Old High School Records

[Conor Dary]

At my old high school, Hinsdale Central, in Illinois, the current school record for the long jump is 23 feet that was set in 1930! Does anyone know of a longer standing school record in a track or field event that is still contested?

[BillCarr]

Re: Old High School Records

Albert Gutterson at the University of Vermont jumped 7.60/24-11 in 1908, and it is still the University of Vermont record. Considering men's track has been reduced to club status, I highly doubt that this will ever be broken, and I haven't found an older record yet.

For more active programs, the Harvard record in the long jump is from 1921. I think Oberlin College has a really old mile relay record as well from the 1920's. But Gutterson's mark pretty much is the standard.

Re: Old High School Records

There are very old school records in events which are no longer held.

Re: Old High School Records

I thought a 1930 school record was remarkable, but 1908? Wow! Makes us think about the whole idea of "progress" in a slightly different way.

Re: Old High School Records

Although this thread is ostensibly about high school records, my college long jump record was set in 1923. It was a good record for the time, but this is also an indictment of the quality of long jumping at my college in recent years.

[Powell]

Re: Old High School Records

How about national records? Peter O'Connors Irish LJ record of 7.61, set in 1901 (which was the WR at the time), wasn't broken until 1990. Hard to beat that !

Re: Old High School Records

SATCH the GREEK jumped 18 9 at ,,BELIEVE it was ATHENS or TROY, MIDDLE SCHOOL in 805 bc. not ratified ,pit slightly downhill ala RINK BABKA at APPLE VALLEY RELAYS .

[BBCAC]

Re: Old High School Records

My old high school (State College PA) mile relay record is 3:22.8 set in 1922.

[dj]

Re: Old High School Records

>My old high school (State College PA) mile relay record is 3:22.8 set in 1922.

I'd love to see meet-site-date info on this, as something is undoubtedly off. This would have been a national interscholastic record (including both high schools and prep schools) by more than 3 seconds if true.

If you know more, you can respond directly ([email protected]).

[Conor Dary]

Re: Old High School Records

Like DJ I was pretty stunned by the time (the world record then was only 3:16). Checking out the web site (via google, hey buy that ipo!) they listed their school records and they do have the record as 3:22.8 but in 1929. Still a remarkable time. However, there is one puzzling note. They also list their top ten in each event and in the 400 meters they go down to 51.5, but none of the guys on this relay are listed.

PS. Glad to see an event other than the LJ listed.

Re: Old High School Records

On the subject of records, I ran my own newsletter covering Southwest Ohio Track and Field high schools in '94-'95. I found that many, MANY, so-called records are just that. Many track and field coaches throughout the decades have done a poor job at not only recording CORRECTLY the particular performance of an athlete, but also the circumstances under which those marks were made. In fact, I purposely left off marks out of my newsletter that I was confident were made under questionable circumstances. I know several local coaches (at that time) that would deliberately record dubious 4x100m and 4x400m relay marks (of their own recording) and call them in as legitimate times for the 100m and 400m. This was their attempt to somehow make their programs look better than they actually were. I've found that about 10% of coaches deliberately cheat on marks, 20-50% don't actually record marks correctly, and the rest are reasonably close if not accurate. Track and field "records" are littered with inaccuracies, let alone actual lies.

Kurt

Re: Old High School Records

SW Ohio eh? I lived there from 2000 until July 2003. I belong to a baseball research organization that has a chapter there,and a member told me that Cincinnati produced a series of athletes from the Wyoming H.S. area that were talented schoolboy and collegiate trackmen in the 1940's and forward. (the Overton family?)Of course De Hart Hubbard attended Walnut Hill High School there, but it seems there was a long T & F tradition in certain h.s.'s. I know Carlos Snow was a strong sprinter at C.A.P.E.

Bijan

[dj]

Re: Old High School Records

>Checking out the web site (via google, hey buy that ipo!) they listed their
>school records and they do have the record as 3:22.8 but in 1929. Still a
>remarkable time. However, there is one puzzling note.

Went to the State College website and the mark is listed with "???", so it appears they don't know much about it. The team did includ Wayland Dunaway, who went on to be a moderately successful 440/880 runner at Penn State in the early '30s. But that's a far cry from running 3:22.8. There's something wrong with the mark.

Re: Old High School Records

Does anyone have a good explanation as to why LJ records, of all kinds, last longer then the others. Jesse Owens 8.13m was the longest standing WR of all time, I think, (25 years). The opening post was about an old highschool LJ record and someone else has already mentioned that Irish dude, and then theres Beamon. The men's LJ record at my local club is the oldest there at 35 years, despite my every effort to break it for the last 5 years. It just refuses to die.

Re: Old High School Records

The way things are going these days in the long jump, Jesse Owens' marks would probably hold up pretty well at the 2004 games.