Event Dominance Propelled South Carolina’s Run

The brisk winds of change swept through South Carolina’s ranks in 1999.

A new era befell USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Famer Curtis Frye’s program.

Gone were the days where throwers led the Gamecocks to their previous apex (More on them in another #NCAATF x #TheCentury article). Instead, sprinters roosted in Columbia and pushed South Carolina to heights to which it had never seen.

Coincidentally, 1999 also marked the triumphant arrival of twin sisters Me’Lisa (Lisa) and Mikele (Miki) Barber – who celebrate their 40th birthdays today – as well as Demetria Washington.

After a freshman year where the trio got their feet wet to varying success at the 1999 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships (Miki Barber and Washington finished 2-7 in the 400; Lisa Barber, Miki Barber and Washington helped South Carolina finish fifth in the 4×100 relay), they hit their stride as sophomores.

Business picked up at the 2000 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the trio combined for 35 of the Gamecocks’ 41 points. Miki Barber starred with a victory in the 200 (Lisa Barber and Washington were third and sixth, respectively), a runner-up finish in the 400 (Washington was seventh) and a sizzling anchor leg on the runner-up 4×400 relay team (Lisa Barber led off; Washington toted the baton second). 

The trio rode that wave of success outdoors as Miki Barber crested the 400-meter podium with Washington standing right beside her as runner-up (It was – and, still is – only the second time in meet history that one program went 1-2 in that event). Lisa Barber played a major role on South Carolina’s relay teams that year as the 4×400 squad won the national title (Lisa Barber led off; Washington second; Miki Barber anchored) and the 4×100 team placed third (The Barber twins had the exact same roles; Washington wasn’t on the squad).

Fast forward to the 2001 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships and that’s where you’ll find all three women on the podium after both the 200 and 400. Washington took fifth in the former and posted consecutive runner-up finishes in the latter. Miki Barber ended up sixth and fourth, while Lisa Barber took sixth and eighth, respectively. They also comprised three-fourths of the third-place 4×100 relay team from that year.

Then, in 2002, everything came together for South Carolina at Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Gamecocks had multiple scorers in the 200 (Lisa Barber was fifth), 400 (Lisa Barber was second; Washington was fourth) and the 400 hurdles (Lashinda Demus set a world U20 record in the process). South Carolina also swept the relays with Lisa Barber and Washington toting the baton on the 4×100 and then Washington lending a hand to the 4×400 squad that broke the collegiate record and meet record at 3:26.46.

Calhoun High Hurdled Into The Record Book

Lee Calhoun was virtually unknown before 1956, but Dr. LeRoy Walker knew him well.

A young Calhoun was NAIA high hurdles runner-up in 1953 for Dr. Walker’s North Carolina Central track team before leaving to serve two years in the U.S. Army.

It is possible that even Dr. Walker was surprised by Calhoun’s progress, as the native of Gary, Indiana, opened up the 1956 season beating some of the best in the world when he claimed the AAU national indoor hurdles title.

Outdoors that year, Calhoun set meet records in becoming his school’s first champion in any event at the NAIA or NCAA meets, sweeping the 110 Hurdles with meet records of 14.0 and 13.7, respectively.

While that was impressive for someone who entered the year with a best of 14.5, the best was still yet to come. Calhoun culminated his 1956 season with an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne, edging fellow American Jack Davis as both ran 13.5 – only Davis had ever run faster (a then-world record 13.4).

Calhoun caught no one by surprise in 1957.

At the slightly shorter 120-yard distance, he again swept NAIA and NCAA titles with meet records, both at 13.6 as he became the first – and still only – man to break NCAA meet records in different years in the high hurdles.

Calhoun continued making history after college, becoming the first man to win multiple Olympic high hurdle golds after his 1960 victory in Rome. A month earlier he equaled the 110H world record of 13.2 – a time that would not be bettered until 1973.

Dr. Walker, who eventually became chancellor of North Carolina Central as well as the first Black president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, saw his protégé also become an Olympic coach as well as leading programs at Grambling, Yale and Western Illinois. The latter’s campus – Calhoun’s final stop before his death in 1989 – displays a life-sized bronze sculpture of his likeness entitled “Excellence on Winged Feet” inside the stadium at Hanson Field.

Howl Yes! Bell Vaulted To Greatness

Earl Bell of Arkansas State was in second place when the pole vault bar was raised to a meet-record height of 18-1 (5.51m) at the 1975 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

If successful, Bell would become the first 18-footer in meet history and, at the age of 19, the world’s first teenager over the barrier.

The only problem was he had lots of company – four had cleared the previous meet record height of 17-8 (5.38m), and the other three all had higher PRs than Bell. Leading that group was the first collegiate 18-footer, Dan Ripley of San Jose State, who scaled 18-1 a few months earlier for a world indoor best.

“When you get in a meet like this, it’s not only how much ability you have, but how much class and the ability to respond,” Arkansas State coach Guy Kochel explained to the Associated Press. “If a guy is not a consistent vaulter; if he does not have a little character, he’s going to choke before it’s over.”

“Choke” wasn’t in Bell’s vocabulary that day.

He was indeed the meet’s first 18-foot vaulter with a second-attempt clearance. Only Ripley could match him on his third – and when neither got over 18-4 (5.59m), Bell became the Red Wolves’ first NCAA outdoor champion.

“He can go higher than 18-1, but I can’t say how high,” added Kochel. “He’s not far from the world record (which was 18-6½ or 5.65m). Most people really don’t know how close he is. He was over 18-4 twice in the NCAA and brushed it coming down.”

Well, after repeating as NCAA Indoor champ with the meet’s first 18-foot clearance, Bell opened the outdoor season with a collegiate record of 18-3½ (5.57m). Bell asked the bar to be raised to the world record of 18-7 (5.66m) and while he missed on each of those attempts, he eventually got the mark two months later when he soared over 18-7¼ (5.67m). That made Bell, now 20, the youngest vault world record holder since 19-year-old Brian Sternberg of Washington became history’s first 5-meter (16-4¾) vaulted in 1963.

What made Bell’s world record even more remarkable was that he needed that all-time clearance just to win. He was behind on misses to Kansas alum Terry Porter, who PR’d by six inches at 18-1.

“Porter’s jump made a hell of a difference,” Bell told Don Steffens for Track & Field News. “I was jumping well obviously, but Porter … wow! Last year at the NCAA, I had the same feeling when Ripley was leading.”

Bell eventually repeated as NCAA Outdoor champ – raising the meet record to 18-1¼ (5.51m) – and then made the U.S. Olympic team for Montreal, where he finished sixth. In 1977 he added a third-straight NCAA Outdoor title to join Dave Roberts of Rice as then the only three-time solo winners of the event.

Seven years later, Bell became the first American to clear 19 feet (5.80m) outdoors and earned an Olympic bronze medal. It was a moment for celebration for the Bell family, which had a long history of vaulting success. Bell was the youngest of four vaulting brothers and began jumping at the age of 5. His dad William – a future masters word record holder from age 75 to 95 – made his poles in the early days.

After retiring in 1991, Earl Bell opened the doors of Bell Athletics in his Arkansas hometown of Jonesboro and has guided multiple future Olympians. Bell’s ASU school record of 18-7¼ lasted 43 years until the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, when fellow Jonesboro native – and Bell Athletics pupil – Michael Carr raised his PR some eight inches to 5.70m (18-8¼) to finish fifth.

McLaughlin Had No Hurdling Competition

Sydney McLaughlin knew there would be a lot of eyes on her in what many projected to be her only year at the collegiate level as a freshman at Kentucky in 2018.

“There’s a lot of hype … a lot of expectations,” McLaughlin told the Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader three years ago. I try to control and distance myself from those things, because when you let all of those things in, it definitely affects you mentally and your performance as well.”

After all, as a 16-year-old prep standout, McLaughlin clocked what would have been equivalent to the seventh-fastest time in collegiate history in the 400 Hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials. With a third-place finish there, the soon-to-be high school senior earned a spot on Team USA for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where she would reach the semifinals.

Well, McLaughlin definitely distanced herself from the hype – and the competition – two years ago, as she scorched the track during her freshman year with the Wildcats. Nothing stood between McLaughlin and a number of historical performances, both indoors and outdoors.

McLaughlin dazzled in her first collegiate meet for Kentucky, turning in the third fastest mark in collegiate history in the indoor 300 meters. Her time of 36.12 was the fastest in the past 36 years since Merlene Ottey ran for Nebraska.

By the time the indoor season ended, McLaughlin added two more all-time top-10 collegiate marks – but these were in the 400. McLaughlin went 50.52 at the SEC Indoor Championships for what was the second fastest performance in collegiate history and dipped under the world U20 record held by Sanya Richards from 2004. Two weeks later at the NCAA Indoor Championships, McLaughlin bettered her indoor PR to 50.36 and narrowly missed Kendall Ellis’ one-heat-old – Yes. ONE-HEAT-OLD – American and collegiate record of 50.34.

McLaughlin continued the blistering pace outdoors, posting the third fastest time in collegiate history over 400 meters in her season opener. That 50.07 at the Florida Relays was the fastest since 2016 The Bowerman winner Courtney Okolo bettered her own standard to 49.71.

One month later at the National Relay Championships, McLaughlin debuted in the 400H with a 53.60, which was the fourth fastest mark in collegiate history at the time. What made it even more impressive was that McLaughlin won her heat by nearly four seconds.

McLaughlin’s dominance carried over to the SEC Outdoor Championships where she rightfully took her place atop the collegiate record book. After a methodical 54.85 in qualifying, she ripped a 52.75 in the final to win by 3.36 seconds and shatter Kori Carter’s near five-year-old collegiate best by 0.46 seconds.

Just a few weeks later, McLaughlin won her lone NCAA title by a record margin. McLaughlin crossed the finish line in 53.76, 1.75 seconds ahead of Anna Cockrell of Southern California to top the previous meet best established of 1.54 seconds by Tonja Brown in 1982.

It’s safe to say McLaughlin, who was a finalist for The Bowerman two years ago, has continued her strong running as a professional. McLaughlin earned the 400H silver medal at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in 52.23, what is now the third fastest time in world history.

Oregon’s Jerome Sprinted To NCAA Glory

If ever a meet could have used photo-finish timing, it was the 1964 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The 5000 and 400 were both ruled deadlocks, but those were with merely two runners inseparable.

The 100-meter final saw three sprinters crossing the line at almost the same instant: Harry Jerome of Oregon, Edwin Roberts of North Carolina Central and Trenton Jackson of Illinois.

It took almost an hour to sort the finish, but when they did, Jerome was ruled the victor in 10.1. Roberts (second) and Jackson (third) were also credited with that same mark as well.

“Honestly, that’s one I’d hate to judge on,” Jerome said about the finish to Dick Leutzinger of the Eugene Register-Guard. “Usually I know when I win or lose. I’d hate to say on that one.”

While the 10.1 was a meet and collegiate record, it wasn’t a PR for Jerome. He still owned a share of the world record of 10.0 that he set in the summer after his freshman season back in 1960.

Jerome was a Canadian prodigy who came from great lineage. As a high school standout in North Vancouver, British Columbia, he broke a 31-year-old national record in the 220 yards. And many knew his grandfather, John Armstrong Howard, who was the first Black athlete to represent Canada in the Olympic Games.

The fact that Jerome was even running in 1964 – near his best, let alone at all – was a comeback story for the ages. Jerome tore his quadriceps tendon in the fall of 1962 at the British Commonwealth Games and the seriousness of the injury led many to believe that he would never run again. He didn’t believe that and a little over a year later, he opened the 1964 season by equaling the world indoor best in the 60-yard dash with his time of 6.0.

Then at the 1964 NCAA Championships, Jerome doubled back in the 200, taking third to lead Oregon to its second team title in three years – both at Hayward Field. The Ducks won their first national title in 1962 when Jerome won the 220 yards and was runner-up in the 100.

Not long after that, Jerome went to the Tokyo Olympic Games, where he earned his lone Olympic medal – a bronze in the 100.

Jerome died in 1982 of a brain aneurysm at age 42. In 1984, the Labatts Classic held in Burnaby was renamed the Harry Jerome Classic and in 1988 a statue of him was erected in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Levins Kicked Past Competition In 5K/10K

Through 4600 meters of the 5000-meter final and 9600 meters of the 10,000-meter final at the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, it was still anybody’s race. But over the final 400 meters of each competition, Cam Levins of Southern Utah ruled supreme.

Eight years ago, Levins used blistering kicks to complete what was, at the time, the 11th distance double in meet history. It polished off a dream redshirt senior year that ended with him hoisting The Bowerman, as collegiate track & field’s most outstanding male athlete.

Just about six weeks before the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Levins staked his claim as the favorite for both of those events with a pair of all-time marks in late April. First it was at the Mt. SAC Relays where he went 13:18.47 in the 5000 and outkicked Lawi Lalang of Arizona for the fifth best performance in collegiate history. Then, he won a stacked 10,000-meter race at the Payton Jordan Invitational in 27:27.96 for the second fastest mark in collegiate history behind Sam Chelanga’s two-year-old all-time best of 27:08.49.

The first race on Levins’ NCAA docket was the 10K. It just so happened to be the final event of the evening, as if they fully expected to see fireworks to close out the night.

After 22 laps, four athletes were bunched tightly together. That number whittled down to three with 800 meters to go and then it remained that way until the bell. Once the clanging echoed through the seasonably cool summer night, Levins dropped the hammer and blistered the track for a 58.06-second final lap on his way to a 28:07.14 victory, which was the fastest winning mark at the meet since 1984 (Ed Eyestone, BYU).

Two nights later, Levins was more than happy to let a kicker’s race develop in the 5K.

“I just wanted to wait for the last couple-hundred meters, put myself in position, wait for someone to respond and just go – just sorta use my intuition rather than an exact race I might have planned,” Levins told Sieg Lindstrom of Track & Field News.

Patience paid off for Levins as his 54.29-second capper turned what had been six men within one second of the lead at the bell into a one-second victory. Paul Chelimo of UNC-Greensboro tried to go with him – and split 54.89 between 4600 and 5000 meters – but Levins had an extra gear, even after a challenging 10K two nights prior.

“I’m really, really happy,” Levins told Tom Zulewski of The Spectrum & Daily News of St. George, Utah after the race. “To be able to come back from the 10,000 and win the 5000 is awesome. It’s what I wanted all season. To pull off the double is more than I could imagine.”

Russell Dominated The 100H At NCAAs

Gillian Russell won a world championship two years before she even stepped foot on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Florida.

And three months after she finished seventh in her first 100-meter hurdle final at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 1992, Russell became the first – and still, only – woman to defend a world U20 crown in that same discipline.

So, it was just a matter of time until Russell, who celebrates her 47th birthday today, topped the NCAA podium in her signature event (Russell did win her first NCAA title earlier that year during the indoor season in the 55H).

Less than one full year later – 364 days, to be exact – Russell gave the Hurricanes the program’s first NCAA outdoor individual title. As one of four women to return from the previous year’s final, she ran like a champion from the start and crossed the finish line in 13.02 seconds, just ahead of Ime Akpan of Arizona State, who also finished behind Russell in 1992.

Seeing Russell on top of the NCAA 100H podium was a familiar sight over the next few years as she became the first woman in meet history to string together three consecutive victories (Only Michigan’s Tiffany Ofili has matched her in that regard all these years later).

In 1994, Russell absolutely demolished the field in Boise, Idaho. Her 0.40-second triumph over Kim Carson of LSU remains the largest margin of victory in meet history 26 years later and was only equaled by Brianna Rollins during her Bowerman year in 2013.

Then in 1995, Russell completed the trifecta with a 12.99 clocking, the second time that she went sub-13 at the NCAA meet. She also became just the second woman in meet history to make four consecutive 100H finals, joining Cinnamon Sheffield of LSU from 1989 to 1992.

The native of Kingston, Jamaica, represented her homeland at two Olympic Games (1992 and 1996) as well as at two World Championships (1993 and 1995). Russell earned an Olympic bronze medal as part of Jamaica’s 4×100 relay pool in 1996 and set a national record in the 100H the year before during the semifinals of the World Championships.

Fosbury Flopped To High Jump Glory

It was initially called a flop, but in reality, Dick Fosbury had a huge hit.

The Oregon State high jumper became a star in 1968, riding his revolutionary style all the way to an Olympic gold medal and being recognized as one of the world’s best-known athletes.

The sensation was a new style of clearing the high jump bar that he developed in 1963 as a high school sophomore. Instead of using a straddle or roll technique, Fosbury went over the bar backwards. In 1964 his hometown newspaper, the Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, captioned a photo of him as “Fosbury Flops Over the Bar” and a story described his technique as like “a fish flopping into a boat.”

The radical style wasn’t an immediate success with everyone. Fosbury’s coach at Oregon State – USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Berny Wagner – had him working on a conventional method in practice, while allowing the flop in freshman meets. That changed in Fosbury’s sophomore year of 1967 when he opened up by clearing a school record 6-10 (2.08m).

“After the meet, Berny came up to me and said, ‘That’s enough,’” Fosbury recalled to Brad Fuqua of the Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times in 2014. “That was the end of Plan A, on to Plan B.”

But it was in 1968 that Fosbury started to soar, both literally and in popularity. He was on the cover of Track & Field News in February when he first cleared 7-0 (2.13m) and in March, he won the NCAA Indoor title, tying the meet record of 7-0. In June, Fosbury won the NCAA Outdoor with a meet record 7-2¼ (2.19m), improving the previous meet record of 7-2 (2.18m) set by Boston U’s John Thomas in 1961.

Then came Mexico City and true world debut of the Fosbury Flop. The crowd of 80,000 was captivated, loudly cheering Fosbury’s clearances. “Only a triple somersault off a flying trapeze with no net below could be more thrilling,” one German reporter told Jon Hendershott of Track & Field News.

Fosbury, who had raised his PR to 7-3 (2.21m) at the Final Olympic Trials, had first-attempt clearances through a PR 2.22m (7-3¼), his third Olympic record height. He and fellow American Ed Caruthers – 1967 NCAA runner-up for Arizona – were the only ones left as the bar went to 2.24m (7-4¼) and the marathon runners were entering the stadium for their finish.

Only Fosbury was able to clear it – surpassing the American record of 2.23m (7-3¾) set in 1960 by Thomas. Fellow Oregonian Kenny Moore had just entered the stadium as the first American marathoner and “threw his arms in the air, danced a jig step and shouted congratulations to Dick. The crowd roared with delight at the antics of the two young Americans,” wrote Hendershott.

Fosbury, who missed three attempts at a world record 2.29m (7-6), would never jump as high again. He repeated as NCAA champ in 1969, raising the meet record to 7-2½ (2.20m).

Today it is estimated that 99% of high jumpers worldwide use the flop style.

Fleshman Starred In The 5000 Meters

Lauren Fleshman learned an important lesson in March of 2003.

Fleshman, then a four-time national champion with back-to-back titles in the outdoor 5000 and an indoor 3000 crown from the previous year to boot, entered the 2003 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships as the odds-on favorite to complete the distance sweep.

A supposed coronation never came to fruition as Fleshman ended up a distant fourth in the 5000 and rallied for a close runner-up finish in the 3000 the next day. In fact, North Carolina junior Shalane Flanagan’s 0.53-second triumph over Fleshman in the 3000 was the smallest margin of victory in that event in the past 20 years.

“That was a really good reminder to be prepared for anything,” Fleshman told John Schumacher of the Sacramento Bee in 2003 about her weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Three months later, Fleshman and Flanagan met up again in the 5000-meter final at the 2003 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, California. One might think home-track advantage would play into Fleshman’s favor with it being less than two hours from Stanford’s campus, but Flanagan was undefeated against collegians that year.

A brisk early pace proved too much for many of the competitors to handle, leaving Flanagan, Fleshman and Colorado’s Sara Gorton at the front through 3200 meters. Flanagan and Fleshman picked up the tempo even more on the ninth lap, which dropped Gorton. As Flanagan made her move with 700 meters to go, Fleshman matched her stride for stride and then dropped the hammer with a 65.5-second final lap to win by more than six seconds.

Fleshman finished in 15:24.06, which demolished the previous meet record of 15:37.77, set by Amy Skieresz of Arizona five years earlier. It was the biggest improvement in that event’s meet record since North Carolina State’s Betty Springs took 19 seconds off the standard in 1983.

Post-collegiate success followed for Fleshman.

Fleshman was a two-time U.S. champion at 5000 Meters with victories in 2006 and 2010, as well as a runner-up finish in 2005. Then, at the 2011 World Championships in South Korea, Fleshman equaled the best finish by an American woman in the 5000 with her seventh-place effort.

X-Man Reigned At 2006 NCAA Meet

The X-Men are fictional superheroes.

The X-Man, however, is very, very real.

Back in 2006, Xavier Carter authored comic-book-like performances at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, California, when he became the first man since Jesse Owens to win four national titles at the same outdoor meet and completed the only 100-400 double in meet history in the process.

“It probably won’t really hit me for a few weeks,” Carter told Track & Field News of his cornucopia of crowns. “But, as I think about it, Owens is a legend, so I feel honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as him.”

Busy doesn’t even begin to describe Carter 14 years ago.

For Carter to even score in each of the four events he contested – 100, 400, 4×100, 4×400 – he would have to compete nine times across a four-day span, beginning on Wednesday with heats of the 400 and 4×100, then concluding on Saturday with finals of the 100, 400 and 4×400.

Carter kicked off his four-title quest on Friday as part of LSU’s 4×100 relay team. He took the baton second from Richard Thompson, blew past the rest of the competitors on the backstretch and gave Marvin Stevenson and Kelly Willie leads they would never relinquish. The Tigers won in 38.44 and by 0.42 seconds, the fastest winning time in six years and the largest margin of victory since Houston won by 0.50 seconds in 1982.

Defending champion Walter Dix of Florida State stood in Carter’s way in the 100, but nothing would faze the burgeoning star this weekend. Carter started a bit slow, caught up to Dix and Demi Omole of Wisconsin with about 15 meters left and powered through the finish line. It was a 10.09 PR for Carter and a 0.09-second victory over Dix, who’d win again in 2007.

Less than 30 minutes later, Carter was back on the track for the 400. It might have looked as if fatigue began to settle in as Carter sat near last in the first 100 meters of the race, yet the LSU standout only got stronger as the race progressed. He blistered a 10.3 split between 100 and 200 and closed the final 200 meters in 22.9 to post a 44.53 PR and a 0.18-second victory.

All that was left for Carter was the 4×400, an event in which the Tigers set a 2:59.59 CR the previous year at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with him on the anchor leg (Carter split 44.0). This race wasn’t nearly as fast (3:01.58) – but that wasn’t an issue. Carter toted the baton around in 45.5 and crossed the finish line first, completing his impressive haul of NCAA titles.

While an Olympic or World Championships medal never came his way, Carter sure left his mark on the world all-time chart. Carter went 19.63 over 200 meters in 2006 for what was the second fastest mark in world history at the time behind Michael Johnson’s 19.32 WR (That race featured some future heavy hitters on the world stage: Tyson Gay finished runner-up in 19.70 PB; Usain Bolt finished third in 19.88 PB).

Bakewell’s Winding Road To 800 Meter Glory

Karen Bakewell’s Road to 800-Meter Glory wasn’t a straight shot. 

It had multiple twists and turns, not to mention a detour from Oxford, Ohio, back to Jamestown, New York, when she withdrew from Miami University in Ohio to attend a hometown community college after disagreements flared with a new coach the RedHawks hired. 

“You’re going to do his workouts, because he said so,” Bakewell told The Cincinnati Enquirer back in 1986. “That’s just how it is. I was used to doing my own pace. 

“I guess I needed an attitude adjustment. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to say so far away from my home – and I wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate myself to track.” 

Bakewell returned to campus rejuvenated and prepared to face all adversity head-on. 

As it turns out, head coach Richard Ceronie – the same coach Bakewell butted heads with as a sophomore – had a new challenge for her. Ceronie wanted to turn Bakewell, the 1984 Mid-American Conference outdoor champion at 400 meters, into an 800-meter specialist. 

“We talked about it over the winter and I was excited, because it is a new race for me,” Bakewell said. “I’ve always done the 200, 400 and relays before.” 

Bakewell made her two-lap debut at the Domino’s Pizza Relays, hosted by Florida State in late March. After finishing a close second to Alabama’s Evelyn Adiru, who competed for Uganda at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, it was off to the 800-meter races for Bakewell.

“I thought she would run maybe a 2:09, which is a good time,” Ceronie said after the meet. “But she ran a 2:06.9, which is comparable to the best times being run in the country … Then I realized how really good she could be.”

Bakewell lowered her PR to 2:04.18 in early May and turned her attention to that year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships that were being held in Indianapolis. For her to be crowned NCAA champion, Bakewell would probably need to run another massive PR. 

You know what happened next. 

Bakewell pushed the tempo from the start, using her 400-meter speed to make the rest of the competitors uncomfortable. By the time she accelerated with 300 meters to go, no one else had enough endurance to go with her as she crossed the finish line in a collegiate- and meet-record-setting time of 2:00.85.

To this day, Bakewell is one of just 15 women who have gone sub-2:01.00 in collegiate history outdoors. Twelve of those women did so at the NCAA Championships; Bakewell was the first.

Hurdling History For Forrest “Spec” Towns

Forrest Towns didn’t seem like a record-breaking hurdler when he entered Georgia.

He fell down in his first attempt at the event.

But, two years later, the man known as “Spec” for his freckled face won every hurdles race in sight, including the 1936 NCAA Championships and Berlin Olympics 110-meter hurdles.

His whirlwind year in 1936 saw him run faster than the world record of 14.2 an amazing 10 times. Nine of those were in 14.1, but the fastest came in a post-Olympic race in which he lowered the WR to 13.7 – an improvement by four tenths of a second that remains the largest improvement in event history.

The race was in Oslo, Norway, and Per Avatsmark described the race in Sportsmanden: “From stride one his speed was so great that he virtually flew over the first hurdle. The rest of the race was as perfect as the beginning.”

Towns recalled, “I got off to an unusually good start that day. When I broke the tape I turned around and looked back. The nearest guy was just then clearing the last hurdle. One of the hurdlers came over and banged me on the back and told me I had run a new world record. I asked him, ‘What did I do – run it in 14-flat?’ He said, ‘No, you ran 13.7.’ All I said was, ‘Aw, hell.’”

Towns was well into a winning streak that reached 60 races and lasted through a repeat win at the 1937 NCAA Championships, becoming the event’s first two-time winner.

A month before the NCAA meet Towns was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at the SEC Outdoor Championships as Georgia won the team title for the first time (It remains the program’s only men’s team title, including indoors). Towns won the 120-yard and 220-yard hurdles and added thirds in the 100 yards and high jump.

Coincidentally, it was high jumping of sorts that got Towns an athletic scholarship. Augusta Chronicle sportswriter Tom Wall witnessed his neighbor’s high school boy jumping over a fishing pole that was placed on the top of the heads of his dad and uncle. It was Towns, and Wall wrote a story about the raw talent that found its way to Weems Baskin, then an assistant coach at Georgia.

Baskin – the 1927 NCAA 120H champ for Auburn – had him try the hurdles. Towns’ wife, Martha, related in a UGA DogBytes story in 2004: “The first time he ran the hurdles on a cinder track he fell and had cinders from his shoulders to his ankles. He got up and asked coach Baskin if he could try it again and coach Baskin said at that moment I knew I had a hurdler.”

Baskin eventually was head coach at Georgia for a year before leaving for longer stints at Ole Miss and South Carolina. His replacement at Georgia in 1939 was Towns, who continued through 1974 – a 36-year period believed to be the longest in SEC track & field history. Towns and Baskin were inducted as part of the 2001 class to the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame.

Georgia began the Spec Towns Invitational in 1977 and named its outdoor facility Forrest Towns Track in 1990.

What A Finish In The 1500 Meters!

Three one-thousandths of a second.

That nearly indiscernible sliver of time to the naked eye decided a national title at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas.

It wasn’t in a sprint. Nor was it in the high hurdles.

Justine Kiprotich of Michigan State and Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame had already galloped 1499 meters around the Mike A. Myers Stadium oval before the final meter would determine which of those two men would capture the 1500-meter crown.

YARED NUGUSE WITH THE LEAN AND THE WIN!!!! pic.twitter.com/AJ8KeHj6cW

— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2019

Would it be the undefeated, Big Ten champion Kiprotich, who surged to the front as they rounded the final bend and looked to win the Spartans’ first title in that event since Warren Druetzler in 1951?

Or would it be Nuguse, who anchored the Irish to an incredible victory in the DMR a few months earlier at the NCAA Indoor Championships and closed like a runaway locomotive on a downhill track, going from fourth place with 100 meters to go to right on Kiprotich’s inside shoulder?

Ultimately, it was Nuguse who out-leaned Kiprotich at the finish line for the 0.003-second victory: 3:41.381 to 3:41.384. It was the closest 1-2 finish in meet history since the NCAA adopted Fully Automatic Timing in 1976 (There had been three too-close-to-call, hand-timed finishes pre-FAT in 1935, 1942 and 1945. And the year prior to that final virtual tie, Robert Hume and Ross Hume, twin brothers from Michigan, tied for the mile crown).

Cameron Griffith of Arkansas took third, followed by defending champion Oliver Hoare of Wisconsin. If you go all the way back to ninth, where Sam Worley of Texas ended up right outside of First-Team All-America distinction, each of the top-9 finishers crossed the finish line within 1.42 seconds of each other.

“I was definitely a little worried getting to the 100,” Nuguse said after the race. “I raced against some of these guys and they’re amazing runners.

“I knew I just had to dip down and I went back to thinking about the reason I run and that’s for all of my guys at home who couldn’t be here today. I’m always out here doing it for my team. I think they really pulled me through today.”

UCLA’s Griffith Sprinted Into History

Before she was known as FloJo, she was Florence Griffith.

Her fingernails were only beginning to grow long and her outfits were strictly UCLA-issued blue and gold.

But there was no mistaking Griffith’s athletic style, initially displayed with speed and power in becoming the first – and still only – woman to win 200-meter and 400-meter crowns at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Is one of her titles better than the other?

In 1982 – when the NCAA included women’s events for the first time – Griffith lined up in the 200 a lane inside of Nebraska’s Merlene Ottey, who had not lost a collegiate half-lap race in three years. Despite a wet track that made for cautious curve running, Griffith stayed close enough to Ottey and won in the closing strides, clocking 22.39 ahead of Ottey (22.46).

A year later, Griffith and Ottey were dueling again at the NCAA Outdoor Championships – this time in the first major 400 for both, and in a field that arguably rates as the best even to this day. On the final turn Griffith took the lead and won in 50.94, holding off two-time NAIA champ Easter Gabriel of Prairie View A&M (50.99) as Ottey followed in 51.12. The field was so rich to also include the defending NCAA champ and two U.S. winners in the event.

In both the 1982 and 1983 NCAA meets, Griffith was UCLA’s second-highest scorer – just behind future sister-in-law Jackie Joyner – as the Bruins won the first two NCAA women’s team crowns.

Griffith, born and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, impressed a young coach named Bob Kersee, who began coaching her in 1979 at Cal State Northridge through her UCLA days and forthcoming Olympic glory.

As Kersee related in a 1984 feature for Track & Field News, “Florence has what I call a ‘strange’ burning desire. I mean, it was hard for me to understand her, because with her quietness and her shyness and her beauty, she doesn’t seem like she can have a killing instinct. But when Florence sets her mind to do something, she gets the job done.”

Griffith’s achievements – let alone her nails and flashy outfits – only got better after college.

A few years after wrapping up her collegiate career, Griffith married 1984 Olympic triple jump gold medalist Al Joyner and then became forever remembered as FloJo with her performance at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. FloJo won four medals – three gold – and her world records in the 100 (10.49) and 200 (21.34) remain unbroken to this day.

Unfortunately, on this day in 1998, FloJo died from a heart seizure caused by a congenital abnormality.

Ewell Made Quite The (Penn) State-ment

How long does it take to make a statement?

Five seconds, if you’re Henry Norwood “Barney” Ewell.

That’s the time Ewell clocked to break the indoor world record in the 50-yard dash, just a few months into his sophomore year at Penn State.

However, true track & field fans might have known Ewell’s name from the year before when he won the 200-meter crown at the AAU Track & Field Championships as a freshman.

Whatever the case might be, Ewell developed into one of the finest sprinters of his generation, completing the 100-200 double twice at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and capturing three Olympic medals (probably several more if World War II hadn’t wiped out the 1940 and 1944 Games, two installments smack dab in the middle of Ewell’s prime).

Ewell made his first two trips to the top of the NCAA podium in 1940, when the meet was held inside a rain-soaked Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. A sloppy track didn’t slow down Ewell one bit, as he won the 100-yard dash in 9.6 and followed that up with a 220-yard victory in 21.0, where he dipped under the 200-meter meet record in the process.

A cross-country flight awaited Ewell for him to get to the 1941 NCAA Championships hosted by Stanford, but once he got his feet on the ground, nothing could stop him from defending those crowns. Ewell surprisingly clocked the same exact times as the previous year, winning the 100-yard dash in 9.6 and taking the 220-yard version in 21.0, which was run on a straight.

Military service beckoned Ewell shortly after the season ended and the Lancaster, Pennsylvania native fought in World War II from 1941 until 1945. Once WWII ended, Ewell returned home and polished off his bachelor’s degree at Penn State in 1948, all while training for a triumphant return to the track.

Ewell made headlines once again in 1948 when he equaled the 100-meter world record of 10.2 at the 1948 AAU Championships, which served as the de facto Olympic Trials. Just a few months later, Ewell earned a gold medal as a member of the 4×100 relay team and doubled up in silver medals in the 100 and 200.

Unique Discus History For Oerter In 1958

Al Oerter of Kansas had won the 1956 Olympic gold medal and 1957 NCAA Championships in the discus, but in 1958 found himself in a most unique situation at the NCAA meet.

He was tied for first with Rink Babka of Southern California – and the tie could not be broken.

Prior to 1963, the NCAA had no tie-breaking procedures in field events, and from 1921 to 1962, there were 33 first-place ties in NCAA Championship field events – 16 each in the high jump and pole vault. The discus in 1958 was the only non-vertical jump to end knotted up.

Here’s how the unprecedented competition at Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, California, unfolded.

Oerter led the discus after the trials on Day 1 at 186-2 (56.74m) – then the second-longest effort in meet history. Babka had thrown 184-7 (56.26m) in the trials, but on the second round of the finals, improved to 186-2 – matching Oerter for first. While Babka’s final attempt was a foul, Oerter responded with a toss estimated at 184 feet – but no one knows as only the longest attempt by each athlete was measured, and that included the trials unless there was an improvement in the finals.

Afterwards Oerter – a native of New Hyde Park on New York’s Long Island – told Cordner Nelson of Track & Field News, “I’m disappointed, but it’s nice for both of us to end our college careers in a tie.”

In third place was Utah State’s Jay Silvester, who launched a PR 181-8 (55.38m) in the finals to mark the first time in meet history that two – let alone three – throwers went beyond 180 feet.

The trio of Oerter, Babka and Silvester likely have the most accomplished collective careers from any NCAA 1-2-3, as they combined to rack up nine Olympic finals with six medals (Oerter four golds, Babka and Silvester each a silver) and break the world record 10 times (Silvester with five, Oerter four and Babka one).

Oerter, of course, made history by becoming the first athlete to win an Olympic event four times (the discus in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968). Incredibly, in each of his Olympic victories he set an Olympic record, beat the reigning world record holder – and was not the favorite to win.

The well-liked Oerter would later make light of his Olympic success, telling The Olympian magazine in 1991: “The first one, I was very young; the second, not very capable; the third, very injured; the fourth, old.”

Indiana State’s Hyche Swept Sprints In 1993

No sprinter – man or woman – has more NCAA Division I individual sprint titles than Holli Hyche of Indiana State when combining indoors and outdoors.

Hyche amassed her seven NCAA titles in just two years, while the others with seven – Carlette Guidry of Texas from 1988 to 1991 and Walter Dix of Florida State from 2005 to 2008 – accumulated theirs over a four-year span.

Hyche won four of the titles as a junior in 1993, becoming the first woman since LSU’s Dawn Sowell in 1989 to complete the indoor 55-200 double, followed by the outdoor 100-200 double in the same year. Hyche was particularly crushing in the outdoor 200, winning in 22.34 to eclipse the meet’s low-altitude best of 22.47 set by Florence Griffith of UCLA 10 years earlier.

As a senior, Hyche added to her legend with three more crowns.

Indoors, she doubled up in the 55 and 200 once again, joining Guidry as the only other female athlete with such a pair of sweeps. The Sycamore was exceptionally historic in the 200, where she turned in a 22.90 performance to lower Sowell’s five-year-old meet record of 22.90.

Outdoors, Hyche repeated as 100-meter champion – but took second in the 200, as Merlene Frazier of Texas ended her streak of 49 consecutive sprint victories.

Amazingly, Hyche almost didn’t go to college at all. It wasn’t until her junior year in high school that she discovered why she was struggling in the classroom. Then, of all the schools that recruited the Indianapolis high school star, there was only one choice for college.

“Indiana State has a program for the learning disabled, and I’m dyslexic,” Hyche told Jeff Hollobaugh of Track & Field News. “I wanted to get help with it. None of the other schools I talked to had study tables for the learning disabled.”

Dendy’s Double-Double Put Him Among Greats

No male athlete has collected more titles in the horizontal jumps at the NCAA Championships since the turn of the millennium than Marquis Dendy of Florida.

During an illustrious career with the Gators, Dendy captured seven crowns between the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, including an awe-inspiring 2015 where he completed the long jump-triple jump double-double and hoisted The Bowerman in December.

Speaking of 2015, after an indoor season where he easily swept the horizontal jumps and became the first man in meet history to eclipse 57 feet in the triple jump, Dendy turned his attention outdoors. Just the previous year, Dendy went two-for-two at the NCAA Championships for the first double since 2002 (Walter Davis) and looked to defend both titles.

First up for Dendy was the long jump on Wednesday, where he was one of seven men who had posted marks of 26 feet or better during the regular season. The promise of fierce competition brought out the best in the Delaware native, as he rebounded from a second-attempt foul to post his winning mark of 8.43m (27-8) soon after. Dendy also equaled or topped 8.00m (26-3) three other times, including efforts of 8.34m (27-4½) and 8.27m (27-1¾).

Winning the triple jump was more of a formality and Dendy put on a show. After an opening mark of 17.50m (57-5) that would have won the competition by nearly two feet, Dendy extended to a wind-aided 17.54m (57-6½) on his fourth attempt and blew that out of the water with a wind-aided 17.71m (58-1¼) to close it out. That first mark, which was wind-legal, sits third in meet history; the sixth is third, too, but on the all-conditions list.

Later that summer, Dendy won the U.S. title in the long jump at 8.68m (28-5½) and while it was heavily wind-aided, it was one of the biggest jumps under any condition in more than five years worldwide. Dendy, who also placed third in the triple jump that year at the U.S. meet, struggled at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and needed to wait until the following year to capture his first global medal, where he was golden in the long jump at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon.

SMU’s Ezeh Hammered Out Greatness

Dave Wollman said he could divide his 28-year SMU coaching career into “BF and AF: Before Flo and After Flo.”

“Flo” is Florence Ezeh, the only woman to win three NCAA Division I hammer throw titles.

While Ezeh (pronounced “Uh-Zay”) made her coach realize the mental aspect of an athlete was as important as the physical, everyone else saw the results of her tremendous competitive fire.

Ezeh won her final NCAA title in 2001 with a dominant performance that had never been seen before. She wasted no time in breaking her own meet record from the previous year – doing so on her first attempt – and then put four more marks past it as well. By the time the dust settled, Ezeh increased her meet record to 66.85m (219-4) in Round 5.

“She loves training and competing, but never really liked the NCAA meet,” Wollman told Jon Hendershott of Track & Field News. “She puts so much pressure on herself. But she’s very pleased with three throws over 66m (216-6) and three titles.”

Ezeh, who was born in the African nation of Togo and moved to France with her family when she was young, didn’t win the 2000 NCAA quite as easily. Although Ezeh was defending champion, she trailed after three rounds to Nebraska’s Melissa Price, who had thrown a then-meet record of 64.24m (210-9). Ezeh came through in Round 4, extending the meet record to 64.58m (211-10) for the crown.

Indoors, Ezeh added two NCAA titles in the weight throw for a combined total of five – two fewer than the seven accumulated by UCLA’s Seilala Sua for the most by a female thrower in NCAA Division I history. Were it not for Ezeh’s heroics at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships, Sua’s total would be eight. Sua had taken the lead in Round 5 at 21.03m (69-0) before Ezeh’s last-round winner of 21.32m (69-11½).

“Until that last throw – I was scared – the confidence wasn’t there,” Ezeh told Bert Rosenthal of the Associated Press (Ezeh had lost the year before by 8 cm/3 inches). “Something in me was shaking. Then my power started to diminish. My power came back. I said ‘I can’t be second again.’”

Gehrmann Starred In The Mile/1500

Don Gehrmann of Wisconsin – the first athlete to ever win three NCAA titles in the mile/1500 meters – rarely had a particularly fast time.

“I only ran for place,” Gehrmann recalled in 2012 to Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I never ran for time.”

That place was almost always first, as Gehrmann was blessed with a kick that was once described as “burning high-octane gas while the others were powered with low-grade fuel.”

Gehrmann entered the 1947 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships as a 19-year-old freshman having defeated reigning NCAA champion Bob Rehberg of Illinois for the Big Nine (now Big Ten) mile title. At the NCAA meet, Gehrmann stayed too far back to use his kick and finished fourth as Penn State’s Gerry Karver won.

Gehrmann wouldn’t lose a collegiate track race – at any distance – again.

Just a sophomore in 1948, Gehrmann won the NCAA 1500 and three weeks later added the U.S. title. He would eventually finish seventh in the London Olympics after falling on the last curve by stepping on the curb.

Gehrmann won the 1949 and 1950 NCAA miles by more than two seconds each time, but the Milwaukee native’s dominance began to grow beyond collegiate competition. Indoors in 1949, he won the famous Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games, outkicking Wim Slijkhuis of the Netherlands, who won Olympic 1500-meter bronze in London.

That race was the first of four consecutive Wanamaker Mile victories as Gehrmann compiled a record of 39 consecutive mile wins from 1949-52.

Gehrmann displayed incredible range, finishing runner-up twice in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1948 and 1949 (when the distance was 4 miles) and clocking an indoor collegiate record for the 880 (1:51.5 in 1949). His speed made him a fixture on the Badgers’ mile relay team, even anchoring the 1950 squad to a conference win after winning the mile and 880.

Boden Dominated Javelin, Set World Record

It was just March, but 1990 was already being hailed as the “Year of the Javelin.”

Patrik Boden of Texas was the biggest reason, especially after heaving the implement for a shocking world record of 89.10m (292-4) on March 24. That was more than 20 feet farther than he had ever thrown before – his week-old collegiate record of 82.78m (271-9).

While the temperature was in the 40s, everything else was perfect for Boden’s opening throw – particularly the strong northerly wind, coming off of Boden’s right shoulder as he threw. Only about two dozen people were on hand to watch the javelin, part of a quadrangular meet with the long throws taking place at Clark Field outside of Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.

“I really can’t believe it happened,” Boden told L. Scott Hainline of the Austin American-Statesman. “I thought I could throw well, but 290 feet? I haven’t realized what I’ve done yet, it really hasn’t hit me.”

“It will be hard to repeat this throw,” said Boden, who added the second-longest throw in collegiate history at 83.54m (274-1) in the third round. Two weeks later he won the Texas Relays at 83.56m (274-2) and owned college’s three longest throws for the next 27 years, with the 292-4 lasting to this day as the collegiate record.

Boden, who became a hero in his native Sweden, never lost a collegiate meet during his three-year career with the Longhorns, and that included three consecutive titles at the NCAA Championships from 1989 to 1991. His first NCAA title came by the smallest margin of victory in meet history at 13 cm (5 inches) and the last by the then-largest margin of 7.34m (24-1), which Anderson Peters of Mississippi State eclipsed in 2019 with a winning margin of 8.19m (26-11).

Texas had become a haven for javelin throwers, winning seven NCAA titles in a nine-year span (Einar Vilhjalmsson in 1983-84 and Dag Wennlund in 1986-87 before Boden’s trio). In fact, Boden, UT throwing coach Mike Sanders and three other javelin throwers were featured on the cover of the Longhorns’ 1990 media guide with the title, “The Javelin Capital of Collegiate Track and Field.”

Boden’s world record was the last one set outdoors by a collegian in any event. Two months later, he commented to Randy Riggs of the Austin American-Statesman, “I hope people understand you can’t throw that far every meet. But I don’t think they do understand, at least not in this country. I throw 274 at the Relays, my second-best throw ever, and people ask me what went wrong and why I didn’t throw better. They don’t understand how perfect conditions have to be to even consider going for a world record.”

Oregon’s Theisen Made Heptathlon History

Welcome to Club 6400.

Only two women have passed through the luxurious velvet rope into one of the most exclusive seven-event cliques in collegiate history: George Mason’s Diane Guthrie-Gresham and Oregon’s Brianne Theisen (now Theisen-Eaton). Not even the great Jackie Joyner (now Joyner-Kersee), who still holds the world record in the heptathlon at 7291 points and has done so since 1988, could crack the 6400-point barrier as a collegiate athlete.

Just five days after the 17-year anniversary of Guthrie’s current collegiate record of 6527 points at the 1995 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Theisen took her victory lap as one of the most accomplished combined event athletes in collegiate history.

To say Theisen’s performance at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, was dominant would be an understatement. Nobody had a chance when Theisen, then a six-time NCAA champion, stepped on the track in search of what injury took from her the previous year (Theisen went back-to-back in the heptathlon in 2009 and 2010 – and added three consecutive indoor pentathlon titles – but a sacroiliac injury forced her to redshirt the 2011 outdoor season).

After a 0.09-second PR in the 100 hurdles of 13.30, Theisen cleared 1.84m (6-0½) in the high jump to take a 113-point lead over eventual runner-up Barbara Nwaba of UCSB. Another PR in the shot put of 12.92m (42-4¾) extended that edge to 126 points, while a 24.09 effort in the 200 had Theisen up by 207 points after Day 1 with a 3803-point total.

“I’m not worried about my score,” Theisen told Peter McKenzie of Track & Field News. “I just want to get 10 points and help my team. So my approach was to just have fun and add things up at the end.”

Theisen kept pouring it throughout Day 2 with PRs in the long jump (6.28m/20-7¼) and the javelin (46.38m/152-2) to make it even more of a rout. All that stood between Theisen and 6400 points was the 800, in which she would have to run 2:18 or better. Just like every other event, Theisen made quick work of it as she crossed the finish line in 2:13.81.

When the dust settled, Theisen amassed 6440 points – the second best total in collegiate history – and won by 513 points – the second largest margin of victory in meet history. Both of those marks were only bettered by one woman: Diane Guthrie-Gresham.

“I’m so happy, going from being injured last year and my spirits were so down because I knew I really improved,” Theisen told Jon Hendershott of Track & Field News. “It feels so good to be myself and come back this year and do what I know I’m able to do.”

The Tie Goes To The Buckeye

Ties – and sometimes breaking them – were common for Dave Albritton of Ohio State.

But there was no breaking any of the ties in Albritton’s three-straight NCAA high jump victories, and his first in 1936 was historic as he and Buckeye teammate Mel Walker became the first Black athletes to win the event.

That duo was part of an amazing Ohio State team in 1936: They contributed two of the record seven NCAA titles the Buckeyes won that year, joined by Jesse Owens with four (100, 200, 220 hurdles and long jump), along with Charlie Beetham in the 800 meters. No program has matched that number of champions in one NCAA meet.

However, the 1936 NCAA Championships was bittersweet for the Buckeyes, whose 73 points made them the highest-scoring runner-up team in meet history (6-place scoring system). The winning squad was powerful Southern California with 103⅓ points. The bittersweet part was that just a week earlier, Ohio State tied the Trojans in a dual meet when only wins counted, 7½-7½ – the fraction coming in the high jump, where Albritton tied USC’s Delos Thurber.

Albritton’s level of tying made a major leap a month later. A week after finishing third at the AAU Championships (on a tiebreaker), Albritton clinched a spot on the Olympic team in a brand-new stadium at Randalls Island, New York, by – you guessed it – tying Cornelius Johnson of Compton Junior College – who had won the AAU meet – as both cleared a world-record 6-9¾ (2.08m). That tie was not broken.

At the Berlin Olympics, Johnson led a 1-2-3 U.S. sweep, with Albritton earning the silver medal over Thurber’s bronze on a jump-off. Johnson and Albritton thus became the first Black athletes to medal in the Olympic high jump.

In the 1937 NCAA Championships, another Buckeye was favored – but this time it was Walker after sweeping the indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles over Albritton (and setting a world indoor best of 6-9¾ as well). Albritton came through, though, tying Colorado’s Gil Cruter for the win – Thurber was third on a tiebreaker as all three cleared 6-6¼ (1.99m). Walker, a senior, finished fourth but later in the summer raised the world record to 6-10¼ (2.09m).

Albritton and Cruter returned in 1938 as the meet record – 6-7¼ (2.01m) from 1926, then the oldest on the books – was battered like never before or since. In all, six men equaled the old standard as two – Albritton and Cruter – broke it with 6-8¾ (2.05m) clearances and tied yet again as neither succeeded at attempts at a possible WR of 6-10⅜ (2.09m).

Post-collegiate success followed for Albritton, as he won five AAU national titles – the last in 1950 at age 37. Ten years after that, Albritton was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, serving six terms and becoming the first Black person to chair a House committee in 1969.

Jack Davis Was Ahead Of His Time

Jack Davis of Southern California easily won a record three NCAA high hurdles titles.

It was in a second event that he found close competition.

As a sophomore in 1951, Davis began a three-year stretch of scoring the most points on a USC national championship team. He won the 120-yard hurdles in 13.7, two tenths better than the meet record, then added a third in the 220-yard low hurdles. Though his 120H victory by three tenths of a second stood, the meet record didn’t as the starter claimed Davis used an illegal advantage to propel himself out of the blocks.

“I didn’t get a rolling start,” Davis was quoted as saying by Cordner Nelson in Track & Field News. “I was rocking back at the gun.”

The closest finish Davis had in an NCAA high hurdles race came in 1952 when he equaled the 110H meet record of 14.0 to win by two tenths over Stanford’s Bob Mathias. For the versatile Mathias – who won the 1948 Olympic decathlon gold while in high school – it matched his best finish in the NCAA meet as he was also second in the 1951 discus (Mathias repeated as Olympic gold medalist in 1952).

With 1952 being an Olympic year, the NCAA contested events at metric distances – and that included the 400-meter intermediate hurdles instead of the 220-yard lows – so Davis added a different second event, the flat 200-meters. Davis recorded the fastest heat time at 21.4 and followed with a 21.5 semi, both times finishing ahead of defending champ George Rhoden of Morgan State. In the final, though, Drake’s Jim Ford overtook Davis to win by a tenth in a meet-record 21.0 (Rhoden did not compete in the final).

“I didn’t know I could run a 200,” said Davis, who reportedly entered the event on a bet with his coach. “I tried to beat the gun in my heat.”

By 1953, the native of Glendale, California, was a clear favorite for a record third NCAA high hurdles title – especially after a silver medal to Harrison Dillard in the Olympics the previous summer, when both were timed in 13.7.

Davis not only won his third high hurdles title, but also completed his first NCAA double, winning both events over Joel McNulty of Illinois – the 120H by three tenths in 14.0 and the 220H by two tenths in 23.3. The 14.0 was just a tenth off the meet record, while the 23.3 had then been bettered in meet history on a curve by Dillard at 23.0 and Jesse Owens and Fred Wolcott at 23.1.

It wasn’t until 2019 that Davis’ three victories in the men’s high hurdles at the NCAA Division level were matched: Eventual The Bowerman winner Grant Holloway of Florida completed his trio of 110H crowns with his collegiate record of 12.98.

After college, Davis set three world records in 1956 and repeated a silver-medal finish in the Olympics, again with the same time as the winner (North Carolina Central’s Lee Calhoun, 13.5).

Hurdle History Fit For A Queen In 2010

The Bowerman was fit for a Queen in 2010.

The same could be said about unprecedented history.

Virginia Tech’s Queen Harrison capped an undefeated senior year in hurdling finals 10 years ago with a never-seen-before-or-since double victory at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Harrison, competing for the final time in a Hokie uniform, captured the NCAA crown in the 400 Hurdles on Friday and then returned to the track on Saturday to snag the 100 Hurdles in one of the fastest winning times in meet history.

“I think a lot of people think it’s easy for me because they only see me at the meets,” Harrison told Inside Hokie Sports in 2010. “They don’t realize all the time that goes into it, from the weight room to working out at the track. Then to do two events at a meet, it takes a lot out of you.”

Harrison had four races in four days at Historic Hayward Field, beginning with the preliminary round of the 400H on Wednesday and ending with the final of the 100H on Saturday. Between then, Harrison would have to qualify for Saturday’s 100H final on Thursday and handle business in the 400H final on Friday, where she entered as the national leader and top qualifier.

The native of Richmond, Virginia, didn’t get out of the blocks as fast as she wanted in the 400H, but quickly made up ground on the competition. Harrison pulled even with archrival and then-leader Ti’erra Brown of Miami (Fla.) as they rounded the Bowerman Curve, surged ahead of her over the final hurdle and added more distance on the run-in to the finish line. It ended up as a 0.67-second win for Harrison, who clocked a 54.55 PR.

“I didn’t have the best start of the race, but if I learned anything through my years in college is that you have to be patient, so I was really patient with this race,” Harrison told the media after the race. “Just because I messed up at the beginning, I didn’t give up.”

Nothing could slow Harrison down in the 100H final the next day.

Harrison blew it open after the fourth hurdle on her way to a 0.17-second victory in 12.67, the third fastest winning time in meet history behind Ginnie Powell’s 12.48 CR and Nichole Denby’s 2004 winner of 12.62. That was 0.06 seconds off Harrison’s 12.61 PR that she ran two months earlier at the Penn Relays that currently makes her the 10th best performer in NCAA history.

“[The double has] been a goal of mine all four years of college,” Harrison told Jon Hendershott of Track & Field News after the meet. “Now that I’ve done it, my answer to how it feels usually is that words can’t describe it. But it does feel great – with a lot of r’s following after that g.”