Top All Time Kansas Distance guys

Wyco Loco wrote:

SMN (I'm guessing Jim), not sure if you heard Mark Sageser passed away.

no, I'm not 'smn76'; I graduated in '72. Sorry to hear about Sageser...damn. He came after me, so I didn't know him personally. A fine runner. I have lost 3 teammates in recent years. Great runners, Mike Nixon, Mark Rabuse and Terry Catron from Pittsburg State.

I took some pics of Clark Hamilton winning the mile in '73 over Stan Vernon and others. I'd send them to him if I knew where he was. I had a picture of Charlie Gray leading the high school mile at KU in '72 about 1/2 way through it, before Palmer took off with a long, 600 yd sprint to gap Perez and me and we never caught him on that cold, windy day. Great strategy. Last I saw the pic, my brother Tom had it in his collection in KC, back in the 80s.

I agree with those saying that, that track at WSU creating a real 'hot foot' effect. I ran state all 3 years in high school. After my soph year, I didn't make the mistake of pulling off my spikes after the race anymore! Is it still that flat/yellow/tan track or did they go to the dark red clay look, pebbly type, like at KU?

Also, btw, on that Kansas mile list, my teammates Mike Nixon and Dough Shreves, (Lawrence high, and Cherryvale high) ran 4:08.3 and 4:08.1 my frosh year in '73. Mark Rabuse ran a 3:49.5 1500m in '77, if I recall, at conference.

Nixon was Cherryvale High, Shreves was Lawrence High. I had it reversed in previous post, in case someone who updates the list is reading this.

I read my old buddy and training partner Charlie Gray's post regarding 5-a State 2 mile in '72. He DID run the perfect race. He didn't want it to come down to the last 220 with '2 mile pretenders' like me and Honer in there...lol...I don't know about Honer, but I was a 'reluctant 2 miler', forced into it for 'possible points' as we (North) were in a battle to win the team title that year, after winning State indoor, against Wichita West. I remember being happy that Charlie won, (instead of Honer), as it might help our team chances. I remember telling Charlie I would buy him a beer at Instant Replay, if we ended up winning thanks to his points! (we didn't). That was when the beer drinking age was 18. I didn't have much endurance after being out with a stress fracture from the previous May to December, before track. The whole season, being a 'slow year' due to wind, cold, rain and no big blue chipper types to push a fast pace, helped me get through the season. I admit it! lol

Thanks Jim. So who is SMN76? I'm just curious because my mom graduated from there that year.

How about Brian McElroy? Didn't he transfer to KU from Villanova? And didn't he run the mile in around 4:00?

Wyco Loco wrote:

Thanks Jim. So who is SMN76? I'm just curious because my mom graduated from there that year.

your MOM graduated in '76? I thought you were close to my age, based on your knowledge of the sport and all the players going back to the 60's! You are quite an historian! I have no idea who it is. Steve Schuman?

As a Kansas/Missouri, distance running historian, maybe you can tell me how I totally missed Roger Jennings from Emporia State, running a sub 4 minute mile in the mid 80's? Was his college career a brief meteorite (like mine, due to injuries)? I just don't remember hearing about him from Suenram or anyone back there. Also, what happened to Reed Eichner in college. I never heard a peep about him. I saw him run a 9:10 2 mile on our tight, unbanked indoor track at PSU his senior year, plus Sutherland set a shot put record too, at the Pittsburg (indoor) Relays. Reed's big brother, Ryan was a 'distance God' in KC in high school. Short little guy.

Living in the Past wrote:

How about Brian McElroy? Didn't he transfer to KU from Villanova? And didn't he run the mile in around 4:00?

not sure he was from Ks. He was in the Dream mile with Liquori and Ryun in '71. He was a good runner at KU while he was there.

Yes. I'm 27. Reed Eichner went on to run at Harvard & I believe Ryan went to Iowa State.

Here is something I just found.

I met John Lawson in about 1968 on the floor of Madison Square Garden, where he must have run some race. I was just a high school kid. He could not have been friendlier, asking about my own running, offering advice about training. An extremely decent guy.

[quote]Wyco Loco wrote:

I believe Ryan went to Iowa State.

I knew that Ryan went to Iowa State and placed in the top 30, I believe at NCAA X-C his frosh year. Not sure what he did much after that. I do know that his career ended, unfortunately, when he was hit by a car warming up for the USTFF meet in Wichita in June of '75 +/-.

Academics must have crowded out Reed's running career at Harvard, though I am just speculating. Maybe Charlie knows.

It'll be good to see that Lane Boyer will be able to run on Friday night and break 9 flat and won't have to worry about saving himself for the stupid 800 he shouldn't be worried about winning anyway. He should after this season in track should go down as one of the best runners from kansas. Go make history Lane!

friday night lights wrote:

It'll be good to see that Lane Boyer will be able to run on Friday night and break 9 flat and won't have to worry about saving himself for the stupid 800 he shouldn't be worried about winning anyway. He should after this season in track should go down as one of the best runners from kansas. Go make history Lane!

what's the story on this guy? School, times, etc. What big meet is Friday?

Chemistry man wrote:

I met John Lawson in about 1968 on the floor of Madison Square Garden, where he must have run some race. I was just a high school kid. He could not have been friendlier, asking about my own running, offering advice about training. An extremely decent guy.

Yes, he is a nice guy. I met him in the early 70s when he was running for the Pacific Coast Club. He was a KU and Wyndotte High grad.

Reed Eichner went on to run at Harvard

Maybe he and Jim Hogue at Princeton, renewed their Sunflower League rivalry, ha, ha.

Hey, Malmo, if you happen to read this thread; did you ever run against Randy Smith or Kent McDonald in the 70's, 2 of our top steeplers ever, who both ran in the 8:20s?

Did Kansas have any other steeplers in the 8:20's? I think Bob Christensen at WSU ran in the low 8:30s. Lots of guys in the 8:40s.

Sorry about my misinformation about Marc Thompson's effort in 1971 in his race against Kent. It came from a conversation the following year I had with Lenis Boswell at the meet, maybe he was talking about his time for third.

I do remember Kent telling me a year later during a summer run that he nearly skipped the two mile to run the 880 that night because he felt really fast. And speaking of Mr. McDonald, he and his wife were featured in a podcast yesterday in the Lawrence Journal World. They coach the competing swim teams at LHS and Free State.

Randy Smith was a guy who was the best steepler in the US in '75/'76 until the Olympic Trials. He won the National meet beating Doug Brown, but then inexplicably (injury?illness?) didn't make it out of the semis in Eugene 2 weeks later. I don't think he ran another steeple after that. Go figure. A guy with all the talent in the world.

Kent McDonald was 2nd or 3rd in the National meet in 1975, running around 8:28 or so. He didn't get it together in '76 either. NOt sure if he competed much after that.

No, I never ran against those guys. I did, however, compete with them, if that's what you mean? Bill Lundberg, as well as many more Kansas runners in this race.

Smith and McDonald went 1-2 in the 75 AAU. I was in that one, got into the zone and built up a 20-30 meter lead over the first three and a half laps, before hitting a barrier with my knee, hitting the ground hard, rolling over and getting back up still leading. I made it to the next waterjump, still in the lead, before I realizing I wasn't going to make it over that one and bailed. Our return flight was right afterwards and by the time I showered and changed, my knee was so swollen I couldn't get my jeans on, and had to wear sweats to the airport. The most miserable flight ever, the knee throbbed in excruciating pain the whole time.

In those days, there was no incentive to compete past your college years. It wouldn't be unusual for someone of Smith's caliber to hang em up after the trials. Today, Smith would easily be sub 8:20, perhaps 8:10-8:15, he was that good.

[quote]malmo wrote:

Today, Smith would easily be sub 8:20, perhaps 8:10-8:15, he was that good.[/quote

As a high school kid, I remember watching Randy Smith blow away the Russian steeplers in the US vs: USSR dual meet, in the last lap. Really impressive.

[quote]Jayhawk wrote:

It came from a conversation the following year I had with Lenis Boswell at the meet, maybe he was talking about his time for third.

Great guy, Lenis Boswell from Wyandotte. I competed against him alot. Last update I heard about Lenis, is, that he went to Yale, ran a 1:54 880, his frosh year...then I never heard anymore. (Maybe the rigors of Ivy League studies eroded his running like R. Eichner?-not sure).