day-in-the-history-of-the-u-s-olympic-movement-the-vote-to-boycott-moscow-80/

1986—Joe Dial jumped 19-2 ¾ (5./86) in Norman, Oklahoma, to set the 3rd of his 8 American Records in the Pole Vault.

Dial, the first high school vaulter to clear 18-feet (1981), was considered too short for the event (he grew to 5’-9”/1.75!)

His son Tommy cleared 17-1 ¾ (5.22+) in 2015

2014—Georgia freshman Kendell Williams set an American Junior Record of 6018 points in the Heptathlon at the Spec Towns Inv. in Athens, GA.

Williams, who had won the Pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships a month earlier, went on to become a 4-time champion in the event (’14-’17) and a 3-time NCAA champion in the Heptathlon (’14, ’16, ’17).

She has represented the U.S. at the 2014 World Junior Championships (1^st), the 2016 (6^th), 2018 (9^th), and 2022 (Bronze) World Indoor Championships, the 2016 (17^th) and 2021 (5^th) Olympics, and the 2017 (12^th), 2019 (5^th), and 2022 (DNF) World Outdoor Championships.

PB:6683 (2021)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendell_Williams

https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/kendell-williams-250431

2014—Senior Raven Saunders (Burke,SC), who switched from the “glide” to the “spin” technique after her junior year, threw the shot 56-8 ¼ (17.27+) at the Taco Bell Classic in Charleston,SC, to smash the National H.S. Record of 54-10 ¾ (16.73), set by future Olympic Champion Michelle Carter in 2003. (Saunders’ mark was broken by Alyssa Wilson in 2017).

Saunders, who would later win the silver medal at the 2021 Olympics, went on to win 4 NCAA titles (Indoors-’15,’17, Outdoors-’15,’16) before ending her collegiate career at Ole Miss in 2018 for health reasons (she was on the brink of suicide—see link). (She won her 2015 NCAA titles at Southern Illinois before transferring to Ole Miss).

She learned the spin technique by watching videos of the legendary Brian Oldfield!

Bouncing Back

Born On This Day*

Nadia Battocletti—Italy 25 (2000) 2024 Olympic silver medalist—10,000m; 4^th in the 5000; 2021-5000 (7^th)

3-time European champion (2024): 5000, 10,000, X-Country

2021 European Under-23 Champion: 5000

Coached by her father Giuliano, who was one of Italy’s best distance runners during his own career

PBs: 2:10.53 (2018), 3:59.19 (2024), 8:30.82i (2025), 9:32.99/2m (2022NR), 14:31.64 (2024NR),

30:43.35 (2024NR)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Battocletti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JfCi3q27KI

https://www.visittrentino.info/en/articles/trekking-and-hiking/nadia-battocletti