March 10

1984--Mike Conley won the long jump and triple jump to lead Arkansas to the men's team title at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Syracuse. It was the first of a record 39 NCAA titles (and still counting) for coach John McDonnell and the Razorbacks(X-Country, Indoors, Outdoors). Later in the year, Conley, who won a total of 9 NCAA titles, went on to win the silver medal in the triple jump at the L.A. Olympics and won the gold medal 8 years later in Barcelona. He is currently USATF's Executive Director of Elite Athlete Programs. There were some other significant individual winners at the 1984 NCs--Roger Kingdom (55h), Merlene Ottey (55m), Antonio McKay(400), Joetta Clark (1000m)

1991--At the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in Syracuse, Melody Fairchild (Boulder,CO) shattered the 10-minute barrier in the 2-mile with her winning time of 9:55.92, a National Record that still stands. Zundra Feagin set another NR with her time of 23.67 in the heats of the 200, but was beaten in the final by sophomore Marion Jones, who ran 23.89. The positions were reversed in the 55, with Feagin (6.85-Meet Record) beating Jones (6.91). Future NCAA Champion and Olympian Amy Rudolph (Kane,Pa) won the mile in 4:58.86. and Dawn Burrell (Penn Wood,Pa) won the 55-hurdles in 7.95. Burrell, the younger sister of Leroy Burrell, the former World Record holder in the men's 100, went on to win the gold medal in the long jump at the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon.

At the World Indoor Championships in Seville, Hollis Conway won the high jump with a leap of 7-10 1/2 and Diane Dixon won the women's 400 in 50.64 as both set still-standing American Records.

1996-- The National Scholastic Indoor Championships moved to the brand new Reggie Lewis Center in Boston/Roxbury. Taking advantage of the state-of-the-art banked Mondo track, John Muir (CA), with Obea Moore running a 46.28 anchor leg, set the current High School 4x400 record of 3:13.34. Moore ran a 1:52.3 anchor in the previous night's sprint medley to help Muir set its first National Record of the meet (3:25.90). Tamieka Grizzle (George Washington,NYC) went out in 59.6 in the girls' 800 and kept going on her way to a clocking of 2:04.90 to break Joetta Clark's 16-year old Eastern prep record of 2:06.0. Only Mary Decker had run faster at the time. There was talk of a possible record in the girls' 2-mile by California phenom Julia Stamps, bus she collapsed before the end of the race after setting a fast pace through the first mile. SIgnificant winners included Michael Granville (800-1:51.26), Michael Stember (mile-4:10.07, over future Stanford teammate Jonathon Riley), and Angela Williams (Chino,Ca), who won the girls 60(7.23) and 200(23.73).

2000--John Capel and Shawn Crawford both ran 20.26 at the NCAA Indoor Championships to share the American and Collegiate Records. At the same meet, Stanford, running with a lineup of Gabe Jennings, Evan Kelty, Michael Stember and Jonathon Riley, improved its American Record in the distance medley to 9:28.83.

2002--Jeff Hartwig raised the American Record in the pole vault to 19-9 in Sindelfingen, Germany.

Sanya Richards (St.Aquinas,FL), now one of the world's best at 400- meters, set National H.S. Records in the 200(23.22) and 400(52.10) at the National Scholastics at NY's Armory. Bershawn Jackson (Miami Central,FL), ranked #3 in the world in tyhe 400-meter hurdles in 2004, won the 200(21.29) and 60-meter hurdles(7.94). Deep Creek(Va) set a National record of 1:27.09 in the boys' 4x200 relay. Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle,ID), the 2004 NCAA Heptathlon Champion and Collegiate Record holder, won the pentathlon (3920) and Chaunte Howard (JW North,Ca), the 2004 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor CHampion (and Olympian) won the high jump(5-10).

At the Nike Indoor Classic, Kelly Willie (Sterling,Tx) won his 2nd straight title, running a fast 47.29 on the flat 200-meter track in Landover,Md.

March 10-11

1967--The 1/2-mile, held on the first day of competition at the NCAA Championships in Detroit's Cobo Hall, was a dream matchup between Villanova's Dave Patrick, who had been tearing up the tracks in the East, and Kansas's Jim Ryun, who had already established himself as one of the best runners in the world. Both had run heats in the 880y earlier in the day, while Ryun had also run a tougher than expected heat in the mile. When the gun went off, Patrick never gave Ryun a chance, moving out to a quick lead and winning easily in 1:48.9 to set a World Record. A tired Ryun, who made no excuses after the race, finished 2nd in 1:50.7, with Notre Dame's Peter Farrell, the current women's coach at Princeton, right behind in 1:51.1. Ryun came back the next day to win the mile in 3:58.6, while Patrick ran a 4:00.6 anchor on Villanova's runnerup distance medley (Kansas State set a World Record of 9:44.6). Patrick tried to come back a 1/2 hour later on the 2-mile relay, but collapsed at the end of his 2:07 split! Other winners at the meet included Nebraska's Charlie Greene, who took the 60-yard dash for the 3rd year in a row(6.0), and Washington State's Gerry Lindgren repeated in the 2-mile (8:34.7).

A couple of footnotes to the 1/2 mile--finishing 5th (1:55.0) was the late Joe Kearney, a senior at Manhattan College, who was my teammate at St.Augustine's H.S in Brooklyn for two years. We ran together at Penn in 1961 on one of those early-morning mile relays. As mentioned above, the 880 was on Friday, and I knew that ABC was going to include coverage of the race in its live show on Saturday. Not wanting to know the results before watching the show, I avoided reading the newspapers and never turned on the radio. So what does announcer Bill Fleming say at the top of the show? "Be sure to stay tuned to watch Dave Patrick beat Jim Ryun and set a world record"! I haven't forgiven him to this day.

1990--Marion Jones (Rio Mesa H.S.,CA), won the 200 in 24.40 on a flat track on the 2nd day of the National Scholastic Indoor Championships at Syracuse's Carrier Dome to set a National H.S. Freshman Record. The boys 400 was loaded with future stars as Chris Nelloms (2x-NCAA Champion-200) beat Derek Mills (Olympic Gold- 4x400/1996), Darnell Hall (Olympic Gold-4x400/1992), and Calvin Davis (Olympic bronze-400-hurdles/1996). National Records were set by Julianna Yendork in the triple jump (42-5 1/2 (she also won the long jump/19-8 1/4) and Tilden H.S.(NY) in the Girls 4x200 relay(1:40.40).

2001--What a weekend for H.S. track fans! Five National Records were set at the National Scholastics at at NY's Armory, and Alan Webb put on a show at the Nike Classic in Landover,Md.

The record barrage at the Armory started on Friday night (3-9) when California powerhouse Long Beach Wilson won the sprint medley in 3:53.17. On Saturday (3-10), the girls' pole vault took almost five hours to complete, but the patient fans who hung around until the end got their money's worth as Samantha Sheperd(Weston,Ma), the National Record holder at the time, and Stacie Manuel (Willmar,MN) both cleared 13-1 3/4 to set a new mark. Tied, the two both missed 4-times at 13-5 1/4 and the bar was then lowered to 13-3 1/2, which only Sheperd cleared, giving her the win and sole possession of the National Record. The final 3 marks came on Sunday as Angel Perkins set records in the 400(53.25) and 200 (23.59, over previous record holder Sanya Richards-23.71), and Brendan Christian (Reagan,Tx) won a hot boys 200 (21.02-21.05) over Glenn McFadden (Hillhouse,Ct) as both were well under the previous mark of 21.29). Nick Willis, the heralded 17-year old from New Zealand, won the boys mile in a solo effort (4:10.43), then spent the next 20-minutes flat on his back as he recovered from dehydration. Canadian Priscilla Lopes, a future NCAA Champion and Olympian, won the 60-hurdles in 8.46.

Meanwhile, down in Maryland, the Nike Classic got off to a roaring start on Saturday (3-10) with an exciting boys distance medley that showcased some future stars. Florida's Atlantic Community H.S., which was coached by former Villanova star Ken Schappert, the 1973 NCAA 1/ 2-mile champion, knew it had to build a big lead throught the first three legs if it wanted to beat Virginia's South Lakes H.S., which had Alan Webb on the anchor. Sean Jefferson, now at Indiana and one of the favorites to win the NCAA mile this weekend, did his part, running a fine 3:03 lead-off 1200 leg. The next two runners (one of which was Ken Schappert, Jr.) extended the lead and Jefferson's twin brother John anchored in 4:07.1 to hold off Webb's 4:03.3 as the two teams ran the 2nd and 3rd fastest prep indoor times ever (10:03.70-10:05.72). The Jeffersons became the first American brothers to break 4-minutes for the mile when they ran 3:56.44 (Sean) and 3:57.85 (John) earlier this year(05).

In the 2-mile on Sunday (3-11), Webb, fighting a head cold, had his eyes set on Gerry Lindgren's ancient (1964) H.S. record of 8:40.00 and got the crowd excited when he went through the first mile in 4:19. He faltered in the 2nd half, but still finished with a great 8:45.19, the 3rd- fastest time in prep history. Finishing 2nd was Canadian Nate Brannen (8:57.28), who would become Webb's roommate at Michigan for a year. Winner of the boys' 400 was junior Kelly Willie (Sterling,Tx), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x400 relay, who ran 48.55 on the flat track at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex. Laura Gerraughty (Nashua,NH), a future multi-NCAA Champion and 2004 Olympian, won the girls shot put with a toss of 52-2.