Sports
Daily hansan
Sports
56th Year, No. 128, SECTION C
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Friday, April 17, 1959
Prospects Bright for KU Track Team
Champions Return From Last Year
By Jim Cable
If winning experience is indicative of a track competitor's winning potential, fans at the 34th Annual Kansas Relays should see some fancy footwork as over 2,500 top-notch athletes race for first-place trophies.
In last year's Relays, 11 records were shattered by men entered in university, college, junior college and high school classes.
Early this year, men who had helped set seven of those records gave indications they would return for another appearance in Memorial Stadium.
The Texas Longhorns, record-breakers for the last five years, again appear to be strong contenders for Relays honors. Texas, led by a blazing anchor run by Eddie Southern, last year set a new intercollegiate record of 3:09.1 in the mile relay.
Members of that team, besides Southern, were Wallace Wilson, Drew Dunlap and Jimmy Holt. Three of those men are back this year.
Southern anchored the Texas mile relay team to a 3:13.2 time for a meet record in the Border Olympics early in March. The Texans took the meet championship with several of their best men absent.
Others from Texas who will be repeat performers today and tomorrow are Bruce Parker, who set a new Relays record in the javelin last year with a toss of 232 feet. $8\frac{1}{4}$ inches, and Alex Palmros, who finished fourth in the discus last year.
Oklahoma University returns an entire squad of record breakers. In the 1958 Relays, Oklahoma set new times in the distance medley relay and in the sprint medley. The sprint medley mark of 3:19.5 shaded the Intercollegiate record of 3:20.2 set by Kansas in 1954.
Hi Gernert, Bob Ringo, Ernst Kleyhans and Gail Hodgson, members of the Sooner distance medley team, all return in that event. Dee Givens and Hodgson, who helped set the sprint medley record, will run today and tomorrow.
Hodgson, the Sooners' South African runner, ran a 4:07 anchor mile in the distance medley to defeat the runner-up Texans by 70 yards.
In addition to the relays performers, some bright stars will (Continued on Page 12.)
Track Roster
The roster of this year's KU track team is as follows:
Bill Alley. Short Hills, N.J., junior javelin throw; Darwin Ashbaugh Ellis sophomore, hurdles and broad jump; Terry Beucher, Kansas City, Mo., senior, javelin throw; John Book, Kansas City, Mo., junior, javelin throw.
Bruce Brient, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, 440-vard dash; Bob Cannon, Pawhuska, Okla., senior, high jump; Bob Covey, Ames, Iowa, sophomore, 440-yard dash; Berry Crawford, Boise, Idaho, senior, two-mile run; Clif Cushman, Grand Forks, N.D., junior, 880-yard run, mile run, relays.
Gordon Davis, Wichita sophomore.
440-yard dash, 880-yard run; Bill Dryer, Great Bend junior, shot put, discus throw; Jerry Foos, Scotts Bluff, Neb, sophomore, shot put, discus throw: Verne Gauby, Marysville senior, 440-yard dash
Jack Henry, Kansas City, Kan., junior, two-mile run; Dick Keith, Blue Springs, Mo., junior, high jump; T. J. Kelly, Atlanta, Ga., junior, broad jump; Bob Lida, Prairie Village senior, 220-yard dash, 440-yard dash.
Jim Londerholm, Mission senior,
javelin throw; Ron Miller, Kansas
City, Mo., junior; hurdles; Bill Mills,
Denver, Colo., sophomore, mile run,
two-mile run; Bob Okerstrom,
Mason City, Iowa, sophomore,
hurdles; Dan Ralston, Topeka sophomore,
mile run, two-mile run
Paul Rearick, Boise, Idaho, sophomore, sprints; Ernie Shelby, Los Angeles, Calif., senior, broad jump, 220-vard dash, low hurdles; Tom Skutka, Hibernia, N.J., senior, mile run; Bob Tague, Kansas City, Kan. junior 440-vard dash, 880-vard run; Charlie Tidwell, Independence junior, sprints.
Bill Tillman, Clay Center senior, hurdles; Brian Travis, Des Moines, Iowa, junior, distance events; Paul Williams, Cleveland, Ohio, sophomore, sprints and broad jump.
Depth May Provide National Crown
By Ted Dielman
"We hope to finish in the first three," KU track coach Bill Easton said, summing up the aspirations of his team for the NCAA meet this season.
"There are a lot of fine teams that will be at the NCAA." Easton said. "To name just a few, Oregon, San Jose State, Arizona State and Villanova will be there."
The Jayhawker team is well balanced this year, according to Easton. He said it is probably the best balanced team KU has had in some time.
Easton's team has depth, especially in the javelin throw and the dashes. The trio of Bill Alley, John Book and Jim Londerholm promises to be one of the finest groups of javelin throwers in KU history.
With sophomores Paul Williams and Charlie Tidwell in the dashes, it appears as if the Jayhawker team has speed as well as strength. Williams set a national freshman record of :20.5 last year in the 220 and finished with a time of :60.1 in the indoor 60-vard dash.
Tidwell ran :06.0 in the 60-yard dash and :06.7 in the 60-year low hurdles to equal two existing intercollegiate records during the indoor season. His record-setting time in the 220-yard low hurdles came last June when he ran the course in :22.7 in the NCAA meet.
Ernie Shelby, star Jayhawker broad-jumper also runs the sprints and hurdles. He made a good showing in the Big Eight low hurdles last year, winning the event in 224.4.
In the shot put and discuss the team boasts the pair of Bill Dryer and Jerry Foos. Dryer put the shot a distance of 52' 1" during the indoor season and expects to add another foot or two this spring. Foos threw the discus over 168 feet as a freshman and has consistently been over 160 feet in the early workouts.
KU will have Dana Ralston, Bill Mills, Clif Cushman and Tom Skutka as top contenders in the distances.
Cushman holds the Big Eight record for the 1000-yard run with a 2:11.6 time. He also ran the number three leg in a record-setting performance in the Big Eight Indoor mile relay.