by Larry EderThis Day in Track & Field–May 14
1881–Lehigh defeated Lafayette in their first dual meet.
From Wikipedia: “The first joint athletic track and field event held between the two institutions was on May 14, 1881 on the grounds of the Lehigh University Athletic Association. The meet consisted of fourteen events; Hundred Yards Dash, Half-Mile Run, Throwing the Hammer, Running High Jump, 440 Yards Dash, Mile Walk, Putting the Shot, Running Broad Jump, 220 Yards Dash, Mile Run, Pole Vaulting, 120 Yards Hurdle Race, Bicycle Race, Standing High Jump, and Tug of War. Lehigh emerged with a decisive victory winning ten of the fourteen events.
As a sign of the intense rivalry that would develop between these two schools, an article in Lafayette’s student newspaper, the Lafayette College Journal, called the loss a “defeat in our recent contest with Lehigh University, -a defeat, too, doubly humiliating, coming, as it did, from an adversary in every other respect our inferior.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rivalry_(Lehigh-Lafayette)
1885/1887—Penn’s Billy Page became the 1st American to top the 6-foot barrier in the High Jump, clearing 6-1/4 (1.835) in Philadelphia. On the same date two years later, he cleared 6-1(1.855), also in Philadelphia. He set a total of 8 American Records in the pre-AAU era and won 3 IC4A and 3 U.S. titles (1885-1887).
1910—Harvard beat Yale, 52 ½-51 ½, on its home track as D. P. Ranney beat F. A. Reilly by inches to get 2nd place in the final race of the day, the 220y, to win the meet for the Crimson.
1966—19-year old Bob Seagren set the first of his 4 World Records (and the first of his 7 American Records) in the Pole Vault, clearing 17-5 ½ (5.32) at the West Coast Relays in Fresno,CA. Fred Hansen set the previous record of 17-4 in 1964 (ratified as 5.28/17-3 3/4).
Seagren went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career that included a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/bob-seagren
https://vault.si.com/vault/2001/04/23/bob-seagren-pole-vaulter-february-20-1967
1966—Washington State sophomore Gerry Lindgren ran 12:53.0 for 3-miles in Seattle to smash his own American Record of 13:04.2, which was set in 1965.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Lindgren
1967—Germany’s Kurt Bendlin scored 8319 points (8235-new tables) in Heidelberg to break Russ Hodge’s World Record of 8230 (8120). He would win the bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Bendlin
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70151
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_world_record_progression
1977-Jan Merrill ran 4:30.98 at West Point to break Francie Larrieu’s American Record (4:31.69) in the mile. Merrill-Morin was a finalist (8th) in the 1500-meters at the 1976 Olympics.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77915
1993—Tennessee freshman Lawrence Johnson, who would become better known for his exploits in the Pole Vault, won the Decathlon at the SEC Championships at his home facility in Knoxville. His score of 7576 still has him in 5th place on the All-Time U.S. Junior/Under-20 list.
“LoJo” went on to win gold in the Vault at the 2001 World Indoor Championships and silver at the 2000 Olympics and 1997 World Indoor Championships, and held the Collegiate Record of 19-7 ½(5.98) from 1996 until LSU freshman Mondo Duplantis cleared 19-8 ¼ (6.00) at the 2019 SEC Championships.
2006— UCLA senior Chelsea Johnson won the Pole Vault at the PAC-10 Championships in Eugene,OR, with a clearance of 15-1 (4.60) to break the Collegiate Record of 15-1/4 (4.58), which was set by Florida State’s Lacy Janson earlier in the year. Janson would beat Johnson to win the NCAA title in June.
2010—The IAAF Diamond League made its debut in Doha, Qatar. Among the winners:
Men
100-Asafa Powell (JAM) 9.81w
800-David Rudisha (KEN) 1:43.00
5000-Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 12:51.21
400 Hurdles-Bershawn Jackson (USA) 48.66
Shot Put-Christian Cantwell (USA) 71-7 ¼ (21.82)
Women
400-Allyson Felix (USA) 50.15
1500-Nancy Langat (KEN) 4:01.63
100 Hurdles-Lolo Jones (USA) 12.63w
High Jump-1.Blanka Vlašić (CRO) 6-6 (1.98), 2. Chaunté Lowe (USA) 6-6 (1.98)
Results: https://doha.diamondleague.com/programme-results/results-archive/
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84aJUjXtghc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_IAAF_Diamond_League
2011—Arkansas’ Tina Šutej, a Junior from Slovenia, set a Collegiate (and National) Record of 15-1 ½ (4.61) in the Pole Vault at the SEC Championships in Athens,GA. UCLA’s Chelsea Johnson set the previous mark of 15-1 (4.60) 5 years earlier on this same date(2006).
2011—Oregon freshman English Gardner won the 100 at the PAC-10 Championships in 11.03 to set an American Junior/Under-20 Record (now #9).
2012—Columbia’s Kyle Merber ran 3:35.59 at Swarthmore College to set an American Collegiate Record for 1500-meters (since broken). It was the fastest time run by a collegian since Villanova’s Sydney Maree (South Africa) set the overall CR of 3:35.30 in 1981. The holder of both records is now Villanova’s Liam Murphy (3:33.02/2025).
Merber has contributed to three World Relay Records:
4×800(i)-7:11.30 NJ*NY TC 2017 Boston University
(Joe McAsey 1:49.1, Kyle Merber 1:47.1, Chris Giesting 1:47.4, Jesse Garn 1:47.7)
4xmile(i)-16:12.81 NJ*NY TC 2017 NY’s Armory (since broken)
(Donn Cabral 4:05.0, Ford Palmer 3:59.9, Graham Crawford 4:08.6, Kyle Merber 3:59.3)
Distance Medley-9:15.50 USA (2015 World Relays)
(Kyle Merber 2:53.6, Brycen Spratling 46.0, Brandon Johnson 1:44.7, Ben Blankenship 3:51.2)
Now retired from competition, he spent the last few years publishing The Lap Count, and now he’s on the staff of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Merber
https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/kyle-merber-246990
2022—Senior Gary Martin (Archbishop Wood,PA) won the Mile in 3:57.98 at the Philadelphia Catholic League Championships. That’s the fastest mile ever run in a high school-only race, bettering the previous best of 3:58.3 that Jim Ryun ran at the 1965 Kansas state meet.
“I think it’s crazy to look at the company I’m in,” Martin said after the meet of the best American high school milers. “It’s been such a big jump for me. Just to know the guys I’m surrounded with like Jim Ryun, Alan Webb and obviously last year Hobbs Kessler ran 3:57 indoors, it’s some incredible company to be in.
“I don’t think it’s yet to set in. I’ve been running around all day so I really haven’t had any time to sit with it and let it sink in. I think that will probably come tomorrow. When I really sit down and just think about it, it will be a really big deal.”
He would improve to 3:57.89 later in the season and ran a great 3:48.82 this past indoor season (2025) as a Virginia Junior.
Read more at:
All-Time Top-10 Perfomers (From T&F News)
3:53.43 Alan Webb (South Lakes, Reston, Virginia) 2001
3:55.3h Jim Ryun (East, Wichita, Kansas) 1965
3:56.24 Colin Sahlman (Newbury Park, California) 2022
3:56.66 Owen Powell (Mercer Island, Washington) 2025
3:57.47 Josiah Tostenson (Crater, Central Point, Oregon) 2025
3:57.53 Simeon Birnbaum (Stevens, Rapid City, South Dakota) 2023
3:57.66i Hobbs Kessler (Skyline, Ann Arbor, Michigan) 2021
3:57.72 Drew Griffith (Butler, Pennsylvania) 2024
3:57.81i Drew Hunter (Loudoun Valley, Purcellville, Virginia) 2016
3:57.89 Gary Martin (Wood, Warminster, Pennsylvaia) 2022
2023—A Texas lineup of Julien Alfred, Ezzine Abba, Rahsidat Adeleke, and Kevona Davis set a Collegiate Record of 41.89 in the Women’s 4×100 at the Big-12 Championships in Norman, Oklahoma. The same foursome set the previous record of 42.00 earlier in the season. They would improve to 41.55 the following month on their home track at the NCAA Championships. Only national teams from the U.S., Jamaica, East Germany, and Russia have ever run faster!
