Subject: Re: t-and-f: High School Distance Gods - Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 02:14:11 -0500 From: pfeiferj@nytimes.com (Jack Pfeifer) To: Patrick Hoffman >Jack > thanks for the info. > So did Lindgren only run the mile outdoors in HS ? Only the mile. NO ONE ran the 2 mile in high school in those days, except an occasional out-of-season all-comers race in California. In fact, prior to running his famous indoor 2-mile in San Francisco in January of his senior season, Gerry had never run the distance in his life. To get into that meet (a race he won in 9:00.0), he submitted his time for a 1.8-mile cross country race that fall. > What was the HS 2 mile outdoor record in 64 ? Good question. I'll have to look it up. It was in the neighborhood of 9:10, I think. > Was he trying to break 4:00 ? I suppose so, but he didn't have the speed to do that. Actually, what he wanted was the national high school record. The record was 4:08 by Dale Story of California, and Gerry ran 4:09 in early May. It seemed just a matter of time, but one week before the Washington state meet that year, some kid from Kansas suddenly lowered the record to 4:06.4. Then the Washington meet was hit by torrential rain and cold on Friday, and it drenched the track. It warmed up on Saturday but the brick track was quite slow from the rain. So Gerry went out in 59.5/2:01.0 -- he was leading the field by about 75 yards -- and came home in 4:06.0 to get the record. A week later, Ryun ran under 4 minutes at the Compton Inv. Lindgren ran 4:01.5 in Jamaica that month. > Just curious why he didn't do an outdoor 2 mile. It is a shame, but the event just wasn't contested. And, we all knew what he was capable of, because he had already run the 8:40.0 indoors. Jack > ...Patrick Hoffman > >On Sun, 19 Jan 1997, Jack Pfeifer wrote: > >> Patrick -- FYI Rick Riley's high school was Ferris of Spokane. When he ran >> that it was the national high school record (outdoors), even though it was >> run at the modest altitude of Pullman, Wash. (about 800 meters, I believe) >> and on a very hot day in the Washington state meet that year. >> Gerry Lindgren, who was a student in Pullman at the time, never ran an >> outdoor 2-mile in his high school days, although he did of course run >> several 5ks, including 13:44.0, and he was under 9 minutes en route for the >> first 2 miles. Most of us feel that if Gerry had been able to run the >> 2-mile in high school, he probably would have taken it out in about 4:12 >> (he was 4:17 en route on his indoor 8:40), and probably would have been >> under 8:30. There's never been anyone like him, including Prefontaine, at >> the high school level. (I witnessed both of his state-meet championships in >> person, in 1963 and 1964, when he ran 4:18.1 and then 4:06.0, this by a >> youngster who would have had trouble breaking 58 seconds all-out for one >> lap.) >> Your list is missing one Gordy Braun, by the way. I believe he ran 8:53.2 >> for Shoreline of Seattle in the 1970s. >> Jack Pfeifer >> NYC >> >> >>