1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

[Sprint Stat Man]

Calling all sprint gurus!

At the 1980 NAIA champs in Abilene, several men ran very fast wind assisted times in the 100m:

10.09w/10.15w Ellison Portis (Angelo State, TX)
10.13w Alvin Matthias (Adams State)
10.18w Charlie Pickens (Missisipi Valley State)
10.22w Larry White
10.26w Carl Williams
10.27w Elton Francis
10.28w Mike Nettles

The only one of these who ever showed any sort of performance besides this was Larry White, 10.26 in 1982. Portis ran 10.48 in 1980, Nettles 10.36 in 1981. None of the others broke 10.50.

Now, these look suspect to me, but they are in all the lists (Patinaud, Quercetani/Mappa, Jalava). I assume the meet has been researched and the times are legit.

Can enyone enlighten me? Has anyone seen the photo finish pics? Was anyone there? It's possible there was a real Texan gale blowing of course.

Any information much appreciated.

[Sprint Stat Man]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

I should add that the NAIA website lists the winner (Portis) with 10.15w*, where * indicates 100y. But I don't think that's right. They ran 100m from 1976 onwards and even before then they ran 100m in Olympic years. The times are too slow to be windy 100y times. They look more like semi-auto times to me.

[gm]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

Elton Francis could easily have gone faster than that performance if not for a series of debilitating hamstring problems. It was a tad windy that day, but not enough to make the times suspect. Those guys were enjoying a hot, breezy day with good comp.

[Sprint Stat Man]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

Hi GM

Thanks - are you reporting as an eye-witness? Very strong winds would explain these outlier marks.

[Tom-in-Texas]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

I competed in that meet and anchored our 4x1 team in the final. I didn't make it out of the 100M semi's, but remember the final was a photo finish, especially the top 4 places.
I think there were several factors that contributed to these fast times. It was hot, 92-94, the entire week. There was also a moderate breeze for 100M and 110M Hurdle semi's and finals that evening. Enough of a breeze that they were run in "reverse" down the straight away.
Thanks for a great message board!

[Sprint Stat Man]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

>Enough of a breeze that they were run in "reverse" down the straight away.

Fantastic info, thanks, much appreciated.

>Thanks for a great message board!

Couldn't agree more. Thanks again.

[Tom-in-Texas]

Re: 1980 NAIA 100m @ Abilene

Sprint Stat Man, you're very welcome. Reading this thread brought back some very, very good memories today! I was a lot younger, a lot faster and knew a lot less back then!