Pete Romero 8:42 2-mile in 1967?

He ran an epic battle against Marty Liquori (Essex Catholic)in the two mile indoors at the Cow Palace. If I remember Liquori prevailed at the end.

The article states that he ran 8:42 outdoors at his home high school track (Reedley) all by himself in 1967. The all time lists that I am aware of have his best time as 8:54.6, also from '67. So there has to be a story as to why the 8:42 doesn't appear on the lists. I haven't found the Central Section records online.

Here is the front page headline from the TFN site:

High Schooler Pete Romero Revisited (with time error)

The only other reference I can find online to Romero running an 8:42 is this post from a 2005 letsrun thread by "8lapper":

"Pete Romero of California was awesome in the 60's. His PR's are 1:52, 4:06 and 8:42. He did a lot of mieage and a lot of speed often running 3 workouts a day. Someone told me he used to do 100 x 100m all the time for example. Crazy!"

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=826619

so, I guess Pre just nipped his record, 2 years later in 1969. btw, where did Romero go to college and what were his times?

Just the facts:

Pete was good but not 8:42.

He was 2nd at CA state as a jr in 9:05.2.

He won state the next year setting the meet record that year (1967) 9.00.5.

His seasonal best that I have is an 8:54.6 and 8:55.8 run during 67.

The all time mile list I have for 69 cuts off at 4:07.2, and Romero isn’t listed in the mile.

I'm old, but my Track and Field News Collection only goes back to the early 70s. Any of you guys have the 1967 issues available, where you could look up the high school list?

Some info from the '67 T&FN:

Feb '67 - Article states Marty Liquori ran 9:06.2 in the Gerry Lindgren National Two Mile Championship race in the All Americas Invitational at the Cow Palace. Later in the article, notes that Romero ran the same time in that race; and that he later ran 4:13.6 in the Golden Gate Invitational in SF.

March '67 - "Peter Romero of Reedley, CA (also the alma mater of former prep mile record holder Bob Seaman), made major news during an interclass meet... 3:40PM, ran two miles in a blistering 8:53.0 (first mile in 4:25); 4:15PM ran the 880 in 1:56.6; 5:20PM, ran a mile in 4:15.0, going through 880 in 2:05. Also during the same afternoon ran a leg for the senior class 440 relay team."

"Romero, who trains up to 150 miles per week, also has an official 8:54.6 two mile, which came after the interclass meet. He's pointing for 8:42 for two miles.... A four-minute mile and sub 1:50 half are reasonable possibilities, judging from that single afternoon interclass meet."

May '67 - HS List shows him with a 4:09.4 mile (4th) and 8:54.6, top two mile mark.

July '67 - won GWI in 9:02.6 (Liquori won mile in 4:08.0).

not 8:42, but still; one helluva runner! anybody know where he went to college and if he improved at all?

One more item.

I did find a list with more mile marks for 67.

Pete Romero ran a 4:08.0n, which means it was a non-winning mark.

Sports Illustrated had a pictorial that year on high school track stars. Yes, multiple, full page color pictures! Pete Romero was pictured running through a vineyard or orange grove.

coachkritter wrote:

Sports Illustrated had a pictorial that year on high school track stars. Yes, multiple, full page color pictures! Pete Romero was pictured running through a vineyard or orange grove.

What month?

where did Romero go to college and what did he do?

he went to texas el paso and did very little

Looks like the Reedley HS considers his 8:53 as the record:

http://piratetrack.com/tf%20varsity%20boys%20records.html

Funny how it's converted to the 3200

June 26, 1967. Here is a link but no photos, just text.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1079993/index.htm

I met Pete and he gave me his card which shows:

Reedley H.S. 1967

880 - 1:52.0

Mile - 4:06.0

Steeple - 9:27.6

2 Mile - 8:54.6

5000 - 14:48.2

10,000 - 32:03.4

Lifetime

Mile - 4:04.0

Reedley HS

UTEP

His "card"? Huh?

I thought about the same issue. Here's a link to the photo that was in SI, as well as a brief bio of Romero.http://calhispanicathleticandsports.com/cms/athlete-bios/pete-romero/

coachkritter wrote:

Sports Illustrated had a pictorial that year on high school track stars. Yes, multiple, full page color pictures! Pete Romero was pictured running through a vineyard or orange grove.