I LURV… L-U-V ❤️… high spring in our sport. May busts out like one of those wildflower blooms you can see from space. Granted most of us aren’t crewing on a space station so “you” in that last sentence is rather tightly defined. That’s OK by me. From late April through the almost-end-of-May date on which I write this column, like any hardcore fan I’ve been too busy here on earth following explosions on tracks, jumps & javelin runways and throwing circles.
“It’s warm for May,” my Pop used to say — though never in May and that was the joke. This May was no joke. Our sport skipped warm and went straight to red hot.
Our For The Record compilation in this issue lists no fewer than 16 entries across 13 events. Spring is the peak U.S. season at the collegiate and high school levels — and incidentally I very much favor the early-July slot on tap for this summer’s USATF Champs, qualifying meet for a second-half-of-August Worlds.
We get more time to drink it all in. Methinks the 3½ weeks after the NCAA will allow a battery recharge for some of the collegians who’ve already made beautiful noise as they look to take the global stage this summer.
This sport isn’t all about records, of course, and a huge reason I dig May so much is that it’s a time for coming out parties and early chapters of amazing stories. Think teen Jaydon Hibbert rocketing up the triple jump all-time list.
Think also of the astounding tale of Cordell Tinch. Who? This month we began to learn about his formerly unrecognized abilities. Don’t miss our features on Hibbert and Tinch (sounds like a Dickensian law firm) in this issue.
High schoolers have rocked this spring, as well. As I write, the late-May State Meets are about to give way to this era’s robust slate of prep nationals in June.
While this job necessarily keeps my eyes on the sport’s “tip of the spear,” personally I’m on tenterhooks right now — the good, metaphorical kind — as coach friends guide athletes who probably will never vie for Team USA berths to hoped for peak performances in their post-season finales. I’m live-streaming the Div. III nationals as I type and am a big believer in the exhilarating magic of this time of year for prep and lower division college competitors, their friends and families.
’TWAS THE SEASON so the April day after we put the May T&FN issue to bed I crossed San Francisco Bay to take in the 128th Cal–Stanford Big Meet. Though sadly an increasingly endangered species, dual meets, too, are a delightful facet of spring. Sit with fellow field & track nuts, leave numbers-mania at home and follow a score. What once thrilled one to be a part of as a prep athlete grabs ya in the stands no matter how many years have passed since.
To boot, at the Big Meet, we watched Mykolas Alekna loft a monster discus CR. Yes, ‘tis that season. A century ago my grandfather’s brother Bernhard placed 2nd in the 1923 Big Meet 440. He contributed to a team victory like his alma mater Cal’s this year. I’m including a fuzzy photo below.
Get a load of that crowd! I’m a realist — fully understand duals ain’t gonna draw the general sports fan masses like they could 100 years ago. I also get that coaches rue interruptions of the Q-marks chasing that dominates the collegiate sport. Kudos, therefore, to coach J.J. Clark and Stanford for flying three-quarters of their Penn Relays winning women’s DMR team across the country to race in front of Big Meet fans less than 24 hours later. Local fans appreciated it and engaging fans has value.
Encomiums, as well, to the victorious Bears and their sweep. It was fun to watch coach Robyne Johnson break out the broom. All that said, I do hope the fans can get a little more love next time — in the form of a scoreboard, field event info boards and a decent PA speaker system. None of the above this year. Presentation matters.
OF JOBS (MINE) AND TITLES: Last month in this space I called myself T&FN’s third-ever Editor. My fact-check on that was a fail. Our eagle-eyed Publisher Emeritus, Ed Fox, corrected me as soon as he read it. Turns out I’m No. 4. T&FN co-founder Cordner Nelson was listed as Editor in the staff box for 31 years until 1979.
Thereafter Cordner’s brother Bert, whose title had been Publisher, took on the Editor mantle in the staff box. Company historian Fox reports that throughout those first 3 decades Bert Nelson “took care of day-to-day running of the magazine: the business side, really the ultimate editor, running the staff and everything else.” In a de facto sense, Cordner, busy running the family farming business, functioned as a prolific and gifted writer, “contributing meet stories and analyses.” He never worked a day in the T&FN office (the original remote worker). As I mentioned last month, E. Garry Hill, the gh familiar to readers and still very active today as Editor Emeritus, shaped T&FN’s content and sent every issue to press for two decades before his official title was upgraded to Editor in 1992.
I stand corrected. Did I mention I love springtime in track & field? ◻︎
