All-time 4 X 800 list

Does no one know how to surf the web? From trackandfieldnews.com as of May 24, 2002:

4 x 800 METERS

7:03.89 .............. Great Britain '82

7:04.70 ............... South Africa '99

7:04.89 ...... St. Patrick's (Kenya) '99

7:06.5 ............. Santa Monica TC '86

7:07.40 ............... Soviet Union '84

7:08.0+ .................. UCTC (US) '73

7:08.1 ................ Soviet Union '78

7:08.6 ................ West Germany '66

7:08.96 ......... Arizona State (US) '84

7:09.1+ ...................... Kenya '70

Sorry, forgot about the chicks:

4 x 800 METERS

7:50.17 ................. Soviet Union '84

7:51.62 ............... Soviet Union B '84

7:52.24 ................. Soviet Union '85

7:52.4 .................. Soviet Union '76

7:54.10 ................. East Germany '76

7:56.6 ........................ Russia '80

............................. Ukraine '80

7:56.9 ................ Leningrad (SU) '80

7:57.08 ....................... Russia '93

7:57.21 ...................... Romania '93

incidently here are the splits for the GB team

Peter Elliott 1:49.14

Garry Cook 1:46.20

Steve Cram 1:44.54

Sebastian Coe 1:44.01

Anyone know who was on that 84 ASU team??

ASU team:

7:08.96

Tempe, Arizona................4/ 7/84

Pete Richardson 1:47.5

Eddie Davis 1:47.8

Treg Scott 1:48.1

Mike Stahr 1:45.6

that was before Stahr transferred to Gtown

Imagine if Elliott had been a little older and Cram, Coe and him all approached their lifetime best times. They all ran 1:42 something or faster. Now sub in Ovett or McKean for Cook. That would be tough to ever beat. They should have went for that around 84-86.

well, it appears to me that it has never yet been beaten any way

Who was on the South Afirca team in '99?

4 x 800m Relay 7:04.70 INVITATION RSA TEAM Stuttgart, Germany 06 June 1999

Gideon van Oudtshoorn

Hezekiel Sepeng (Silver medal Olympics 96)

Jurgens Kotze

Johan Botha (World Indoor Champ 99)

In fact Elliot was a pretty cheesed off after the race as he felt he had let the side down. There's a great phot of them afterwards all smiling except for Elliot who looked really glum. I seem to remember there a GB B team also competing and at least one of the guys in that ran quicker than he did.

Going strictly on the GB all time lists this was the fastest quartet;

Seb Coe 1.41.73

Steve Cram 1.42.88

Peter Elliot 1.42.97

Martin Steele 1.41.84

Total: 6.51.34

and a B team of;

Tom McKean 1.43.88

David Sharpe 1.43.98

Steve Ovett 1.44.09

Garry Cook 1.44.55

Total: 6.56.5

A GB team today would have trouble beating 8 minutes!!!

Ooops! - Martin Steele's time should read 1.43.84

Some more theoretical teams based on all-time best performances;

Kenya

Sammy Koskei 1.42.28

Patrick Ndururi 1.42.62

Japheth Kimutai 1.42.69

Frederick Onyancha 1.42.79

Total: 6.50.38

Kenya B

Patrick Konchellah 1.42.98

Kennedy Kimwetich 1.43.33

Billy Konchellah 1.43.06

Paul Ereng 1.43.16

Total: 6.52.53

USA

Johnny Gray 1.42.60

Mark Everett 1.43.20

David Mack 1.43.35

Richard Kenhah 1.43.88

Total 6.53.03

Throw in a "St. Patrick's High School Alumni" team, and you can get Team Kenya without Onyancha and WITh Wilson Kipketer. I believe the other three guys went to St. Patrick's.

I am really intersted in a top ten collegiate 4 X 800. Any idea if this exists?

Click it:

Mens Collegiate 4 x 800

7:08.96 .............. Arizona State '84

7:11.17 ................. Penn State '85

7:12.29 ................. Villanova+ '82

7:12.62 ................. Georgetown '82

7:12.81 .................. Richmond+ '82

7:13.48 .................. Arkansas+ '82

7:13.87 ................. Arkansas # '99

7:13.8+ ............... Kansas State '70

7:13.95 ................. Georgetown '85

7:14.34 .................... Florida '93

Womens Collegiate

4 x 800

8:20.22 ......................... Tennessee '84

8:20.66 ......................... Villanova '84

8:23.35 ........................... Florida '86

8:24.02 .......................... Kentucky '86

8:24.25 ........................... Florida '01

8:24.27 ................... Arizona State # '94

8:24.34 ......................... Villanova '86

8:24.65 ........................... Florida '99

8:24.67 ........................ Georgetown '01

8:25.22 ....................... Villanova # '94

Mens HS

4 x 800

7:33.0+ .............. Jackson, Cambria Heights, NY 66

+ ........................ Boys, Brooklyn, NY 66

7:34.1 ......................... York, Elmhurst, Il 00

7:34.8 ......................... York, Elmhurst, Il 85

7:35.33 ................... South Lakes, Reston, Va 01

7:35.4+ ...................... Thornton, Harvey, Il 76

7:35.7+ .............. Lyons Township, LaGrange, Il 76

7:36.24 ................... Wissahickon, Ambler, Pa 82

7:36.4+ ........................ East, Rockford, Il 76

7:37.0+ ....... Bloom Township, Chicago Heights, Il 76

Womens HS

4 x 800

8:50.41 ................... Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, NY 02

8:51.60 ................... Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, NY 01

8:53.68 ...................A.P. Randolph, New York, NY 02

8:54.88 ...................... Columbia, Maplewood, NJ 97

8:55.63 ................... Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, NY 88

8:56.12 ................... Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, NY 89

8:56.53 ................................. Rockford, Mi 01

8:57.49 ...................... Central, Manchester, NH 99

8:57.52 ................................. Rockford, Mi 00

8:58.43 .............. Upper Dublin, Ft Washington, Pa 82

The boys HS list is missing Auburn (WA)'s 7:32.89 National Record, ran at AOC last year.

76 appears to be a good year for Illinois boys high school 4x8s. Were all 4 of those times run at the state meet? I'd imagine so.

steeplerxc wrote:

76 appears to be a good year for Illinois boys high school 4x8s. Were all 4 of those times run at the state meet? I'd imagine so.

Yes. Actually, the 1976 Illinois boys state 4X880 was quite possibly the deepest state meet single race in the history of high school track. Here are the times from that meet.

7:35.77*, Harvey (Thornton), 1976

7:36.2, LaGrange (Lyons), 1976

7:36.8, Rockford (East), 1976

7:37.4, Chicago Heights (Bloom), 1976

7:38.4, Evanston (Twp.), 1976

7:39.6, South Holland (Thornwood), 1976

7:40.6, East St. Louis (Sr.), 1976

7:40.8, Champaign (Central), 1976

7:41.4*, Champaign (Central), 1976

7:41.7*, South Holland (Thornwood), 1976

7:42.0, Winnetka (New Trier East), 1976

So you can see, 6 teams under 740, and a blazing 149.2 in the 800 by Steve Schellenburger, those old guys must have been doing something right, and as my coach, who ran on one of those teams in 1977, a year later, told me, "most of us ran way too much back in those days." looks like the mileage paid off to me, even for 800 runners.