Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
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This Day in Track & Field–April 1)
(Snoddy-9.87w!, Ashton Eaton/Brianne Theisen, Duplantis/Birthdays-Thorkildsen, Lewis-Smallwood, Ruth Beitía, Kelli White, Rey Robinson/R.I.P.-Shavlakadze, Bill Bergan)
1933—Ben Eastman set a World Record of 1:09.2 for 600-yards at the PTA Sports Carnival in San Francisco.
1973—The first Cherry Blossom Invitational Run was held in Washington, D.C. 129 runners finished the race, including winners Sam Bair (51:22) and Kathrine Switzer (1:11:19).
1977—An Arizona State lineup of Gary Burl, Tony Darden, Gerald Burl, and Herman Frazier won the 4x220y at the Texas Relays in 1:21.7, equaling the World Record that was set by Tennessee in 1976
1978—As George Grenier wrote in T&F News, “William Snoddy, getting help from one of the bigger winds since the one that carried Dorothy from Kansas to Oz, bolted to history’s fastest 100-Meters”. The time at the Dallas Invitational for Oklahoma soph Snoddy, the 1977 NCAA Champion at 200-Meters, was 9.87, well under Jim Hines’ World Record of 9.95, and the wind-reading was +11.2-meters per second (25mph)!
1979—Julie Shea set a World Record of 1:14.08 for 20-kilometers in Atlanta
2000—Linda Lypson-Blutreich set an American Record of 188-5 (57.42) in the Javelin at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh,NC.
2010—Oregon’s Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen, still in the early stages of their careers (and long before they got married), won the Decathlon (8310w/PB) and Heptathlon (5942w), respectively, at the Texas Relays.
Ashton went on to win two Olympic (2012,2016) and two World (2013,2015) titles (and set two World Records), while Brianne, representing her native Canada, was a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics and a 2-time silver medalist at the World Championships (2013,2015). She also won 6 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles.
2017—Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, a junior at Lafayette H.S.(LA), won the Elite Pole Vault at the Texas Relays, setting U.S. and World Junior (and U.S. High School) Records with his clearance of 19-4 ¼ (5.90). He would return to Austin the following year and raise the Record to 19-5 (5.92), finishing 3rd behind World Record holder Renaud Lavilennie and Shawn Barber, both of whom also cleared 19-5.
2022—Natalie Cook (Flower Mound,TX) ran 15:25.93 at the Stanford Invitational, breaking the previous U.S. High School Record of 15:34.47 that was set by Jenna Hutchins (Science Hill, TN) in 2020.
2023—A day after setting a Collegiate Record in the Sprint Medley (3:36.10), the Texas women set two more CRs at the Texas Relays.
4×200—1:28.05 Rhasidat Adeleke, Julien Alfred, Kevona Davis, Lanae Thomas
4×100—42.00 Julien Alfred, Ezinne Abba, Rhasidat Adeleke and Kevona Davis
The previous marks were 3:38.93 by Texas A&M in 2022, 42.05 by LSU in 2018, and 1:28.78 by Oregon in 2017. The Lady Longhorns topped off their amazing weekend by winning the 4×400 in a swift 3:23.27 (#9 all-time college performance at the time). Julien Alfred and Rhasidat Adeleke ran on all four teams.
Another CR was set in the Women’s 100-Meter Hurdles, with Kentucky’s Masai Russell running 12.36. The previous mark of 12.39 was set by Clemson’s Brianna McNeal in 2013. Arkansas’ Ackera Nugent, who beat Russell at the NCAA Indoor Championships, made it out of the qualifying round, but was a no-show in the final.
T&F News Coverage Men Women Pros
Born On This Day
Andreas Thorkildsen-Norway 44 (1982) 2-time Olympic gold medalist—Javelin (2004, 2008/2012-5th)
2009 World Champion (Silver medalist-2005, 2007, 2011/2003-11th, 2013-6th)
2-time European Champion (2006, 2010)
PB:300-6 (91.59/2005)
Gia Lewis-Smallwood 47 (1979) 4-time U.S. Champion—Discus (2013,2014,2015,2017
Set an American Record of 226-11 (69.17) in 2014; (record was broken by Valarie Allman in 2020: 230-02
[70.15]); 6’-0”, 205
2012 Olympian—didn’t make the final in London
Competed at 4 World Championships—finished 5th in 2013, 11th in 2015
2001 All-American at the University of Illinois (5th at the 2001 NCAA Championships
Ruth Beitía—Spain 47 (1979) 2016 Olympic gold medalist—High Jump
Won the gold medal in Rio at the age of 37! (Oldest Olympic Champion in the event)
4-time Olympian: 2004 (qual.), 2008 (=4th), 2012 (bronze), 2016 (gold)
Competed at 8 World Championships:
2003 (=11th), 2005 (Qual.), 2007 (6th), 2009 (4th), 2011 (Qual.), 2013 (bronze), 2015 (5th), 2017 (12th)
And 9 World Indoor Championships:
‘01(7th), ‘03(=5th), ‘04(Qual.), ’06 (Bronze), ’08 (4th), ’10 (Silver), ’12 (6th), ’14 (Bronze), ’16 (Silver)
3-time European Champion (2012, 2014, 2016)
PB: 6-7 ½ (2.02)
Kelli White 49 (1977) “Won” the 100 and 200 at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, but was later stripped of her
medals after testing positive for modafinil, a stimulant that wasn’t specified as a banned substance, but was covered
under the stimulants category of “related substances”, according to the IAAF.
Speaking at a packed press conference in Paris after news of her failed test broke, White proclaimed her
innocence, saying she took modafinil to treat Narcolepsy, a condition that ran in her family. (I was at that “presser”,
and, looking at the sport through rose-colored glasses, I naively bought into her explanation!)
White admitted in 2004 to taking steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs and was the first athlete
caught up in the Balco doping scandal. To her credit, she started working with USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency),
speaking at conferences around the world about the pitfalls of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA, said of White’s efforts, “Kelli’s contributions to antidoping will have a much
longer-lasting and beneficial impact for athletes and sport than anything she ever did on the track.”
Prior to her failed drug test, White won the silver medal in the 200 at the 2001 World Championships and was an
All-American at Tennessee: NCAA-1997 (100-5th), 1998 (100-5th, 200-4th), 1999 (100-6th, 200-3rd)
PBs: 7.24i (1999), 11.19 (2000), 22.58 (1998), 53.77 (2000)
Sonia Bisset—Cuba 55 (1971) 8-time global finalist in the Javelin
OG-2000 (4th), 2004 (4th)
WC-1997 (6th), 1999 (6th), 2001 (bronze), 2003 (6th), 2005 (7th), 2007 (6th)
PBs: 222-0 (67.67/2005), 223-11 (68.24/1997/old implement)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Bisset; https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/83467
William Reed 56 (1970) 1987 U.S. Junior Champion-400m (Central H.S., PA)…ran 45.17 in the final (still #9 All-Time H.S.)
and beat Steve Lewis, who would win Olympic gold in the 400 the following year in Seoul.
Suffered an injury towards the end of the 1987 season that sidelined him for most of 1988.
Had a short collegiate career at Morehouse College—finished 3rd in the 400 (45.96) at the 1990 NCAA Div.II
Championships
Set a National H.S. Indoor Record of 33.19 for 300-meters in 1986—record lasted for 27 years until Michael Cherry
ran 33.05 in 2013
Ran a 45.1 split at the 1986 Penn Relays (the fastest ever at Penn at the time)
Was an age-group star from the age of 7
Set an age-15 record of 46.55 for 400-meters in 1985.
PB:33.19i, 45.17 (1987)
“I would have signed William out of eighth grade,” said John Smith, UCLA’s quarter-mile coach at the time. “Even
then his accomplishments were fantastic.”
The grandfather of two is a Hospitality Manager in the Atlanta area for the Starwood hotel chain.
Lev Lobodin—Ukraine/Russia (1997) 56 (1969) 3-time medalist in the Heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships
Silver (2003), Bronze (2001, 2004); 1993-4th, 1999-7th
3-time Olympian-Decathlon: 1996/Ukraine (DNF), 2000/Russia (13th), 2004 (DNF)
3-time bronze medalist at the European Championships: 1994, 1998, 2002
World Championships: 1995 (7th), 1999 (5th), 2001 (5th), 2003 (6th)
PBs: 6412 (2003/#15 All-Time), 8571 (1998)
Chen Yueling—China/USA-2000 58 (1968) 1992 Olympic gold medalist—10k Walk (2000/USA-20k walk/38th)
8th in the 10k-Walk at the 1991 World Championships
Became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
PBs: 42:46.70 (1992), 1:35:35.7h (2000)
Statue (Central Park-Chesterfield,MO):
Rey Robinson 74 (1952) 2nd to Eddie Hart in the 100-Meters at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials (both equaled the World
Record of 9.9). Both had been considered potential medalists in Munich, but they missed their ¼-final races in
Munich due to a misunderstanding of the time schedule!
Ranked #5 in the world in 1972 (#3-U.S.)
With sprint legend Bob Hayes, another former Florida prep star, on hand as the meet referee, Robinson (Lakeland
H.S.) won the 100y (9.2w) and 220y (20.7y) at the 1970 Golden West Invitational, the premier high school meet
at the time.
Former coach at South Florida and Florida A&M
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78966 Central Florida Hall of Fame
Deceased
Bill Bergan 80 (1942-November 22, 2022) Hall-of-Fame coach at Iowa State
Bob Van Osdel 77 (1910-April 6, 1987) 1932 Olympic silver medalist—High Jump…Finished 2nd to USC teammate Duncan
McNaughton, who won the gold medal for Canada.
1932 IC4A co-champion; 1932 co-U.S. Champion
PB: 6-7 ½ (2.02/1930)