by RBR Admin
Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field/X-Country–December 8
1929—For the 2nd year in a row, Gus Moore, representing the Brooklyn Harriers, won the U.S. X-Country title at Van Cortlandt Park, covering the muddy 6-mile course in 31:10. Among his other accomplishments, Moore, now a sophomore at Pittsburgh, anchored Boys High to victory in the High School Distance Medley at the 1926 Penn Relays.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/09/94218893.html?pageNumber=39
https://forum.trackandfieldnews.com/forum/historical/49693-gus-moore
1950—A dispute over the outcome of “The Longest Mile in History” was finally settled at the National AAU Convention in Washington D.C.
Don Gehrmann and Fred Wilt had crossed the finish line together in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in January, with officials, after a lengthy discussion, naming Gerhmann the winner. Two weeks later, the Metropolitan AAU’s Registration Committee declared Wilt as the winner, arguing that Millrose officials were wrong in picking Gehrmann.
Asa Bushnell, the Chief Judge who had cast the deciding vote in Gehrmann’s favor on the night of the meet, appealed the decision to the Met. AAU’s Board of Managers, which rejected the appeal.
After Bushnell presented his case to the AAU’s Board of Governors in D.C., Gehrmann was officialy declared the winner.
It was déjà vu all over again in the mile at the 1952 NYAC Games when Wilt and Gehrmann were again involved in a close finish. The judges initially picked Gehrmann as the winner, but reversed their decision after viewing the Bulova finish photo!
From Wally Donovan’s “A History of Indoor Track & Field”
https://www.amazon.com/history-indoor-track-field/dp/B0006CJ3TG
1963—Some big names competed at the Metropolitan AAU Championships at NY’s Van Cortlandt Park, with local legend Pete McArdle running away from Oscar Moore (31:13) and John McDonnell (31:22) to win the event for the 5th year in a row (6th in the last 7 years). His winning time of 30:34.2 broke his own 10k course and meet records.
The Irish-born McArdle became a U.S. citizen in 1962 and, 35 at the time, represented the U.S. in the Marathon at the 1964 Olympics, where he finished 23rd. He had previously won the 10,000-meters at the 1963 Pan-American Games.
Moore was McArdle’s teammate at the Tokyo Olympics, competing in the first round of the 5000-meters. He was an
All-American at Southern Illinois and would later have a successful coaching career at Glassboro State (now Rowan).
McDonnell, another Irish immigrant, gained more fame as the legendary coach at the University of Arkansas.
McArdle
http://tinyurl.com/McArdleIreland
Moore
McDonnell
Hall of Fame: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/john-mcdonnell
1974–Frank Shorter (2:11:32) wins the Fukuoka Marathon for the 4th time in a row. (see Dec.2).
Results: https://more.arrs.run/race/12364
Past Winners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuoka_Marathon?oldid=cur
1979–The inaugural Kinney National H.S. X-Country Championships were held in Balboa Park in San Diego. Brent Steiner and Ellen Lyons were the first winners. Finishing 8th in the Girls’ race was Lesley Welch (Peabody,MA), who went on to win the 1982 NCAA (Virginia) and U.S. XC titles. She would win a 2nd U.S. title in 1986.
Former St.John’s and Yale coach Steve Bartold gave some insight into how the event came to be. “Well, In the fall of 1978, over drinks and Thanksgiving dinner at my house on Long Island, my brother-in-law Jack Aneser, an advertising executive with The Kinney Shoe Corp., and myself got talking about running. His brother Rich, also a Kinney employee (and a member of Princeton’s 1975 NCAA Championship 2-mile relay team–along with former USATF CEO Craig Masback), was also involved in the discussion and helping to fuel the interest of Jack. “
“Kinney was working on a book about running trails throughout the USA. We discussed having a National Championship Distance Run (for H.S. runners), and would Kinney be interested in sponsoring it? Jack worked with the idea and Kinney bought it. They hired an ad group and I worked on the formation of the qualifying meets. (There were five scattered throughout the U.S. and held at different times during the fall)..”
“Local college coaches helped set up the races, but we also used high school representatives from each area to work as coordinators to make sure we followed all the H.S. rules. Since there was some concern later about an ‘unfair recruiting advantage’ for the involved college coaches, we decided to turn the meets over to respected H.S. representatives and it went from there.”
The meet took on different names over the years, most notably “Foot Locker”, which announced in 2025 that it would no longer sponsor the event. However, it now has a new sponsor and a new name-“Brooks XC Championhsips”!
Leading finishers
Boys: https://mnpreptrack.com/XC%20Foot%20Locker%20Meets/1979%20XC%20Kinney%20National%20Boys.pdf
Girls: https://mnpreptrack.com/XC%20Foot%20Locker%20Meets/1979%20XC%20Kinney%20National%20Girls.pdf
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_Locker_Cross_Country_Championships
1979—Old pals Art Swarts (227-8/69.40) and 43-year old Al Oerter (221-4/67.46) both recorded personal bests in the Discus at a low-key meet in Scotch Plains,NJ.
Oerter’s career is well documented, but Swarts had a fairly good career of his own, making the top-10 In the U.S. Rankings 13-times, reaching the #5 position twice (1977,1978). He made his last appearance in 1988 (#7) at the age of 43! T&F News Rankings: https://trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/
1984–Cathy Schiro (Dover,NH) made her unprecedented 4th trip to the Kinney Championships a memorable one as she won the girls race in San Diego by 16 seconds. Schiro (O’Brien) went on to represent the U.S. in the Marathon at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. Scott Fry, a member of Wisconsin’s 1988 NCAA Champions, won the boys race over John Trautmann, a 1992 Olympian at 5000-meters, and Brad Hudson, who is now one of the leading U.S. coaches.
Schiro: “I ran four times in the Kinney and Foot Locker Championship races in the Florida and San Diego finals. I remember great, fun-filled times where the pressure of the big race was lessened by all the fun. It was exciting as competitors were also teammates. I went from 19th to 10th to third, and finally won the Nationals on my fourth attempt as a senior. It ranks among my most meaningful personal running highlights along with competing on two Olympic teams.”
1990–Senior Melody Fairchild won her 2nd Foot Locker title in San Diego by almost a minute over a field that included future stars Deena Drossin-Kastor (6th), Amy Rudolph (13th), and Jen Rhines (16th). Louie Quintana, now the head coach at Oregon State, won the boys title. Finishing 4th was Alan Culpepper, a 2-time Olympian (2000-10k, 2004-marathon).
Results (1990-1998): https://archive.dyestat.com/ATHLETICS/XC/90footlk.htm
2001—Tim Moore and Amber Trotter were the winners at the Foot Locker Championships in Orlando, but not far behind were junior Chris Solinsky (3rd) and senior Molly Huddle (4th), who would go on to become two of the best distance runners in the U.S. Solinsky, now an assistant coach at Oregon, would win the 2002 FL title.
The front-running Trotter, who won by 40 seconds, addressed her battle with an eating disorder with reporters after the race. (See links)
Results(no times): https://footlockercrosscountry.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=14&year=2001&do=info
Article & Times:
Video (poor audio): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrOOeMhPTA
Trotter:
http://assets.espn.go.com/oly/columns/jeff_hollobaugh/1297835.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/sports/othersports/09RUNN.html
2012—Edward Cheserek (14:59) won his 2nd straight Foot Locker Boys’ title in San Diego, beating Sean McGorty (15:05), Jake Leingang (15:07) and Ben Saarel (15:13), all of whom ran well as college freshmen in 2013. Especially Oregon’s Cheserek, of course, who won the first of his three NCAA Div.1 titles. 12th was sophomore Conner Mantz, celebrating his 16th birthday, who would go on to win two NCAA XC titles and set an American Record in the Marathon! Down in 33rd place was Sam Prakel, currently one of the best milers in the U.S.
Sophomore Anna Rohrer won the girls’ race, but missed the 2013 season due to an injury. She came back in 2014 to win her 2nd Foot Locker title and finished 6th and 3rd, respectively, at the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Div.I Championships (10th in 2018).
Rohrer Interview:
Born On This Day*
Conner Mantz 29 (1996) Former BYU star won 2 NCAA X-Country titles in 2021, the delayed 2020 edition in March
(delayed due to Covid), the 2nd in November
Winner at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (just ahead of former BYU teammate Clayton Young)…finished 8th
at the Paris Olympics…6th at the 2024 NY City Marathon. 6th in the 10,000-meters at the 2024 U.S. Olympic
Trials
4th at the 2025 Chicago Marathon—set an American Record of 2:04:43…had earlier set two ARs in the
Half-Marathon—59:17, 59:15…4th at the 2025 Boston Marathon
2022 U.S. 20k Champion
8th in the 5000, 5th in the 10,000, at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials
PBs: 3:37.92 (2023), 7:41.43i (2022), 13:10.24i (2022), 13:11.81 (2022), 27:25.23 (2022), 60:25 (Dec.5,
2021), 2:07:47 (2023); 2025 SB: 27:35.22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conner_Mantz
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/conner-mantz-14628442
AR-How He Did It:
https://citiusmag.com/podcast/citius-mag-podcast-conner-mantz-american-marathon-record-recap
Post-Race Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vZJyNO7Ay8
’24 Marathon Trials (followed by interview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYrGTv-QPLA
Google “Conner Mantz” for lots of additional videos
Conseslus Kipruto—Kenya 31 (1994) Gold medalist at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 & 2019 World Championships—
Steeplechase…his lean at the finish in Doha in 2019 to edge Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma (8:01.35-8:01.36)
kept alive an amazing streak of wins in the event at the last 15 World Championships by runners from
Kenya (Stephen Cherono, competing as Saif Saaeed Shaheen, represented Qatar when he won at the
2003 and 2005 Worlds).
Silver medalist at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, bronze medalist in 2022
2012 World Junior Champion; 2011 World Youth Champion (2k-steeple)
PB: 8:00.12 (2016/#15 All-Time); Last competed in 2024
OG Video: https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/video/detail/men-s-3-000m-steeplechase-final-rio-2016-replays/
2019 WC Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AatporMbqhU
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conseslus_Kipruto
Xavier Carter 40 (1985) The X-Man won 4 titles at the 2006 NCAA Championships (LSU/100,400,4×100,4×400); Also
the 2005 NCAA Champion in the 4×400
2003 National Scholastic Champion-200 (Palm Bay,FL);
2004 National Scholastic Indoor Champion-200/set a National H.S. Indoor Record of 20.69—now #5 All-Time
Ran 45.44 for 400-meters in 2004
PBs: 10.00 (2008), 19.63 (2006/#8-All-Time U.S., =#12-AT World), 44.53 (2006)
19.63 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeoqmYv5xk0
NCAA Videos: 100 4×400 Full Meet
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Carter
DeeDee Trotter 40 (1985) 2-time Olympic gold medalist—4×400(2004,2012/bronze-400/2012)
2007 World Champion—4×400; 2010 World Indoor Champion—4×400
2004 NCAA Champion—400m(Tennessee)
5th in the 400 at the 2004 Olympics, and 2005 and 2007 World Championships; PB: 49.64 (2007)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeeDee_Trotter
Władysław Kozakiewicz—Poland 72 (1953) 1980 Olympic gold medalist—Pole Vault(1976-11th)
Won the gold medal in Moscow in front of a hostile crowd…known for the gesture he made to the crowd after he
won: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/wladyslaw-kozakiewicz-gesture-1980/
Cleared 18-11 ½(5.78) in the Olympic final to break his own World Record of 18-9 ¼[5.72]) that was set in May
8th at the 1983 World Championships
Won two German titles after emigrating there in 1985
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Władysław_Kozakiewicz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1980_Summer_Olympics_–_Men%27s_pole_vault
