by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track statisticians that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
This Day in Track & Field–June 6
(c)Copyright 2024-all rights reserved. It may not be reprinted or retransmitted without permission.
By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.
1885—Future Hall-of-Famer Lon Myers ran 48-4/5 in London to match his World Record in the 440-yard dash.
Wiki Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Myers
1908—Brooklyn native Charles Bacon of the Irish American A.C. set a World Record of 55-4/5 in the 400-meter Hurdles at the U.S. Eastern Olympic Trials at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Bacon went on to win the gold medal and lower his record to 55-flat at the London Olympics the following month. He had finished 9th in the Olympic 1500-meters(!) four years earlier in St.Louis.
A.C. Gilbert set another world record in the Pole Vault (12-7 ¾ [3.855m]). Gilbert and U.S. teammate Edward Cook tied for first place at the London Olympics.
Gilbert later gained fame as an inventor of children’s toys and was known as “The Man Who Saved Christmas.” During his lifetime, more than 30 million of his “Erector Sets” were sold.
Gilbert Bio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gZIQG1MkX8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set
Bacon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bacon
1915—Mildred Carl became the first woman to clear 7-feet (2.135?) in the Pole Vault. Carl started her day in New Haven by matching the previous (pre-IAAF) World Record of 6-3 (1.905?), then proceeded to clear 11 successive heights, an inch at a time, topping out at 7-2 (2.185?). 4 other women had taken turns raising the record earlier in the year, but it would take another 4 years (1919) for Carl to improve her record to 7-3 (2.21).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
1931— USC’s Frank Wykoff (9.6), the co-World Record holder in the event (9.4), won his 2nd straight title in the 100-yard dash on a wet track at the NCAA Championships (June 5,6) at Stagg Field in Chicago.
After finishing second in 1929 and third in 1930, Michigan’s Eddie Tolan (21.5), who was second to Wykoff in the 100, finally placed first in the 220-yards (straightaway). He would go on to win the 100 and 200 meters at the following year’s Olympics in Los Angeles. (Wykoff would anchor the winning 4×100 in L.A.).
Iowa’s Ed Gordon, who won the Long Jump here (24-11 ¾ [7.61]), was another future gold medalist in L.A.
Ohio State sophomore Jack Keller won the 120y (14.6) and 220y (23.8/straight) Hurdles. Another double champion was USC Junior Robert Hall, who won the Shot Put (49-9[15/16]) and the Discus (152-7[46.50]).
USC dominated the team, scoring, beating runner-up Ohio State by 46 points (77-1/7 to 31-1/7).
https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1931.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_NCAA_Track_and_Field_Championships
1941—Cornelius “Dutch” Warmerdam improved his World Record in the pole vault twice, first to 15-4 ¼ (4.68) and then to 15-5 ¾ (4.72) at the Compton Inv. Hal Davis won the 100 in 10.2 to tie Jesse Owens’ World Record in the 100 meters.
WR Progressions
PV– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
100– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_100_metres_world_record_progression
1971—Doris Brown ran 4:41.3 for the Mile in Tacoma,WA, to regain the American Record from Francie Larrieu, who had run 4:41.5 the previous day in Berkeley, CA.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/doris-brown-heritage
1981—Mike Juskus won the Javelin with his final throw of 273-2 (83.26) at the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, one week after winning his 3rd Div.III title. He graduated from New Jersey’s Glassboro State (now Rowan) and became a dad the same week. Retired in 2019 as the head coach at Hopatcong (NJ) High School
Houston’s Carl Lewis closed out his brief (2-years) collegiate career as a double winner on Friday (6-5), finishing first in the 100 (9.99w) over Tennessee’s Jeff Phillips (10.00w) and the Long Jump (27-3/4w [8.25]), which had to be moved indoors due to heavy rain.
UTEP’s Suleiman Nyambui won the 2nd of his three straight 5k-10k (6-5) doubles (13:38.8, 28:34.23). 4th in those races, respectively, were BYU’s Doug Padilla and Oregon’s Alberto Salazar.
Villanova’s Sydney Maree (3:35.30) was a dominant winner of the 1500 over Baylor’s Todd Harbour (3:38.12), Indiana’s Jim Spivey (3:38.33), Padilla (3:38.37), and Notre Dame’s Chuck Aragon (3:38.40). Maree’s winning time stood as the Collegiate Record until New Mexico’s Josh Kerr ran 3:35.01 on April 20, 2018.
Results: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1981.pdf
Juskus: http://tinyurl.com/JuskusNCAA
http://www.ustfccca.org/ncaa-100/carl-lewis-houston-long-jump-100-ncaa-outdoor-championships-1981
1986— Jürgen Schult set a World Record of 243-0 (74.08) in the Discus in Neubrandenburg, Germany. That remained the oldest record on the books until Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna threw 243-11 (74.35) on April 14, 2024!
WR Progression(meters): http://www.athletix.org/statistics/wrDTmen.htm
Conversions: http://legacy.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/markConversions/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Schult
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1E74U6RFRc
1987—Sheila Hudson, a sophomore at Cal-Berkeley, won the Women’s Triple Jump at the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge (June 3-6) with a World Record (pre-IAAF) leap of 45-2 ½ (13.78). Hudson also finished 2nd (21-4 ¼) in the Long Jump to LSU’s Sheila Echols, who set a Meet Record of 22-9 ¼.
It was the first of 9 American Records set by Hudson (a best of 47-3 ½[14.41]), whose reign atop the U.S. all-time list would last until 2004, when Tiombe Hurd jumped 47-5 (14.45).
Other notable winners included:
Women
Wisconsin frosh Suzy Favor won the first of her four NCAA titles in the 1500, winning a last-lap duel over Tennessee senior Alisa Harvey, the defending champion (4:09.85-4:09.92). Favor would win a record nine NCAA individual titles during her career (later tied by Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego). Harvey also finished 2nd in the 800 (to BYU’s Julie Jenkins, 2:02.52-2:02.64).
Georgia senior Gwen Torrence was a double winner in the Women’s 100 (11.25) and 200 (22.27w) and Villanova sophomore Vicki Huber won the 3000 in 8:54.41.
Men
TCU’s Raymond Stewart (10.14) won the 100 over a star-studded field that included Pittsburgh’s Lee McRae (10.21), the defending champion, UCLA’s Mike Marsh (10.28), and Texas A&M’s Floyd Heard (10.31). Heard won the 200 with a wind-aided time of 20.03.
Ohio State senior Butch Reynolds (44.13), who would set a World Record of 43.29 the following year, won the 400 over UCLA’s Danny Everett (44.47), Arkansas’ Roddie Haley (44.82), SMU’s Kevin Robinzine (45.20), Seton Hall’s Andrew Valmon (45.35), and Baylor’s Raymond Pierre (45.43).
Pierre has become one of the top starters in the U.S. and has written a book on the subject, The Starter’s Case Book.
George Mason junior Abdi Bile won the 1500 in 3:35.79 and would go on to win the World title in Rome later in the year.
Arkansas sophomore Joe Falcon, who would become one of America’s best milers, won the 10,000 in 29:10.66.
UCLA junior Kevin Young (48.90) won the 400-meter hurdles over Texas sophomore Winthrop Graham (49.46). Young and Graham (47.66) would finish 1-2 at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, with Young setting a World Record of 46.78.
UCLA won the Men’s team title with 81 points, almost tripling the score of runner-up Texas (28). Host LSU (62) was the controversial Women’s winner over Alabama (53).
Alabama, thanks to two strong final legs from Pauline Davis (50.3) and Lillie Leatherwood-King (49.7), who had earlier won the 400 (50.90), had crossed the finish line first in the 4×400, apparently giving the Crimson Tide the team title. But officials ruled that Davis had lined up with one foot outside the exchange zone, and the team was disqualified, leaving LSU as the NCAA Champion (Nebraska was disqualified for the same violation).
While he admitted that Davis did have one foot outside the zone, an irate Doug Williamson, the Alabama coach, didn’t think the call should have been made, ”The Louisiana State officials’ organization officiated the meet,” he said. ”What do you think? They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”. Read more at the NY Times link below.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_jump_world_record_progression
Men: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1987.pdf
Women: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1987w.pdf
NY Times Coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/08/sports/ncaa-track-officials-disqualify-alabama-s-team.html
1992–USC’s Quincy Watts won the 400 at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, setting a Collegiate Record of 44-flat (44.00). Watts came back later in the day to run a 43.6 anchor for the Trojans (3:00.58), but it wasn’t enough to catch Derek Mills, who helped Georgia Tech (2:59.95) become only the 2nd college team to break 3-minutes. (UCLA ran 2:59.91 in 1988). Watts would win Olympic gold in the 400 and 4×400 in Barcelona later in the year. Now the Head Coach at his alma mater, Watts reflects on his Olympic gold:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uavxw22QBEw
In other highlights, UTEP’s Olapade Adeniken won the Men’s 100 (10.09) and 200 (20.11), Dahlia Duhaney finished 2nd to Stanford’s Chryste Gaines in the Women’s 100 (11.05w-11.29w), won the 200 (22.80), and anchored LSU to a win in the 4×100 (43.30), Illinois’ Tonja Buford(Bailey), won the Women’s 400-Hurdles (55.12), Georgetown’s Steve Holman (3:38.39) edged Indiana’s Bob Kennedy (3:39.10) in the Men’s 1500, and Florida set a Collegiate Record of 3:27.53 in the Women’s 4×400.
Arkansas won the 1st of its 8 consecutive Men’s team titles, while LSU, which got a fight from Florida (87-81), won the 6th of its 11 straight Women’s titles.
Complete Results: https://tx.milesplit.com/meets/149287/results#.Xtf_DC-ZMhs
Also(Finalists)
Men: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1992.pdf
Women: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1992w.pdf
Video(M-4×400): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLHhD5IAWs
1998—Arkansas senior Robert Howard closed out his brilliant collegiate career at the NCAA Championships in cold and windy Buffalo by winning the Long Jump (6-4) with a great (but wind-aided) final leap of 27-5 ½ (8.37), then coming back 2 days later to win the Triple Jump (55-8 ¼ [16.97]). Those were his 8th and 9th NCAA titles, and his 20 points helped the Razorbacks win the 6th of their eventual 7 straight Men’s team titles.
TCU set an incredible Collegiate Record of 38.04 in the 4×100 (some joked that it was wind-aided for the entire race), but the mark was later stripped from the record books (as were all of TCU’s team points) due to NCAA violations.
When Washington State junior Bernard Lagat fell to the ground midway through the 1500-Meters, he took Michigan’s Kevin Sullivan with him, forcing Arkansas’ defending champion, Seneca Lasister, to show off his hurdling technique. It was a 3-way battle for the win down the homestretch, with Lassiter (3:42.34) holding off Stanford freshman Gabe Jennings (3:42.39) and Colorado State’s Clyde Colenso (3:42.66), the Indoor Mile champion.
The talent-laden 5000 was won by Colorado senior Adam Goucher (13:31.64), with Arizona senior Abdi Abdirahman (13:40.61) finishing 2nd, UCLA senior Meb Keflezighi (13:44.68) 4th, and Lagat (14:12.38) way back in 16th.
Stanford got a rare 1-2-3 finish in the 10,000-Meters (6-4) from sophomore twins Brad (28:31.80) and Brent (28:32.39) Hauser, and junior Nathan Nutter (28:32.62). Keflezighi (28:39.58) was 4th, and Abdirahman (28:46.36) 6th. (“Meb” was the defending champion in both distance events).
Sophomore Angelo Taylor (48.14) won the 400-Meter Hurdles on Friday, then ran a great 43.6 anchor to lead Georgia Tech to a win in the 4×400 (3:01.89).
LSU’s women saw a couple of its amazing streaks come to an end, finishing 2nd to Texas in the 4×100 (42.76-43.02) after winning the event six years in a row, and the Tigers were never a factor in the team standings after having been crowned champions the previous 11 years (1987-1997)! Texas wound up as the bookend for LSU’s streak, winning in 1986 as well as this year. Suziann Reid, who earlier won the 400 (51.22), ran a 50.6 anchor to finish off Texas’ win in the 4×400 Relay, which clinched the team title for the Longhorns.
For the 2nd year in a row, Arizona junior Amy Skieresz won the 5000 (6-5/15:37.77) and 10,000 (6-3/33:04.12/ Meet Record), and Georgia junior Debbie Ferguson won the 100 (10.94w) and 200 (22.66).
(From T&F News)
Results
Men: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1998.pdf
Women: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1998w.pdf
Videos
M1500: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSX7YXuv1pQ
M5000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQJUCD3D5FU
NCAA History
Past Team Champions
Men: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Outdoor_Track_and_Field_Championships
Women: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Women%27s_Outdoor_Track_and_Field_Championships
USTFCCCA: http://www.ustfccca.org/meets-results/meet-history?series=3369
T&F News
https://trackandfieldnews.com/historical-results/a-history-of-the-ncaa-championships-1921-2018/
