This Day in Track & Field, May 29, Diane Leather becomes first women under five minutes for the mile (1954), by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service  (wmurphy25@aol.com)

This Day in Track & Field– May 29

1908–Dartmouth’s Art Shaw set a pre-IAAF World Record of 15.2 in the 120y-hurdles at the IC4A Championships in Philadelphia (also served as an Olympic selection meet). He went on to win the bronze medal in the 110-hurdles later in the year at the London Olympics.

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79024

1920–Competing at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, Dartmouth’s Earl “Tommy” Thomson won the 120y-hurdles in the World-Record time of 14.4 at the IC4A Championships. Canadian Thomson went on to win the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the Antwerp Olympics later in the year.

In 1921, Thomson won his 2nd IC4A title, was a winner at the first NCAA Championships, and won the 2nd of his three U.S. titles(also won in 1918 and 1922). He went on to coach at West Virginia, Yale, and the Naval Academy, where he stayed for 36 years before retiring in 1963.

Thomson was born in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan, but moved with his family to Southern California when he was 8 years old. He attended Long Beach Poly H.S. before starting his collegiate career with a brief stay at USC before moving on to Dartmouth. He has the unique distinction of being elected to both the U.S. Track and Field and the Canadian Sports Halls of Fame.

Thomson became deaf in his later years, but was able to continue coaching after learning how to lip-read what his athletes were saying. After his stint at the Naval Academy was done, he coached the U.S. Marine Corps team at Camp Pendleton from 1964-1965. One of the Marines that he coached was Billy Mills, who, of course, won the gold medal in the 10,000-Meters at the 1964 Olympics.

One of his biggest rivals during his hurdling career was his brother-in-law, Robert Simpson, who was a charter member of the U.S. Hall of Fame.(Thanks to Elliott Denman).

Thomson: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/earl-thomson

http://www.sportshall.ca/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-search.html?proID=437&catID=all&lang=EN

Simpson: http://oldserver.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=156

1937–Bill Sefton beat USC teammate Earle Meadows, the 1936 Olympic gold medalist, on misses to win the pole vault at 14-11(4.54m) at the Pacific Conference Championships, with both getting credit for a World Record. Known as “The Heavenly Twins”, the duo led Southern Cal to 3 NCAA team titles(1935-1937).  Sefton was 4^th at the 1936 Olympics,

Meadows Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/earle-meadows

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78776

Sefton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Sefton; https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79015

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

1953—Wes Santee edged closer to the 4-minute barrier by lowering his American Record from 4:02.4 to  4:01.3 in Kansas City, MO.

AR Progression: http://bringbackthemile.com/history/progressions

1954—Just 23 days after Roger Bannister became the first man to break 4-minutes for the Mile, fellow Brit Diane Leather became the first  woman to break 5-minutes for the distance when she ran 4:59.6 at the Midland Championships in Birmingham.

Leather, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 85, had set breaking the 5-minute barrier as a goal soon after taking up running in 1952 (after watching women run at the 1952 Olympics). From the NY Times obituary—”Leather wasn’t the only one with that goal: The race for a woman to break the five-minute mile was fierce, despite the lack of official recognition. In September 1953, Anne Oliver of Britain finished in 5:08.0, a record. Later that month, Leather beat that time with 5:02.6. Two months later it was Edith Treybal, from Romania, with 5:00.3. On May 26, 1954, Leather surpassed that mark by a hair, finishing (just over the barrier) at 5:00.2”.

Leather’s reaction after she was told her time on this day was a bit more subdued than that of others- “Oh, good,” she said matter-of-factly…”At last.”

World Athletics Heritage Plaque:

 https://worldathletics.org/heritage/news/diane-leather-heritage-plaque-birmingham

https://worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list/diane-leather-charles

http://trackandfield.about.com/od/distanceevent1/p/Fastest-Mile-Times-The-Womens-Mile-World-Records.htm

Looking Back:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/may/25/diane-leather-world-record-sex-barrier-sixty-years-ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Leather

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/obituaries/diane-leather-dead.html

1965–These were the glory days of California track meets, and this year’s edition of the California  Relays in Modesto did its part to add to that reputation. Hal Connolly won the Hammer Throw in nearby Ceres with a throw of 233-2(71.06m) to break his 3-year old World Record of 231-10(70.67m) and Ralph Boston broke his own World Record in the Long Jump with his winning leap of 27-5(8.35m). He set his previous mark of 27-4  1/4(8.34m) at the 1964 Olympic Trials.

A 3rd World Record was tied in the Mile Relay by a Southern University quartet of Robert Johnson(47.3), Anthony Gates(46.1), Everett Mason(46.0), and Theron Lewis(45.1). The time of 3:04.5 was inferior to the record of 3:00.7 for the 4×400 relay, but separate imperial and metric records were kept at the time.

There was no record in the Mile, but it was still a memorable event as high school senior Jim Ryun, already a veteran of the 1964 Olympics, won in 3:58.1 to break his prep record by .2s.

WR Progression(HT): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_hammer_throw_world_record_progression

WR Progression(LJ): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_jump_world_record_progression

1976–At the USTFF (U.S. T&F Federation) meet in Wichita(KS), Hall-of-Famer Earl Bell was trailing Terry Porter on misses through 18-1 (5.51), but came through with a first-jump clearance at 18-7  1/4(5.6704) to not only win the event but to also  set a World Record. Dave Roberts held the previous record of 18-6  1/2(5.65m).

HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/earl-bell

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

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78097

1976–20-year old  Steve Scott won the 1500 (3:46.4-MR) and placed 5th in the 5000 to help UC-Irvine win the team title at the NCAA Div.II Championships in Slippery Rock,Pa.

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79011

1976–After falling the day before in his semi-final race at the NCAA Div.III Championships in Chicago, Morehouse senior Edwin Moses won a special “consolation” race in 49.8.

2004—SMU’s Hannes Hopley, a junior from South Africa, set a Collegiate Record of 222-0(67.66/since broken) in the Discus at the NCAA Midwest Regional in College Station, Texas. The previous Record of 218-5(66.58) was set by Nevada’s Kamy Keshmiri in 1991.

Hopley went on to win his 2^nd straight NCAA title in June, but missed out on a chance to win a 3^rd title when SMU dropped men’s track after the 2004 season.

2021—It was a day of Records around the U.S.

Maggie Malone, the 2016 NCAA Champion while at Texas A&M, threw the Javelin 219-3 (66.82) at the Chula Vista Field Festival, breaking Kara Winger’s 11-year old American Record of 218-8 (66.67).

It was “only” a Personal Record, but Vashti Cunningham cleared 6-7  ½(2.02) in the High Jump to move to #4 on the All-Time U.S. performers’ list.

https://results.usatf.org/2021fieldfestival/

USATF Report: https://www.usatf.org/news/2021/maggie-malone-breaks-javelin-american-record-at-us

Running on her home track in College Station,TX, Texas A&M frosh Athing Mu ran 49.68 in the 400-Meters at the NCAA West Regional/Preliminary to break the Collegiate Record of 49.71 that was set by Texas’ Courtney Okolo in 2016. Mu also bettered her own American Junior Record of 49.84.

Results: https://dt8v5llb2dwhs.cloudfront.net/OutdoorRegionals/2021/West/index.htm

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a36577687/athing-mu-breaks-ncaa-record-400-meters/

Finishing 5th in the 1500-Meters at the Portland(OR) Track Festival, Hobbs Kessler(Skyline,MI) ran 3:34.36 to smash Alan Webb’s 20-year old High School Record of 3:38.26.  The race was won by Craig Engels in 3:33.64. Kessler, who sometimes trained with veteran Nick Willis at the time, had previously set a U.S. High School Indoor Record of 3:57.66 for the Mile in February.

Kessler not only set a H.S. Record, he also broke Jim Ryun’s 55-year old American Junior Record of 3:36.1(1966), and met the qualifying standards for the U.S. Olympic Trials AND the Tokyo Olympics!

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/05/hobbs-kessler-breaks-alan-webbs-legendary-high-school-1500m-record/

Results: https://live.athletictiming.net/meets/10078

2021—Damian Warner just missed joining the 9000-point club in the Decathlon when he set a Canadian Record of

8995 points at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria. It was Warner’s 6^th win in the annual event.

He would go on to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, where he scored 9018 points to finally join France’s

Kevin Mayer (9126), American Ashton Eaton (9045, 9039), and the Czech Republic’s Roman Šebrle (9026) as the

only men to score more than 9000 points.

https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-combined-events-tour/news/hypo-meeting-gotzis-2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuCvYI0hmso

Born On This Day*

Cory McGee  33 (1992)  2021 Olympic finalist-1500 Meters (12^th); 10^th at the 2022 & 2023 World Championships

Was advanced to the Olympic final after tripping over a fallen runner in her semi-final (had finished 11^th)

2^nd at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, 5^th in 2024

2011 U.S. Junior Champion—1500m

        Set an American Record of 5:28.78 for 2000 meters in 2024

All-American at Florida—twice the runnerup in the NCAA 1500 (2013,2014)…4^th in the indoor mile in

2014

Won 22 state titles at Pass Christian High School in Mississippi…

Lived in Athens, Greece for awhile when her father, an FBI agent at  the time, was assigned there as

part of the security team for the 2004 Olympics…that’s where she got her first  taste of

competition as a youngster

PBs: 1:59.17(’21), 3:57.44 (‘24), 4:26.79i (‘19), 4:18.11 (’23), 9:10.48 (’14), 16:03.06 (’14);

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

Post Trials Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEPZeoMQJ6o

https://bringbackthemile.com/athletes/detail/cory_mcgee

OG Semi-Final Fall

Christina Manning-Clemons  35 (1990) 2012 NCAA Indoor(60m) and Outdoor(100m) hurdles champion(Ohio St.)

Silver medalist in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2018 World Indoor Championships; 2024-SF, 2025-7th

2021 Olympic semi-finalist…3^rd at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, 7^th in 2024

Was 5th in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and the 2017 U.S. Championships

PB:7.73i (2018), 12.51(2021); 2025 SB: 7.81i, 12.56

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

https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/christina-manning-14363368

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/christina-manning-clemons-is-a-u-s-olympian/

Nataliya Dobrynska—Ukraine  43 (1982) 2008 Olympic gold medalist—Heptathlon (2004-8^th)

2012 World Indoor Champion—Pentathlon (Silver—2004,2010)

World Championships—2005(9^th), 2007(8^th), 2009(4^th), 2011(4^th)

PBs:5013 (2012/Current World Record), 6778(2010)

https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/nataliya-dobrynska-olympic-heptathlon-champ

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/104880

https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ukraine/natallia-dobrynska-14303542

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

Retirement: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/2008-olympic-heptathlon-champion-dobrynska-an

2012 OG Report: https://www.olympedia.org/results/257822

2012 WIC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GELBObk839M

Vicki Huber-Rudawsky  58 (1967) 4-time NCAA Indoor Champion(Villanova)–1988-1500i, 3000i(1987-1989)

2-time U.S. Olympian—1988(3000-6^th), 1996-1500/1^st round)

PBs:4:07.99(’96), 4:28.31i(’88), 8:37.25(’88), 15:34.94(’96)

Won six Penn Relays watches-‘87(DMR), ‘88(4×800,DMR), ‘89-4×800,4×1500,DMR); Now an official at the Relays

Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Huber

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77866

Sports Illustrated Feature(1989): The Lady in Waiting

Zhu Jianhua-China 62 (1963) 1984 Olympic bronze medalist—High Jump

Also the bronze medalist at the 1983 World Championships

Set 3 World Records: 7-09  ¼ (2.37) 1983; 7-09  ½ (2.38) 1983, 7-10(2.39) 1984

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

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/66558

Tribute Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nReN9Lc9Ixk

Deceased

Ralph Metcalfe  68 (1910-Oct.10,1978)

        4-time Olympic medalist—1932-silver(100), bronze(200), 1936-gold(4×100), silver(100)

3-time U.S. Champion-100(1932-1934); 5-time U.S. Champion-200(1932-1936)

6-time NCAA Champion(Marquette, 1932-100m,200m; 1933-1934/100y,220y)

Inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 1975

Became a U.S. Congressman

HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/ralph-metcalfe

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

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78787

http://archive.jsonline.com/greensheet/ralph-metcalfe-beats-jesse-owens-at-marquette–in-1934-b99669717z1-369048961.html