This Day in Track & Field-May 13
1916—Penn’s Ted Meredith, already the World Record holder at 800-meters (1:51.9-1912), added the 880y mark to his portfolio after running 1:52.2 in a dual meet with Cornell at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. He added the 440y/400m mark two weeks later by running 47 2/5 at the IC4A Championships. Meredith won gold medals in the 800 and 4×400 relay at the 1912 Olympics.
1933—Fresno State’s Walter Marty set a World Record of 6-8 5/8 (ratified as 6-8 3/8 [2.04]) on his home field at the West Coast Relays.
https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1933/05/16?page=4§ion=MODSMD_ARTICLE50#article
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19341201.2.36
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Marty
1950—Dick Attlesey, a senior at USC, ran 13.5 at the West Coast Relays in Fresno to break Harrison “Bones” Dillard’s
2-year old World Record of 13.6 for the 120-yard hurdles. It was the first of three World Records Attlesey would set this year. In June, he ran 13.6 for the slightly longer 110-meter hurdles, then 13.5 in July. He also won NCAA and U.S. titles in 1950 and was the first Pan-American Games Champion in 1951,
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19510521.2.60&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Attlesey
1966—It was a typical high-class Coliseum Relays In Los Angeles, with four major records being set.
USC set a World Record of 7:17.4 in the 2-mile relay with a lineup of John Link (1:51.7), Bruce Bess (1:49.7), Dave Buck (1:48.2), and Dennis Carr(1:47.8). The Trojans were pressed all the way by Texas (7:18.6) and Villanova (7:18.8), which were anchored by Preston Davis (1:47.8) and Dave Patrick (1:47.7), respectively.
In the 2-mile, Kenya’s great Kip Keino threw off his orange cap with a little more than a lap to go, a sign that he usually has a race in hand, but he was passed by Kansas freshman Jim Ryun and Jim Grelle, the present and past American Record holders in the Mile, on the final turn. Those two went stride-for-stride down the homestretch, with Ryun holding on for a narrow win as both were credited with an American Record of 8:25.2. The previous mark of 8:26.4 was set by Bob Schul in 1966.
Charlette Cooke, a senior at St.Mary’s Academy-Inglewood,CA, set an American (and World Junior) Record of 53.5 for the Women’s 440-yards. Cooke, who competed for the Compton Track Club throughout most of her career, was inducted into the National H.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame in March, 2020.
The first record of the day came before most of the 17,000+ fans had arrived, with Arizona’s John Tushaus throwing the Javelin 284-0 (86.57?) to break Al Cantello’s 7-year old American Record (282-3 [86.04]).
2-mile Photo
Cooke: https://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13078&do=videos&video_id=298415
1967—Tommie Smith and Lee Evans put on quite a show at the West Coast Relays in Fresno, CA. Getting unexpected help from teammates Ken Shackelford and Bob Talmadge, the two Olympic-Champions-to-be the following year (Smith-200, Evans-400) led San Jose State to a World Record of 1:22.1 in the 880y-relay (also getting credit for a new 800m standard), and an American Record of 3:03.1 in the Mile Relay.
The shorter race came first, with Shackelford leading off in 21.2, with Talmadge contributing a 20.5 split on the 2nd leg. A shaky handoff led to a slowish (for him) 21.1 split for Evans, before Smith finished things off with a great 19.4 anchor, the fastest split ever recorded.
Just 35-minutes later, Talmadge (47.5) and Shackelford (46.4) set the table for the mile relay, with Evans turning in a sensational 44.2 carry, yet another fastest-ever split, and Smith topped off the AR with a quick split of his own—45.2 (reported splits add up to 3:03.4).
Collegiate Records were set by USC’s Bob Seagren in the Pole Vault (17-4 ¼ [5.29]) and Arizona State’s Lou Scott in the 2-mile (8:34.4). Seagren had set a World Record of 17-5 ½ (5.32) the previous year, but the mark wasn’t eligible for consideration as a CR since he was a Junior College (Mt.SAC) student at the time. Following T&F News’ lead, only Div.I athletes can set CRs. (From Track & Field News)
1967–Jim Hines ran 9.1 at the Southwestern Athletic Conference championships in Houston to tie Bob Hayes’s World Record for 100-yards. Hines also won the 220 (20.4) and anchored the 2nd-place 440-relay to lead Texas Southern to the team title.
1978–Running before a couple of hundred fans in cool conditions at the Northwest Relays in Seattle, Washington State’s Henry Rono ran 8:05.4 to set a World Record in the Steeplechase. The previous mark of 8:08.0 had been set by Sweden’s Anders Gärderud at the 1976 Olympics. For the native of Kenya, it was the 2nd of what would be an incredible string of 4 World Records set within a period of 81 days
4-08-78 Berkeley, CA 5,000 13:08.4
5-13-78 Seattle,WA Steeplechase 8:05.4
6-11-78 Vienna 10,000 27:22.4
6-27-78 Oslo 3,000 7:32.1
Jack Pfeifer, the former director of college events at NY’s Armory, was in the stands that day. “I was there. Temp in the low 50s as I recall, but calm, good distance conditions. Wasn’t raining, although I think it did later in the day. May have been one of the few WRs set before noon. (Rono) ran with Jim Johnson of Club Northwest the first 2 laps, then Johnson gave way and it was solo the rest of the way. As I recall, he practically jogged it in, knowing he had the record well in hand”.
1984—Chandra Cheeseborough set an American Record of 50.52 for 400-meters at the Pepsi Invitational, held at UCLA in Westwood,CA. She went on to win silver in the 400 and gold in both relays at the L.A. Olympics later in the season. She was inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 2000 and is currently the head coach at Tennessee State. She was among the initial group of athletes who were inducted into the National H.S. T&F Hall of Fame in 2018.
HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/chandra-cheeseborough
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/sports/track-and-field.html
H.S. HOF Bio
Acceptance Speech
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Cheeseborough
https://tsutigers.com/sports/womens-track-and-field/roster/coaches/chandra-cheeseborough-guice/665
2018—3 Collegiate Records were set at the SEC Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Kentucky freshman Sydney McLaughlin won the 400-Meter Hurdles in 52.75, which also improved her World Junior Record, LSU ran 42.05 in the 4×100 Relay, and Georgia’s Keturah Orji upped her CR to 47-11 ¾ (14.62) in the Triple Jump. The previous CR in the 400-Meter Hurdles was 53.21, set by Stanford’s Kori Carter in 2013.
Videos/Results: https://www.secsports.com/article/24069588/2018-sec-outdoor-track-field-championships
2023—This year’s SEC Championships in Baton Rouge was one of (if not THE) greatest conference championships ever, with 4 Collegiate Records being set.
Arkansas’ Britton Wilson, who had set a CR of 49.40 in her heat the day before, won the final of the 400-meters and improved her record to 49.13. She moved ahead of Allyson Felix into 4th-place on the All-Time U.S. list (now =#5). She came back less than 2 hours later to win the 400m-hurdles in 53.28. (She was 5th in the hurdles at the 2022 World Championships)
The three additional CRs were set on the Men’s side.
LSU opened the final day of competition by winning the 4×100 in 37.90 with a lineup of Brandon Hicklin, Camel, Da’Marcus Fleming, and Godson Oghenebrume, who would later win the 100-meters in 10.04. Florida was a close 2nd in 37.93 as both teams were under the previous CR of 37.97, which was set by another Florida team at the 2019 NCAA Championships in Austin.
The final men’s event of the day was the 4×400 and again two teams were under the previous CR. Florida’s Ryan Willie (43.32), who had earlier won the 400 in 44.27, ran down Alabama’s Corde Long in the homestretch to give the Gators a narrow win (2:57.76-2:58.01). Georgia ran 2:59.63, marking only the 2nd time 3 schools had broken 3-minutes in the same race! Only 7 countries have ever run faster than Florida!
Preceding Willie for Florida were JeVaughn Powell, Emmanuel Bamidele, and Jacory Patterson (43.98). Patterson and Willie were members of the Florida team that set the previous CR of 2:58.53 in 2022. The same foursome would lower the record to 2:57.74 the following month at the NCAA Championships.
And then there was 18-year old Jaydon Hibbert, a freshman at Arkansas. Already the indoor record holder with his winning jump of 57-6 ½ (17.54), he now has the Outdoor CR as well, jumping 58-7 ½ (17.87) to better the 41-year old mark of 57-7 ¾ (17.57) that was set by SMU’s Keith Connor in 1982. Another aging mark that fell was the 38-year old World Junior/Under-20 Record of 57-5 (17.50) that was set by East Germany’s Volker Mai in 1985. Interview
The 100-meter hurdles provided a dream matchup that resulted in all 3 women running under 12.50, a collegiate first.
1.Alia Armstrong (LSU) 12.40 (=MR/=#4 All-Time College at the time) Defending NCAA Champion—ran a wind-aided 12.31
in her heat—an all-conditions CR
2.Ackera Nugent (Arkansas) 12.43PB (#6 A-T) 2-time NCAA Indoor Champion (2021, 2023). Indoor CR holder-7.72
3.Masai Russell (Kentucky) 12.47 (=#10 A-T performance) Collegiate Record holder (12.36).
Other Highlights:
Arkansas’ Ayden Owens-Delerme, the 2022 NCAA Champion in the Decathlon (4th at the 2022 Worlds for Puerto Rico), won the Men’s 400m-Hurdles in 48.28. It was only his 3rd race in the international event, but he was the 2018 Pennsylvania State H.S. champion in the 300-meter hurdles! The decision to skip the Decathlon here, thereby passing up a chance to defend his NCAA title (he didn’t have a qualifier), was because “he has been dealing with some nagging, recurring injuries”, according to Coach Chris Bucknam.
“To put him in the best position to medal at the World Championships, we feel like the wear and tear of two decathlons [at the SEC and NCAA meets] before that takes place would be a detriment,” Bucknam said. “We’ve come to the conclusion that what’s best for him long-term is to focus on the 400 hurdles and the relays — give him that break from the Decathlon so he can go on and prepare for the World Championships.” (He would withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest after no-heighting in the Pole Vault!).
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2023/may/10/past-champion-owens-delerme-to-miss-sec-ncaa-decathlon/
Georgia freshman Will Sumner won the Men’s 800 in 1:46.20, breaking the family record of 1:46.33 that was set by his dad Brad in 1993. Both of his parents were All-Americans in the 800 while competing at Villanova. Mom Tosha Woodward had a best of 2:00.46.
Florida’s Jasmine Moore, the winner of the last 6 NCAA indoor & outdoor titles in the horizontal jumps, won both here, reaching an outdoor best of 22-7 (6.88) in the Long Jump, and 46-4 ¾ (14.14) in the Triple Jump.
Georgia’s Kyle Garland won the Decathlon with a score of 8589 points.
Arkansas swept the team titles Men (22nd) Women (10th) Coach Lance Harter (retired after the 2023 season)
Results: https://live.deltatiming.com/meets/20380
Videos: W400 M4x100 M4x400
https://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=661920
For Subscribers: https://trackandfieldnews.com/sec-men-record-relays-shine-hibbert-flies/
All-Time Lists (From T&F News)
U.S.-W400 (Performers)
48.70 Sanya Richards-Ross (Nike) 9/16/06
48.74 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (New Balance) 7/08/23
48.83 Valerie Brisco (World Class AC) 8/06/84
49.05 Chandra Cheeseborough (Athletics West) 8/06/84
49.13 Britton Wilson (Arkansas) 5/13/23
49.26 Allyson Felix (Nike) 8/27/15
49.40 Jearl Miles Clark (Reebok) 6/14/97
49.48 Francena McCorory (adidas) 6/28/14
49.52 Shakima Wimbley (adidas) 6/23/18
49.56 Monique Hennagan (unattached) 7/17/04
College-100m-Hurdles (Performances)
12.36 Masai Russell (Kentucky) 4/01/23
12.39 Brianna McNeal (Clemson) 6/08/13
12.40 Jasmine Camacho-Quinn’ (Kentucky) 5/13/18
12.40 Janeek Brown’ (Arkansas) 6/08/19
12.40 Alia Armstrong (LSU) 5/13/23
12.43 Ackera Nugent’ (Arkansas) 5/13/23
12.44 Tonea Marshall (LSU) 5/29/21
12.44 Demisha Roswell’ (Texas Tech) 5/15/22
12.45 ————Nugent’ (Baylor) 5/15/22
12.47 ————McNeal 6/06/13
12.47 ————Russell 5/13/23
12.47 Grace Stark (Florida) 6/08/24
**11 performances by 8 performers**
12.48 Ginnie Crawford (USC) 6/09/06
Born On This Day*
Diribe Welteji—Ethiopia 23 (2002) Silver medalist in the 1500m at the 2023 World Championships
Also a silver medalist at the 2025 World Indoor Championships
4th at the 2024 Olympics; 5th at the 2024 World Indoor Championships
4th in the 800 at the 2022 World Championships
2023 World Road Mile Champion
Earned $100,000 as the winner of the “Short Distance” Grand Slam in Kingston, Jamaica in 2025
PBs: 1:57.02 (2022), 3:52.75 (2024), 3:55.47i (2024), 4:23.76i (2024), 4:20.98 (road/WR), 8:21.50 (2024)
2025 SBs: 1:58.29, 3:58.89i, 4:04.51
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/diribe-welteji-14848719
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diribe_Welteji
Alicia Monson 27 (1998) 2019 NCAA Indoor Champion—5000m(Wisconsin)
2022 U.S. X-Country Champion; 2nd at the 2019 NCAA X-Country Championships(2018-4th)
2021 U.S. Olympian-10,000m (13th); Also 13th at the 2022 World Championships
5th in the 10,000 at the 2023 World Championships (was 3rd with one lap to go!)
3rd in the 10,000 at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials—race was moved to the morning to avoid the expected
brutal afternoon heat, but runners still faced temperatures in the 80s. Exhausted after the race, she spent the
night in a local hospital as a precaution.
Her 2024 season came to a premature end after she underwent meniscus surgery in April—hasn’t competed since
then
7th in the 3000 at the 2022 World Indoor Championships
Set three American Records in 2023—3000i/8:25.05 indoors at the Millrose Games, 5000/14:19.45 on July 23,
10,000/30:03.82 on March 4
Member of the On Athletic Club—coached by Dathan Ritzenhein
PBs:
1500-4:07.09 (2021) 4:06.38i (2023)
Mile-4:23.55i (2023)
3000-8:25.05i (2023/Nat’l Record at the time, now #2), 8:26.81 (2022/#3 A-T U.S./Outdoor),
2-Miles (i)-9:09.70/2m (2024/NR),
5000-14:19.45 (2023/NR)
10,000-30:03.82 (2023/NR)
OAC: https://www.on-running.com/en-us/athletes/alicia-monson
https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/alicia-monson-usa-distance-runner-belgrade-eugene-oregon
O.T.: Full Race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_cCw4NnCeU
https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a37039055/alicia-monson-us-olympic-trials-10000-meters/
https://citiusmag.com/alicia-monson-breaks-molly-huddle-10k-record-the-ten-recap/
Susanna Sullivan 35 (1990) Represented the U.S. in the Marathon at the 2023 World Championships (58th)
10th at the 2023 London Marathon—ran 2:24:27
20th at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
Competed collegiately for Notre Dame
Currently an Assistant coach at George Mason and a 6th grade math and science teacher for Fairfax County Public
Schools…coached by Andrew Gerard, her boss at George Mason!
PBs: 9:06.99i (2023), 15:25.94i (2023), 31:55.80 (2023), 1:08.59 (2025), 2:21:56 (2024);
2025 SBs: 9:10.90i, 2:29:30 (London-10th)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Sullivan
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/susanna-sullivan-14385840
https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/2216667/Notre_Dame_IN/Susanna_Sullivan
https://gomason.com/sports/womens-track-and-field/roster/coaches/susanna-sullivan/1592
Dawn Harper-Nelson 41 (1984) 2008 Olympic gold medalist—100-meter hurdles (silver 2012)
Silver medalist-2017 World Championships (Bronze-2011/7th-2009, 4th-2013)
PBs: 7.98i (2006), 12.37(2012)
Semi-Finalist at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
4-time U.S. Champion (2009,2012,2014,2015)
2003 U.S. Junior Champion
All-American at UCLA: NCAA-2004(8), 2005(3), 2006(4)
World Rankings:’08 (3),’09 (2),’11 (3),’12 (2),’13 (2),’14 (1),’15 (1),’16 (5), ’17 (5)
“Retired” at the end of the 2018 season, but then announced in late 2019 that she would train for the 2020
Olympics. Even though the Games were postponed until 2021, she continued to train, but didn’t get past the
first round at the U.S. Olympic Trials
From her Twitter Account (in 2018)
“To say I’ll miss you is an understatement but I was blessed to be able to call you mine since I was 12. Tears will
flow this year but the smiles will be bigger. Let’s make this last one great “my dear friend, TRACK&FIELD”.
#victorylap #blessed”
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/114911
Rankings: http://trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/Rankings/09-w100HRank.pdf
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Harper-Nelson
(2014 Article) https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/dawn-harper-iaaf-diamond-league
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dawnharpernelson
Juli Benson (Henner) 55 (1970) 1996 U.S. Olympian—1500m (1st round); PBs: 2:00.80, 4:06.84 (both-’96)
Offers online coaching at Previously coached at James Madison, Georgetown, George
Mason, the Air Force Academy, and Penn. Jenny Simpson’s coach when she won the 1500 at the 2011
World Championships.
Currently coaches Nikki Hiltz:https://www.instagram.com/p/DGjKKFrS37w/?hl=en&img_index=1
CitiusMag Podcast: https://citiusmag.com/podcast/citius-mag-podcast-juli-benson
Deceased
Kōkichi Tsuburaya-Japan 27 (1940-January 8, 1968) 1964 Olympic bronze medalist—Marathon (6th-10,000m)…entered
the stadium in 2nd place (behind winner Abebe Bikila), but was overtaken by Great Britain’s Basil Heatley.
From Olympedia: A member of the Japanese Army, his preparation for the 1968 Olympics was first interrupted by
a series of injuries, and then he was ordered by his superior officer to postpone his wedding until after the
Mexico City Olympics. The delay led to the engagement being called off and his ex-fiancée eventually married
another man. Depressed, he took his own life in early January, 1968.
His suicide is described as the biggest source of pain in Japanese sports history. After the tragedy the Japan
Olympic Committee started providing support and mental health care for athletes.
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/72647
Tragic Tale
Roy Tomizawa, the author of 1964-The Greatest Year in the History of Japan, wrote about Tsuburaya in this 4-part story that was part of his Olympians series that he published leading up to the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
OG Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxOdp8ka25U
