A REMARKABLE SEASON.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 787, 18 August 1916, Page 2

A REMARKABLE SEASON.

PROGRESS IN AMERICAN ATHLETICS. There have been some remarkable athletic performances in the United States during the past few months. The most notable of these have been chronicled in The Sun, but it has been difficult, to obtain a, "bird's-eye" view of the American athletic season from the scattered reports which have appeared in American journals. However, Walter Camp, one of the foremost athletic authorities in the United States, has written an interesting summary of the season's achievements, and made some comparisons with the performances of 40 years ago. Here is Mr Camp's article, taken from the "San Francisco Examiner," of July 2:—■ Some idea of the quality of our track athletes in this year of 1910 may be gained from the following records:— There were two. men who did run under 10 seconds for the 100 in actual competition, Rice of Maine and Teschner of Harvard, each doing 9 -l-ssec, while there were eight others running under 10 seconds. In the 220 there were nine men who could do 22 and four of these could do 21 3-5. namely, Smith, Tcsehner, Murray, and Rice. In the 440 there were Meredith of Penn and Dismond of Chicago, who both covered the distance in 47 2-ssec. Wilcox of Harvard also boat 48see and Bingham, Lynn, and Rilev were under 50sec„ In the half-mile Meredith did Imin 53sec and is accredited also with even bettering (lint. [Meredith did the half mile in Imin 52 l-ssoc on May 13.] Windnagle of Cornell and Scott of Mississippi did Imin 53 l-ssee. Ten lien could and did run it under Imin sSsee. Tn the mile run Windnagle did 4min l-'sec at the Intercollegiates and there were at least, half-a-do7.cn men who could run consistently under 4min 20see. In the two-mile run Stout of Chicago in the Conference Meet did 9min 29 3-ssee and Potter of Cornell took the Intercollegiates with 9min 32 3-ssec, IToffmeyer. Pray, and Corwith, liis teammates, being close tip with him. And the High Hurdles! As for the high hurdles between Simpson and Murray it would take, indeed, a veritable flier to have any chance at all against, the American of to-day. Simpson has brought the record down to 14 3-ssec, and Cornell, Califqrnn., Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, Maine, Rutgers, Bowdoin, and perhaps some others have men that can run under Ki-ec Tn fhe low hurdles at the Conference Meet Simpson of Missouri diil 23 4-ssec, Murray did 24 1-ssee at the Intercollegiates. House of Stanford had already done 24see. Savage of Bowdoin, Farwell of Yale, Starr of Cornell, Norton of Stanford, Rennicke of Missouri are all good for under 25see at any time. The high jumpers have not made the records this year to upset special performances, although Maker of California Ins done over Oft 4in. Oler of Yale and Richards of Cornell, 6ft 3in and Palmer of Maine. Connolly of Johns. Hopkins and Fisher of Chicago can all go over fift. In the broad jump Worthington of Dartmouth, had he not made a foul the first day of the Intercollegiates, would have broken the record. As it was, he only did 24ft ]in. in the Intercollegiates, although he has done 24ft Sin. Sisson of Stanford and Hampton of Yale. Oler of Yale, Pogue of Illinois, and one or two others can get past the 23ft mark. Weight Men Plentiful. There are half-a-dozen shot, putters who are good for over 45ft. Mucks of Wisconsin, Allen of Maine, Liversedge (if California, Spears of Dartmouth. Cross of Michigan, Canu of New York University: - Cildersieeve of California has done 16] ft 10in with the hammer and Leadbetter of Bowdoin 155 ft. There ,are four or five others who can better i-mft. Tn the pole vault Foss is the most consistent of the performers and deserved his win in the Intercollegiates which he took with 12ft Sin; Newstetter and Sewall of Penn. Buck and Nagle of Yale and Curtis of Syracuse all getting 12ft. 4in. These last-named, with Havilock of Harvard, have a.ll done 12ft 6in. There are half-a : do/.en other men good for 12ft, or over. Some idea, also, of the progress that, has been made in track and field in exactly 40 years Of the Intercollegiate Conference Amateur Athletic Association can be gathered from a comparison of the records of 1876, and those made in the 41st, Annual Championship Meet, held at Cambridge, last month. Big Differences. The 100 yard dash, which was won by Smith of Michigan this year in lOsee was won by Stevens of Williams in 1876 at the first annual meeting of the Intercollegiate, held at Saratoga, in Usee. This, nienns that Smith could give Stevens just about .10 yards in the 100. The quarter-mile, which was won by Ted Meredith of Pennsylvania iii 47 2-osec, was won by Stevens of Williams in the first meet in oti-'see, a difference ■ here of approximately 70 vards. The half mile, in which Meredith broke another record, covering it in Imin 53sec, was won by Greene of Princeton 40 years ago in 2min HUsoi—a difference of 23} sec, or about 150 yards. The mile, which was won by Windnagle of Cornell in 4min 15sec, was won by Stimson of Dartmouth in ■lmin 58JSCC. Here again 250 yards would have separated the two. The high hurdles, won by Murray in losec, was won by Wakeroan of Yale in tjie first meet in IS [sec.. This would mean over 25 yards. The broad jump., which was won by Worthington, was 24ft Hn. was won at the first meet by Willoughby of Pennsylvania with 18ft 3 J in, or nearly the length of a man. The high jump, which was won by Oler of Yale with Cft 21in this year, was won by Pryor of Columbia with sft, 4in. The shot put, which was won by Leversedge with 46ft 2Jin, was won by Mann of Princeton at, the first meet with 30ft 11 Jin, or a gain of more than 15 feet. Veteran Sees Performances. None of the other events on the programme were contested in the first meet. There were in that meet a three-

mile run, a one-mile and a three-mile walk, and throwing the baseball. The following year, however, 1577, the 220yard dash, was- added and was won in 23£ see by Lee of Pennsylvania, as against this year's record of Moore of Princeton,-- 21 3-ssec —a difference of nearly 20 yards. The pole vault also was introduced in 1877 and was won by Pryor of Columbia with 7ft 4in, whereas this year Foss of Cornell idcared 12ft Bin, or here again, nearly the height of a man better. The hammer throw was introduced in 1877, and was won by Parmly of Princeton with 75ft 10in,' against this year's record — Cildersieeve of California, 155 ft lin, thus doubling the throw. It is true, however, that the freedom allowed the hammer throwers of doubling turns makes quite a difference here. The strange thing about this meet at Cambridge this year was the presence of H. L. Geyelin of Pennsylvania, an old veteran, who watched Oler of Yale go over 6ft 2}in and must have remembered July 6, 1877, when he won this high jump with 4ft llin.