1951
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
PAGE ELEVEN
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1951
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US Champs Aim For More Honors Saturday
Three national champions, all of them distance runners, will go after additional glory here Saturday in the 26th running of the Kansas Relays.
Happily, two of them, Fred Wilt, the flying F.B.I. agent from New Yok via Indiana, and Don Gehrmann, erstwhile Wisconsin ace, will be directly matched. This pair will go to the post in what promises to be one of the best Glenn Cunningham mile features in Relays history.
The third American king is Herb Semper, Kansas' red-haired junior who last November snared the N.C.A.A. cross-country banner over Michigan State's snow-banked four-mile course.
There have been more national monarchs in the Mt. Oread field but never a more gaudy threesome. Between them, Wilt, Gehrmann and Semper have bagged ten N.C.A.A. and national A.A.U. outdoor titles. This does not count Gehrmann's national Junior A.A.U. 1500-meters conquest in 1947.
Of this total, Wilt, the 30-year-old G-Man, has bagged six. He hauled away half of this total two years ago by winning the national A.A.U. 5000 and 10,000-meters and cross-country championships. He repeated in the 5000 last June, unreeling this distance in 14:26.8, swiftest time ever recorded by an American runner.
He scored an N.C.A.A. double in 1941 by winning the two-mile in 9:14.4, and the cross-country chase at East Lansing the following autumn.
By winning the N.C.A.A. mile last summer, Gehrmann became the first man in history to cop that title three years in succession. Not even K.U.'s Glenn Cunningham nor Archie San Miani, of Emporia State, could turn this trick. Furthermore, only 12 other men have scored undisputed triples since the N.C.A.A. affair was founded in 1923.
It isn't often one meet matches two such all-time greats as Gehrmann and Wilt. It will be the first time the Cunningham fixture has carried similar attraction since Cunningham himself was running against his N.C.A.A. successor, San Romani. By winning their duel here, the former Badger could be the first man in Relays annals to string together three consecutive mile trophies.
He thumped Texas' great little Jerry Thompson here in 1949, in a record-equalling 4:10.1, and last year loped on top at 4:16.4.
Semper will restrict himself to relays duty, anchoring Kansas in bick for the four-mile, which it captured last season, and the distance medley. The Jayhawkers ran a surprising 4:14.4 in the latter event at Austin with the Forest Park crimson-top furnishing the decisive lick with a 4:14.6 mile.
This was Herb's best of all-time but hardly unexpected in view of previous performances. He pulled the Big Seven indoor two-mile mark down to 9:11.3 last March on the boards of Kansas City's Municipal auditorium. Last May, as a mere sophomore, he sloshed through the mud and rain at Lincoln to lower the conference outdoor mark for his favorite event to 9:21.0. He unfurled a 9:15.6 performance in a dual against Missouri during the indoor season also.
Last November, the sturdy Kansas notched the Big Seven's first individual N.C.A.A. cross-country victory in 20:31.7.
Semper will have opportunity to continue his assault on the mile. K.U.'s first three runners don't as powerful this season as was last year's glittering gang. At Austin, for instance, Semper had to overcome a 45-yard Arkansas lead in the distance medley. The Porkers whipped Kansas in the four-mile, but not until the pounding Jayhawk had paired 115 yards off their 150-yard bulge in the anchor lap.
Around Lincoln they're talking about a 15-foot spring from3 Nebraska pole-vaulter Don Cooper.
High-Flying Husker May Erase Pole Vault Mark
The bespectacled skymaster of the Cornhuskers will get a prime chance to reach that pinnacle here Saturday when he heads a talented string of vaulters into the 26th annual Kansas Relays.
Forced to play second fiddle to Oklahoma's rangy Bill Carroll last year, Cooper has grabbed wide domination of the Big Seven pole vaulting picture this season. After bettering 14 feet six times during the regular indoor season, he drew the 15 foot ceiling within range last Saturday when he cleared 14 feet $9\frac{1}{4}$ inches to establish a new world indoor record off a dirt runway.
The official world mark under these conditions is 14 feet $6 \frac{1}{4}$ inches held by Earle Meadows of U.S.C. Illinois' Don Laz accomplished 14 feet $8 \frac{1}{4}$ inches Feb. 17 in a dual against Michigan, but this effort has not yet been recognized.
Cooper altered his grip somewhat
at the Boulder meet under suggestion from Laz, who defeated him in the Purdue Relays last month. The Nebraskan shared second place in the Boilermaker Games at 13 feet $8\frac{1}{2}$ inches, while Laz was registering 14 feet $2\frac{1}{4}$ inches. Cooper cleared 14 feet $9\frac{1}{4}$ inches on his first effort in the N.U.-Colorado dual. It had taken three tries to get over 14 feet $6\frac{1}{2}$ inches. This was to have been an outdoor affair but was driven inside by inclement weather.
Cooper was scheduled in another outdoor start Saturday against Kansas in Lincoln. He vaulted 14 feet 1 inch against a strong wind.
JIM MCCONNELL, assistant track coach, was Kansas Relays decathlon champion in 1949 and 1950. The University of Nebraska graduate has been helping Coach Bill Easton with the weight men—long a weak division in Kansas track teams.
DON COOPER
Nebraska Pole Vaulter
Cinders Replacing Bricks
A building material of extreme lightness and cheapness is being manufactured from waste cinders in Germany. This is proving valuable in rebuilding structures destroyed by bombing during the war.
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With this background it isn't inconceivable that the lithe Husker could reach the magic 15 foot mark. If he does he will be fourman in track history to turn the trick. Laz and Bob Richards, the vaulting vicar from California, joined the legendary Cornelius Warmerdam in that circle this winter. The latter set a record of 15 feet $7 \frac{3}{4}$ inches as far back as 1942.
With the press of Relays competition here, Cooper probably will be obliged to approach his Boulder swing to win. His own stablemate, the lefthanded Leonard Kohl, beat
him for the conference Indoor title and is capable of 14 feet.
Oklahoma's steadily - improving Jerry Lemon moved his personal sights up to 13 feet 9 inches in gaining a three-way split of the Texas Relays title last Saturday. Jack Simpson, Texas A. & M. and Abilene Christian's Paul Faulkner shared it with him. Simpson also owns a mark of 14 feet in a dual against L.S.U. this spring.
All this, of course, could topple Carroll's glistening one-year-old record of 14 feet 5 inches. most lofty on the books of the three major Midwest track carnivals.
NOTICE! IMPROVED PASSENGER TRAIN SCHEDULES
Effective April 29
. . .
For the convenience and time-saving advantage of the traveling public and to adjust departure and arrival times to Daylight Saving time, (Chicago and West Coast), Union Pacific will inaugurate sweeping new changes in train schedules, effective April 29.
For complete information on the new arrival and departure times of trains, please check with your local or nearest Union Pacific Ticket Agent.
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