Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field-December 2
1973–For the 3rd year in a row, Frank Shorter won the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, considered the world’s most prestigious marathon at the time (he would make it 4 in a row the following year).
Shorter, the gold medalist in the marathon at the 1972 Olympics (silver in 1976), was inducted into the NY Road Runners Hall of Fame in 2012 (He was selected to the U.S. HOF in 1989).
1982–Steve Scott, one of the greatest milers in history, made his mark in another sport on this day, setting a record for the fastest round of golf played on a regulation course. Scott, using only two clubs (mostly a 3-iron) and running from hole to hole, completed 18 holes in 29 minutes, 33.05 seconds at Miller Golf Course in Anaheim, California, and posted a respectable score of 95!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Scott_(athlete)
2023—Two weeks after winning NCAA Div.I X-Country titles, Harvard’s Graham Blanks and Florida’s Parker Valby set Collegiate Records at 5000-meters at the Sharon Colyear-Danville season opener at Boston University.
Blanks won the Men’s race in 13:03.78 to break the previous indoor mark of 13:08.28 that was set by Arizona’s Lawi Lalang in 2012. He also earned the “absolute” record by bettering the outdoor standard of 13:06.32, set by Northern Arizona’s Abdi Nur in 2022.
Stanford’s Ky Robinson was also under the old Indoor mark with his runnerup time of 13:06.42. Blanks also bettered the Olympic qualifying standard of 13:05.00. Soon after crossing the finish line, Blanks bowed to the crowd to show his appreciation for their support during the race.
Valby’s winning time of 14:56.11 not only broke the Indoor CR of 15:12.22, set by Providence’s Emily Sisson in 2015, she also broke the “absolute” record of Colorado’s Jenny Simpson, who ran 15:01.70 indoors on Washington’s oversize track in 2009. She would better both records in 2024, running 14:52.79 indoors and 14:52.18 outdoors.
Valby can thank runnerup Andrea Rodenfels (15:03.97) for acting as the de facto rabbit, leading almost from the gun through 4000-meters before Valby shot into the lead and then worked her way around lapped runners the rest of the way.
No records, but there were fast times in both 3000s.
Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich moved to #2 on the All-Time college list with her winning time of 8:40.42 in the women’s race, while Northern Arizona’s Nico Young won the men’s race in 7:37.73 (#3 All-Time, now #9).
Post Race Interviews:
2023—The individual winners at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) on a rain-soaked 5k course on the Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon, were sophomore Addy Ritzenhein (17:10.4/Niwot,CO) and JoJo Jourdon (15:16.5/Olympus,UT).
Squads from the Southwest Region dominated the team standings, with Colorado taking the top 3 places in the Girls’ race-Academy (61), Niwot (72), Air Academy (163), and Utah the top 2 spots in the Boys’ race-Herriman (83), American Fork (100), which had beaten Herriman at the State meet and the Southwest Regional.
Ritzenhein joins her dad as a National H.S. Champion, with Dathan winning Foot Locker titles in 1999 and 2000.
Reports
T&F News (subscription might be required): Boys Girls
Post-Race Interviews
Born On This Day*
Maksim Tarasov—Russia 55 (1970) 1992 Olympic gold medalist—Pole Vault(2000-Bronze);
1999 World Champion(1991-3rd, 1993-3rd, 1995-2nd, 1997-2nd)
Russian Record holder: 19-10 ¼ (6.05,1999/=#8 All-Time)
Made T&F News’ top-10 World rankings 12 years in a row (1989-2000).
#1 (’98,’99), #2 (.92,’93,’97,’00), #3 (’95,’96), #4 (’91), #8 (’94), #9 (’89,’90)
Charles & Kip Cheruiyot—Kenya 61 (1964)
Kip: 1989 NCAA Div.I Champion—1500m (Mt.St.Mary’s);
1987 NCAA Div.II Indoor (Mile) & Outdoor (1500) Champion
1988 Olympic finalist-1500m (7th); 1987 World Championships finalist—1500m (11th)
Charles: 1987 NCAA Div.II X-Country Champion (Mt.St.Mary’s);
5-time NCAA Div.II Champion—5000m (Outdoors-’87,’88; Indoors-’86-’88)
1984 Olympic finalist—5000m (6th); 1988-semi finalist
Both ran on two of the fastest collegiate DMRs in history (both at Penn)-9:21.44 (’89), 9:21.67 (‘87)
PBs:
Kip-3:33.07 (’86), 3:52.39 (’88)
Charles-3:36.36 (1988), 3:55.41 (1987), 13:18.41 (1984), 28:24.23 (1992)
Twins were initially recruited by coach Fred Hardy to compete at Richmond, but wound up at Mt.St.Mary’s
after the former school downgraded T&F! One of their teammates was Peter Rono, the 1988
Olympic champion at 1500-meters
Deceased
Mike Larrabee 69 (1933-April 22,2003) 2-time Olympic Gold medalist—1964 (400,4×400)
4×400 team set a World Record of 3:00.7
(Ollan Cassell 46.0, Mike Larrabee 44.8, Ulis Williams 45.4, Henry Carr 44.5)
Six weeks shy of his 31st birthday, he was the oldest Olympic champion at 400-meters at the time.
Equaled the World Record of 44.9 at the 1964 U.S. Olympic Trials
1964 U.S. Champion—400m
All-American at USC: NCAA-1954 (440y-5th), 1956 (400m-7th)
Made the Top-10 World Rankings 3 times in the 1950s (1955-10, 1957-2, 1959-6), but was slowed by injuries
the next few years. Returned to the top-10 in 1964, when he was ranked #1.
Kelvin Kiptum—Kenya 24 (1999-February 11, 2024) Set a World Record of 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathon on October
8, 2023. It was his 3rd fast time in as many starts at the distance. Ran 2:01:53 in his debut in Valencia on
December 4, 2022, then ran 2:01:25 to win in London on April 23, 2023.
Trained up to 180 miles (300km) a week!
Tragically died (along with his coach-Gervais Hakizimana) in a car crash on February 11, 2024
CBS produced this informative feature on Kiptum in anticipation of airing it a future date, but showed it on
their Saturday morning news show in light of his untimely death:
Tributes:
World Athletics (Includes Kiptum’s comments about his WR at last year’s WA Gala):
