Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–April 17
1937—Alton Terry (Hardin-Simmons), the 1936 NCAA Champion in the event (he was 6th at the Berlin Olympics), threw 229-2 ¼ (69.85) at the Kansas Relays to set his 3rd American Record in the Javelin.
1948–Two World Records were set at the Kansas Relays. Michigan’s Charles Fonville broke the 58’ barrier in the shot put with his winning toss of 58-3/8 (17.68), and Harrison Dillard ran 13.6 to set a new mark in the 120-yard hurdles (also bettered the metric record).
Fonville, who had raised the World Indoor Record twice in February (56-6 ¼ [17.23m], 56-10 5/8 [17.34]), won his 2nd NCAA title later in the year, but missed a chance for Olympic gold when a back injury held him to a disappointing 4th-place finish at the U.S. Trials.
Dillard had his own problems at the Trials when he failed to finish in his specialty, the 110-hurdles. However, he had earlier made the team by finishing 3rd in the 100-meters and went on to a surprising win in that event at the London Olympics.
1972–New York’s Nina Kuscsik became the first official female winner at the Boston Marathon (3:10:26). Previous winners Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb (1966-1968) and Sara Mae Berman (1969-1971) ran without race bib numbers. Kuscsik was inspired to start running at 15 after hearing about Roger Banister breaking 4 minutes for the mile in 1954.
1976—Future Hall-of-Fame Steve Williams set an American Record of 19.9 for 200 meters in Gainesville, Florida.
1978–Two milestones at the Boston Marathon–it was the largest field ever as 4,212 runners went to the starting line, and the Men’s race was the closest in Boston history. Hometown favorite Bill Rodgers won for the 2nd time, but his margin of victory was only 2 seconds over fast-closing Jeff Wells (2:10:13-2:10:15). Frank Shorter, who was near the front for the first half of the race, finished 23rd (2:28:15). Other notable finishers: 4th-Jack Fultz (1976 winner/2:11:17), 5th-Randy Thomas (former Boston College women’s coach/2:11:25), 7th-Don Kardong (1976 Olympian/2:14:07), 10th-Tom Fleming (2-time NYC Marathon winner/2:14:44).
17-year-old high school senior Lynn Jennings, competing against the will of race organizers, who had set an entry age limit of 18, ran the race in about 2:46.
Despite concerns from some that someone that young shouldn’t be running a marathon, it didn’t stop Jennings from going on to a Hall-of-Fame career that included three World X-Country titles and an Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000 meters (1992).
1982–With the running events completed at the Bruce Jenner Classic in San Jose, the late Bob Roggy rewarded the faithful 125 fans who hung around to watch the javelin by throwing 307-6 (93.72) in the 4th round to break Mark Murro’s 12-year-old American Record of 300-feet (91.44). Roggy also had throws of 299-8 (91.34?) and 298-3 (90.90?) with the “old” implement.
Roggy, who died tragically in a freak accident in 1986 at the age of 29, raised the record twice more in 1982, throwing 309-11 (94.46) and then 314-4 (95.80). The Bob Roggy Memorial Javelin Throw is always a featured event at the annual New Jersey International meet in New Jersey.
1983–Norway’s Grete Waitz improved her World Record in the Marathon for the 4th and final time, running 2:25:28.7 in London. Waitz’s reign as world record holder (all-conditions) ended the next day when Joan Benoit ran 2:22:43 in Boston.
1988–Ethiopia’s Belayneh Densamo became the first man to run under 2:07 for the Marathon, winning on Rotterdam’s fast course with a time of 2:06:50. It was a record that would last for ten years.
1989—Winner of the Men’s race at the Boston Marathon was Ethiopia’s Abebe Mekkonen (2:09:06). He was followed by Tanzania’s Juma Ikangaa (2:09:56), Ireland’s John Treacy (2:10:24), and Kenya’s Ibrahim Hussein (2:12:41), the defending champion (he would win again in 1991 & 1992).
Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen (2:24:33) won the Women’s title for the 2nd time (also won in 1986). 2nd was New Zealand’s Marguerite Buist (2:29:04), while 5 Americans finished in the top-10: 3.Kim Jones (2:29:34), 5.Lisa Rainsberger (2:33:18/winner in 1985), 6.Lisa Brady (2:34:16), 9. Joan Benoit (2:37:52/winner in 1983), 10.Laurie Binder (2:39:21). 7th was Great Britain’s Priscilla Welch(2:35:00).
1994–The Santa Monica Track Club put on quite a show for the 9,000 fans at the Mt.SAC Relays. Starting out with the 4×100 relay, an all-star lineup of Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard, and Carl Lewis, pushed by a Dennis Mitchell-anchored “pick-up” team, won a close one as the two squads ran 37.79 and 37.82, the two fastest times ever run on U.S. soil.
But that was only a teaser for the 4×200 race, when Marsh (20.0), Burrell (19.6), Heard (19.7) and Lewis (19.4) combined for a World Record of 1:18.68, breaking their own previous mark of 1:19.11. The quartet was once again pushed all the way by a “pick-up” team (1:19.10), with Great Britain’s John Regis actually making up ground on Lewis with his 19.1 anchor. Handling the first three legs for that team were Jon Drummond (20.4), Mitchell (19.3), and Bryan Bridgewater (20.3).
The record stood for 20 years until a Jamaican team (without Usain Bolt!) ran 1:18.63 at the 2014 World Relays in the Bahamas.
1995—Kenya’s Cosmas Ndeti (2:09:22) joined Americans Clarence DeMar (1922-1924) and Bill Rodgers (1978-1980) as the only 3-time consecutive winners of the Boston Marathon. Germany’s Uta Pippig (2:25:11) won the Women’s race for the 2nd year in a row. 2nd was South Africa’s Elana Meyer(2:26:51)
1999—Stacy Dragila cleared 14-7 ½ (4.86) at the Mt.SAC Relays in Walnut,CA, to top her 2-year old American Record of 14-7 ¼ (4.85).
2000—The Men’s race on a chilly and windy day at the Boston Marathon remains one of the most competitive in the race’s history. Kenya’s Elijah Lagat was the winner over Ethiopia’s Gezahegne Abera, with both given the identical time of 2:09:47. Lagat’s training partner, Moses Tanui, the winner in 1996 and 1998, was close behind in 2:09:50. Abera went on to win the Olympic Marathon in Sydney later in the year.
The outcome of the Women’s race was in doubt until the last mile, when Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba (2:26:11) pulled away from Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba, the 3-time defending champion. Kyrgyzstan’s Irina Bogacheva edged Roba for 2nd place, both being timed in 2:26:27.
Video(Go to 1:08.50 for the late stages of the races)
2005—Despite stopping for a brief toilet break (at the side of the road!) at 21-miles, Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe won the London Marathon 2:17:42, a World Record for a women’s-only race.
Said Radcliffe, “I felt from 15 or 16 miles that I wanted to go but I was reluctant to in front of however many thousands of people were watching on television. But it reached the stage where I had to because I was losing 10 seconds a mile for the three miles before I stopped. Once I stopped I was ‘fine’.”
2017—It was a Kenyan sweep at the Boston Marathon, with Geoffrey Kirui (2:09:37) and Edna Kiplagat (2:21:52) both pulling away in the latter stages of their races to win comfortably in their first appearance in Beantown.
Finishing 2nd in the Men’s race was Galen Rupp (2:09:58), with the U.S. also getting top-11 finishes from Abdi Abdirhman (6th/2:12:45), Luke Puskedra (9th/2:14:45), Jared Ward (10th/2:15:28), and Sean Quigley (11th/2:15:34). 2014 winner Meb Keflezighi, running in his last competitive Boston Marathon, finished 13th (2:17:00).
Jordan Hasay finished 3rd in the Women’s race with a time of 2:23:00, the fastest marathon debut ever for an American woman. Des Linden (2:25:06), who would win the following year, finished 4th, and 70-year old Kathrine Switzer, running on the 50th Anniversary of her memorable race in 1967 (see link), returned to Boston and finished in 4:44:31. 261, the number she wore in 1967 and again this year, was retired by the Boston A.A. after the race.
Top 100
Men: www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?RL=1&MIDD=15170417&Gen=M&Begin=1&End=100&Max=14438
Women: www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?RL=1&MIDD=15170417&Gen=F&Begin=1&End=100&Max=11973
2021–Texas A&M frosh Athing Mu ran 1:57.73 at the Michael Johnson Inv. in Waco,Texas, to break the Collegiate Record of 1:59.10 that was set by Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers in 2017. Mu had set the Indoor CR of 1:58.40 in February.
2023—It was a sweep for Kenya at a cool and rainy Boston Marathon, with Evans Chebet (2:05:54) winning the Men’s race for the 2nd year in a row, and Hellen Obiri (2:21:36), already a World Champion on the track and in X-Country, showed that she is now a force to be reckoned with on the roads as she won the Women’s race over a deep field.
Obiri said that having her daughter, Tania, and her husband, Tom Nyaundi, at the finish helped motivate her in the final kilometers. “I say let me try to work hard because my daughter is here,” Obiri said. She added: “Can I try to make them happy?”
A pack of 4 waged a terrific battle before Obiri pulled away in the final mile from Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso (2:21:50), Israel’s Lonah Salpeter (2:21:57), and Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh (2:22:00), who survived an earlier fall. The top American was Emma Bates, who gamely tried to stay with the lead pack before finishing 5th (2:22:10). 11th was fellow American Aliphine Tuliamuk (2:24:37)
One of the pre-race favorites in the Men’s race was World Record holder (at the time) Eliud Kipchoge, who faded to 6th after setting a fast pace in the early stages of the race.
Americans took 5 of the top 13 places–Scott Fauble (7th-2:09:44), Matthew McDonald (10th-2:10:17), Conner Mantz (11th-2:10:25), CJ Albertson (12th-2:10:33), Nick Montanez (13th-2:10:52).
Past Boston Marathon Winners
2025 (New) Finishing 3rd in the 5000-meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, senior Jane Hedengren (Timpville,UT) ran 14:57.93 to break her own High School and American Junior/Under-20 Record of 15:13.16i.
Finishing ahead of Hedengren were New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei (14:52.45) and BYU’s Lexi Halladay-Lowry (14:52.93).
Born On This Day*
Rachel Glenn 24 (2002) 2021 NCAA Champion (2nd-Indoors)—High Jump (South Carolina)
3rd at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships…3rd outdoors…3rd Indoors in 2025
2022 Penn Relays Champion
Transferred to Arkansas after the 2022 season…didn’t compete in 2023
2024 NCAA Indoor Champion—tied the Collegiate Record of 6-6 ¾ (2.00); 3rd in 2025
2nd in the High Jump at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials (didn’t make the final in Paris…was 5th in the Trials 400m-Hurdles
6th at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials
3rd in the hurdles at the 2022 U.S. Championships…competed in the 1st round at the 2022 World Championships
Ran 54.91 in the 400-Meter Hurdles at the 2024 Florida Relays
Didn’t compete after finishing 3rd in the HJ at the 2025 SEC Championships in May
PBs: 8.10i (2025), 53.46 (2024), 6-6 3/4i (2.00/2024); 2025 SBs: 54.86, 6-6 (1.98)
Alex Breckenridge 94 (1932) 1960 U.S. Olympian–Marathon (30th)
2-time Penn Relays Champion—Distance Medley-1957,1958 (Villanova-3/4 leg)
1959 U.S. Champion—15k, 30k
3rd at the 1962 Boston Marathon
Born in Buffalo, grew up in Scotland
Deceased
- Morgan Taylor71 (1903-Feb.16, 1975)
3-time Olympic medalist—400-meter hurdles (Gold-’24, Bronze-‘28&’32/only man to win 3 Olympic medals in the
event)
4-time U.S. Champion: 1924-1926 (440y-Hurdles), 1928 (400m-Hurdles)
1927 NCAA Champion—220y-Hurdles (Grinnell)
Was the flag-bearer for the U.S. in the Opening Ceremony at the 1932 Olympics
Inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 2000
His son (of the same name) was a 2-time IC4A champion in the Long Jump (Princeton/1952,1953) and was a
former President of the U.S. Golf Association
Kerry O’Brien—Australia 79 (1946-December 13, 2025) Former World Record holder—Steeplechase (8:21.98/1970)
2-time Olympian—1968 (4th)…was among the favorites heading into the1972 Olympics, but didn’t make the final
after falling in his qualifying heat
Other PBs: 4:02.72 (1966), 7:50.4h/3k (1970), 8:19.2i/2m (1971), 13:37.2h (1970), 28:43.49 (1970)