Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–February 18
1950—Freshman John Joe Barry, Villanova’s first recruit from Ireland, won the mile (4:11.5) by 5 yards over Horace Ashenfelter at the U.S. Indoor Championships before 12,500 fans at Madison Square Garden. (Barry was born in Illinois, but grew up in Ireland).
Other notable winners:
60y-Andy Stanfield (6.2)
1000y-Roscoe Lee Browne (2:15.6)…went on to have a successful career as an actor
60yh-Harrison Dillard (7.3) won the 4th of his eventual 8 titles
Pole Vault-Bob Richards (14’/4.27)
Shot Put-Jim Fuchs (56-3 5/8 [17.15+])
Mile Walk-Henry Laskau (6:33.4) won the 3rd of his 10 consecutive titles.
Stanfield (200), Ashenfelter (Steeplechase), Dillard (110-hurdles), and Richards (PV) all went on to win Olympic gold
In 1952. Dillard had previously won the 100-Meters at the 1948 Olympics.
NY Times Coverage
1956–A week after improving his world indoor record in the Shot Put to 59-9 (18.21), Parry O’Brien ignored the 60-foot barrier by winning the AAU title in New York with an amazing toss of 61-5 ¼ (18.725?). That was also better than his outdoor record of 60-10 (18.54) It was the 4th of his 9 consecutive U.S. indoor titles.
Another WR was set by Bob Backus in the 35lb-Weight Throw (63-10 ½ [19.47]). It was the 3rd of his 7 U.S. titles.
Results (for T&FN Subscribers): https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/eTN1956_vol02_14.pdf
Past U.S. Champions: https://www.flipsnack.com/USATF/usatf-indoor-champions/full-view.html
1967—Bob Seagren set an American Record of 17-3 (5.26) in the Pole Vault at the Cleveland Knights of Columbus meet.
Report (For T&F News Subscribers)
1967–Taking advantage of Louisville’s spacious 220-yard wooden oval (a rarity in those days), 2 individuals and one relay team set new World Indoor Records.
Tommie Smith won the 440y in 46.2 to smash Theron Lewis’s previous mark of 47.1.
Tom Von Ruden won the 880y in 1:49.0 to break Tom Farrell’s record of 1:49.8.
Southern University won the Mile Relay in 3:10.2 to take down the former mark of 3:11.1 that they had shared with
Texas Southern.
Report (For T&F News Subscribers)
1967–Doris Brown(Heritage) ran 4:40.4 in Vancouver to crush her own World and American Indoor Records in the mile (4:52.0).
1973—Belgium’s Emiel Puttemans set two World Indoor Records in West Berlin, running 7:39.2 for 3000-meters on his way to a time of 8:13.2 for 2-miles. He had set the previous 3k record of 7:45.2 just a week earlier.
http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=227
1989—Dion Bentley (Penn Hills,Pa) set the still-standing U.S. National H.S. Record of 26-6 ½ (8.09) in the Long Jump at Penn State. The previous record of 26-2 (7.975?) was set by Jerry Proctor (Muir,CA) in 1967.
Bentley would jump 26-9 ¼ (8.16) outdoors to break Carl Lewis’s National Record of 26-8 ¼ (8.13) and would hold on to the record for 20 years until Marquis Goodwin (Rowlett,TX) jumped 26-10 (8.18) in 2009.
He is currently the Captain of the DeKalb County(GA) Fire Department and the department’s public information officer.
https://wpial.org/hof.aspx?hof=16
1996–Namibia’s Frank Fredericks set the current World Indoor Record of 19.92 in the 200-meters in Liévin, France. Since the event is no longer a championship event at the elite level, that record could last a very long time.
2001—Running in a NY Road Runners Challenge Race at NY’s Armory, Marla Runyan set an American Indoor Record of 15:07.33 for 5000-meters. Lynn Jennings set the previous record of 15:22.64 in 1990.
“I don’t know what to say,” an emotionally overcome Runyan told reporters after the race. “I just got into this zone, and everything went perfectly.”
Runyan, who is legally blind, had become the first visually-impaired athlete to compete in the Olympics the previous year, finishing 8th in the 1500-meters in Sydney. She would make her 2nd Olympic team in the 5000-meters in 2004.
A five-time gold medalist at the Paralympics, Runyan was a 3-time U.S. Champion at 5000-meters (2001-2003) and won the U.S. title at the Twin-Cities Marathon in 2006 (2:32:17), which turned out to be the final race of her career.
Runyan currently works with the Boston A.A.
Race Report: http://nypost.com/2001/02/19/runyan-smashes-indoor-record/
Runner’s World(2014): http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/retired-pro-marla-runyan-continues-to-inspire
2001—Romania’s Gabriela Szabo set a World Indoor Record of 8:32.88 for 3000-meters at the Norwich Union Grand Prix meet in Birmingham, England. Szabo, who had won the gold medal in the 5000-meters at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, picked up a $50,000 bonus for her record run. The previous record of 8:33.82 was set in 1989 by Holland’s Elly van Hulst.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/1177143.stm
2005–Russia’s Yelena Isinbaeva became the first woman to clear 16-feet in the Pole Vault indoors, clearing that exact height (4.88m) in Birmingham, England.
2006—Russia’s Yelena Soboleva ran 3:58.28 in Moscow, breaking the World Indoor Record of 3:59.98 that was set by Regina Jacobs in 2003.
2009—Meseret Defar ran 14:24.37 for 5000-Meters in Stockholm to break the World Record of 14:27.42 that was set by fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba in 2007.
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/news-flash-142437-world-5000m-record-by-def
2011—A Russian team of Aleksandra Bulanova (2:02.2), Yekaterina Sharmina-Martynova (2:03.3), Yelena Kotulskaya-Kofanova (2:00.3), and Anna Balakshina (2:00.6) set a World Record of 8:06.24 in the 4×800 in Moscow. The old WR of 8:12.41 was set by another Russian team the previous year. A U.S. team set the current record of 8:05.89 in 2018.
2018—Christian Coleman, denied a World Record when he ran 6.37 at Clemson two weeks earlier because the required electronic starting blocks weren’t used, left no doubt this time, running 6.34 while winning the 60 at the U.S. Indoor Championships in the sprinter-friendly altitude of Albuquerque. Coleman was pushed all the way by defending champion Ronnie Baker, whose runnerup time of 6.40 was just .01s above Maurice Greene’s previous mark of 6.39.
Coleman, the silver medalist in the 100-meters at the 2017 World Outdoor Championships (Usain Bolt was 3rd), celebrated by almost running another 60-meters back towards the starting line! (Coleman won the 100 at the 2019 World Championships.
(Coleman served an 18-month ban for “whereabouts” violations that kept him out of the Tokyo Olympics)
https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/stories/news/detail/christian-coleman-ban-miss-tokyo-2020-olympics/
In one of the greatest hurdles races ever, Sharika Nelvis won the Women’s 60-Meter Hurdles in 7.70 to break the American Record of 7.72, which was jointly held by Lolo Jones and Keni Harrison, who finished 2nd here with another 7.72.
And right behind in 7.73 was Christina Manning (now Clemons), who ran 7.73. All 3 performances cracked the all-time top-10 list.
But wait! In December, 2018, USATF announced that NY-born Susanna Kallur, who has dual-citizenship with Sweden, should have been credited with an American Record when she set the current World Record of 7.68 in 2008! So Jones, Harrison (who would run 7.70 at the World Indoor Championships), and Nelvis could no longer claim the AR on their resume! (Tia Jones helped clarify the situation by lowering the AR to 7.67 in 2024!)
The expected battle between Jenn Suhr and Sandi Morris in the Women’s Pole Vault took a backseat to the breakthrough performance of Katie Nageotte (now Moon), who joined the indoor 16-foot club with her winning clearance of 16-1 ¼ (4.91). Nageotte, the 2013 NCAA Div.II Indoor and outdoor champion while competing for Ashland, had 8 first-jump clearances on her way to setting 3 personal bests during the competition, clearing 15-9 ¼ (4.81) and 15-11 ¼ (4.86) in addition to her winning jump. She missed 3-times at the World Record height of 16-6 ½ (5.04). She has since won gold at the 2021 Olympics and the 2022 & 2023 World Championships.
Morris and Suhr did have their own private battle to earn a spot on the U.S. team that would compete at the upcoming World Indoor Championships. Suhr was in 2nd place after clearing 15-9 ¼ on her first jump, while Morris missed twice before passing to the next height, 15-11 ¼. She cleared on her only remaining attempt, while Suhr missed once, then went out after passing to 16-1 ¼ and missing on both attempts, leaving Morris in 2nd and on the U.S. team.
Coleman Videos:
https://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&mgroup_event_id=25&year=2018&do=videos&video_id=233769
Breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQZgNl2XxrI
Results: https://results.usatf.org/2018Indoors/
Videos: https://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&mgroup_event_id=25&do=videos&folder_id=recent&year=2018
2023—It was in 2011 that Ryan Crouser set the current U.S. High School Indoor Record of 77-2 ¾ (23.54) in the Shot Put at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. Passing on the U.S. Indoor Championships that were taking place the same weekend in Albuquerque, Crouser accepted an invitation to compete at this year’s Simplot Games (the first since 2020 due to Covid-19) from his cousin, Haley Crouser, who is on the meet’s Board of Directors.
Competing against five throwers from Idaho State, Crouser surprised himself (and all of the high school athletes in attendance) by throwing 76-8 ½ (23.38) in the opening round. That not only smashed his own World Indoor Record of 74-10 ½ (22.82), it bettered his Outdoor Record by one centimeter! However, a required survey of the throwing circle and landing area revealed that they did not conform to World Athletics requirements, preventing the mark from being ratified as a WR!
Read more at the following links:
https://simplot-games.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=1158&do=news&news_id=655695
https://trackandfieldnews.com/a-ryan-crouser-surprise-historys-longest-put/
https://worldathletics.org/news/report/ryan-crouser-world-shot-put-record-2338m-idaho
Nixed: https://trackandfieldnews.com/crousers-23-38-put-nixed/
2011: https://simplot-games.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=1158&do=videos&video_id=36923
2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxg4GpRf5CE
2023–Four of the five team titles at the World X-Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia, were won by Kenya, with Ethiopia winning the Women’s Junior/Under-20 race.
The U.S. Junior teams each won bronze medals (a first for the women).
With Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet bearing down on her near the finish of the Senior Women’s race(10k), a weakening Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia’s 2022 World Champion at 10,000-meters, fell to the ground as Chebet (33:48), the 2019 Junior/Under-20 Champion, continued on for the win. Gidey was eventually able to cross the finish line, but was disqualified after getting assistance to get back on her feet!
Runners had to deal with a challenging course and high temperatures before things cooled off for the Senior Men’s race.
Other winners/top U.S. Finishers
Senior Men(10k): 1.Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) 29:17…21.Sam Chelanga
Senior Women(10k):…18.Ednah Kurgat…21.Weini Kelati
Junior Men(8k): 1.Ismael Kirui (Kenya) 24:29…16.Leo Young…19.Marco Langon…21.Max Sannes…25.Kole Mathison
Junior Women(6k): 1.Senayet Getachew (Ethiopia) 20:53…10.Ellie Shea…12.Irene Riggs, 13.Karrie Baloga…19.Zariel Macchia
https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-cross-country-championships/bathurst23
Results: https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-cross-country-championships/bathurst23/timetable
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2023/02/in-bathurst-the-worlds-greatest-footrace-lived-up-to-its-name/
https://forum.trackandfieldnews.com/forum/current-events/1781403-world-xc-2023
Videos
Sr.Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjxmlYORpi8
Sr.Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs9Ise_8vKY
Mixed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c48ZEvj1sq0
2024 (new)–Femke Bol ran 49.24 for 400-meters at the Dutch Championships in Apeldoorn to better her own year-old World Record of 49.26. She would improve the record to 49.17 at the following month’s World Indoor Championships.
https://worldathletics.org/news/report/femke-bol-world-indoor-400m-record-apeldoorn-2024
Significant Birthdays
Born On This Day*
Konstanze Klosterhalfen—Germany 28 (1997) Bronze medalist in the 5000m at the 2019 World Championships
2022 European Champion—5000m
Silver Medalist at the 2022 & 2024 European Cross Country Championships
3 European Indoor Silvers–2017: 1500 2019: 3000 2023: 3000
8th in the 10,000m at the 2021 Olympic Games
7th in the 3000m at the 2018 World Indoor Championships
PBs: 1:59.65 (2017), 3:58.92 (2017), 4:17.26i (2020), 5:34.53 (2021), 9:16.73/2m (2022), 14:26.76 (2019),
31:01.71 (2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstanze_Klosterhalfen
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/germany/konstanze-klosterhalfen-14496249
Back From Injury:
www.european-athletics.com/news/klosterhalfen-thrilled-with-return-to-podium-after-21-month-gap
A.G. Kruger 46 (1979) 5-time U.S. Champion—Hammer Throw (‘06-‘09, ‘13)
Member of 8 U.S. National teams (three Olympics (‘04, ‘08, ‘12) and five World
Championships (‘05, ‘07, ‘09, ‘13, ‘15)
4th at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
9-time U.S. Indoor Champion—Weight Throw (’03, ’05-’07, ’09-’10, ’12, ’14-’15);
2001 NCAA Div.II Champion-Hammer (Morningside)
PBs:82-7 ½ (25.18/2012/#6 All-Time U.S.), 260-0 (74.26/2004/#9 A-T U.S.);
Last competed in 2020
Replaced the late Jud Logan as the Head Coach at Ashland University…had previously coached at Ashland before
he took a similar position at South Dakota
https://goashlandeagles.com/staff-directory/a-g-kruger/227
New Hire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._G._Kruger
Adam Goucher 50 (1975) 2000 Olympic finalist—5000 (13th);
3-time World Championships finalist—5000 (’99-12th, ’01-10th, ’07-11th)
4-time NCAA Champion at Colorado—1997 (Indoor 3k), 1998-Indoor 3k, Outdoor 5k, X-Country
1993 Foot Locker XC Champion (Doherty H.S, CO); One of the few elite men to have been coached by a woman in
high school—Judy Fellhauer
Hampered by injuries late in his career
PBs: 1:49.12 (‘99), 3:36.64 (‘01), 3:54.17 (‘99), 7:34.96 (‘01), 8:12.73/2-mile (’06), 13:10.00 (’06), 27:59.31
(’08), 1:04:52 (’11)
Co-Founder of Run the Edge, a virtual fitness challenge: https://runtheedge.com/meet-the-team
Wife is Kara Goucher
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Goucher
https://cubuffs.com/honors/cu-athletic-hall-of-fame/adam-goucher/61
In The Beginning: https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20785963/learning-to-fly/
The Gouchers’ Timeline: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/04/kara-adam-goucher-career-timeline/
https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/adam-goucher
Running the Edge: https://runtheedge.com/running-the-edge-book
Colin Jackson—Great Britain(Wales) 58 (1967) 1988 Olympic silver medalist—110m-Hurdles
2-time World Champion (1993,1999/1997-silver,1987-bronze)
4-time European Champion (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
1999 World Indoor Champion-60m-Hurdles. 3-time silver medalist (1989,1993,1997)
Set a World Record of 12.91 at the 1993 World Championships (Now #9 All-Time)
Also set a World Indoor Record of 7.30 in the 60m-Hurdles in 1994. Record stood for 27-years until Grant Holloway
ran 7.29 in 2021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Jackson
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69187
’88 OG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnFFtgiT2d0
’93 WC/WR:
