Page 4 University Daily Kansan Friday, April 18. 1958
BRIAN TRAVIS—Another Distance Ace. JERRY MCNEAL—Experienced veteran. CLIF CUSHMAN-All-around track man.
New Relays Format Aids Distance Men Kansas High School Semper Greatest 2-Miler In Kansas History The greatest 2-miler in KU and Only Wes Santee's 8:58 for a then try of the 4-mile relay at the 1951
Kansas High School Meet Streamlined Also
The Decathlon, a standard Kansas Relays event since 1928, will be
Back in 1937 Indiana won four Kansas Relays baton championships. The Hoosiers, running under the late Billy Hayes, also won the mile team race, which then was substituted for the 4-mile relay.
No school has ever equalled that harvest, spearheaded by men like Don Lash, Tommy Deckard and Mel Trutt, in the intervening 21 years. Expansion of the Mt. Oread Games into a 2-day meet now will bring such possibility back into focus. The new format, for example, pairs the 4-mile and sprint medley on Friday and the distance medley on 2-mile on Saturday. This means distance aces like Texas' Joe Villarreal, Gail Hodgson of Oklahoma and Kansas' Tom Skutka could go to the post as many as four times as Wes Santee was accustomed to doing.
Indiana's old pinnacle, which' amounted to five relay titles, still will be exceptionally difficult to bring off even with the extra day of action. For the competition, of course, has grown steadily stiffer.
The sprinter's task will be as rugged as ever since preliminaries in the 440, 880, and mile relays have been added. The logical spot to string a quadrangle, then, will be from the Sprint Medley up. Under the old one-day plan, which existed through the first 32 years of the Relays, the custom was to load the gun in one or two relays in an effort to bring home at least one set cf watches.
No distance man could be expected to run more than two separate miles or a mile-880 combination against tough competition in one afternoon.
The new schedule breakdown in the University and college classes aligns this way:
Saturday afternoon—120 HH finals; College distance medley; University distance medley; 100 finals; Glenn Cunningham Mile; College 440 relay final; University 440 relay final; College 2-mile relay; University 2-mile relay; College 880 relay final; University 880 relay final; 2000-meter steeplechase; College Mile relay final; University mile relay final.
Friday morning—College 440 relay preliminaries; college 880 relay preliminaries.
Saturday morning—no University or College events.
Friday afternoon—120 HH preliminaries; 4-mile relay; 100-yard dash preliminaries; University sprint medley; College sprint medley; University 440 relay preliminaries; 440-meter hurdles; 2-mile run; University 880 relay preliminaries; College mile relay preliminaries; University mile relay preliminaries; broad jump preliminaries and finals; discus preliminaries and final.
Dees was never defeated in a conference dual or league meet during his varsity career. H won the old Big Six shot put crown six times in a row, three indoors and three outdoors.
At the 1953 KU Relays Dees set a new Relays record in the shot put when he threw the 16-pound ball 51 ft. 3 1/8 inches.
maintained as usual on Friday and Saturday mornings. The interscholastic meet, which has overflowed Friday afternoon for 53 years, has been streamlined and integrated with the Relays proper as has been done on the other two major Midlands' station. Texas and Drake.
Elwyn Dees, KU's first NCAA shot put champion, can lay claim to a string of conference performances that may never be matched
The major changes here are elimination of team point totals and classes. The schoolboys now will run virtually the same card as their big brothers, which means elimination of the waves of personnel which clogged the 220, 220 LH, 440, and 880 fields. The 880 and mile relays have been retained with the sprint medley, 2-mile and 400 added.
Qualifying rounds are scheduled in the 440, 880, mile and sprint medley. The 2-mile field will be limited to the eight teams showing the best practice or competitive time for the season.
"Our new high school set-up has been received very enthusiastically by all the coaches I have heard from." meet director Bill Easton explains. "We think it will develop into the finest high school meet of its kind."
The 100. high hurdles, and six field events will be retained. All this means the high school boys will be competing in a relay meet instead of a track meet.
Dees Unbeaten In Loop Play
The greatest 2-miler in KU and league history was Herb Semper. The current challenger for this distinction, Jerry McNeal (above, center) who had a 9:06.1, must run even better than he has if he is to topple Semper's 5-year mark of 9:05 set in the NCAA meet in 1951.
Semper, a squat redhead from Forest Park. Ill. left the running scene the holder of both the conference indoor record of 9:07 and the outdoor record of 9:21.
Only Wes Santee's 8:58 for a then college record set in a triangular meet against Arkansas and Drake in 1954 tops Semper's record.
Semper was equally as good at the 4-mile cross country event, winning two successive NCAA crowns in 1950 and 1951. The latter performance was in snow and biting winds at East Lansing, Mich.
His best mile time was a 4:11.7,
a figure he reached in the anchor carry of the 4-mile relay at the 1951 Drake Relays.
Tulane New KU Opponent
Kansas' 1958 football schedule shows one new opponent in Tulane. The Green Wave replaces Miami and will be meeting the Jayhawkers for the first time here October 25.
Al Oerter won the Olympic discus throw with a record 184 feet $10\frac{1}{2}$ inches at Melbourne.