Greatest high school race ever?

I'd have loved to see that race. I got to see York set the national record indoor and out in the 4x8, with the latter at 7.34 and change, and I got to see Don Sage run 8.42 against Tim Keller's 8.57 3200 in the state meet, but that one race sounds like one for the ages. To have som any great 800m guys at one time (wth Lyons, like always, strong in 800m runners) must have been a convergence of the planets or something.

Corona Del Mar Distance Medley winning the Arcadia Invitational in 1986' and me handing the baton to to Jim Ribbons for the final mile leg and and seeing him catch and pass Darrin Stonerock for the win when stonerock ran 856 earlier in the evening in the 2 mile. We weren't even rated in the top five and we one that race on that night. It was a beautiful thing and was my greatest high school race!

Jim Spivey and Tom Graves in the '77 Illinois State XC meet. Spivey came through the mile in 4:37 with Graves right behind. Then Graves supposedly ran the next half-mile in 2:05 to get a gap, which he held to the finish. Graves 13:56, Spivey 14:00 for 3 miles. Still 2 of the top 6 times ever at the Illinois State meet.

One I've always wanted a description of is the 1966 4x880 between Jackson and Boys (NY). They both got the same time and the high school record, which stood for 36 years.

I'll bet that was a pretty good place to be as a spectator.

1983 Washington State meet 1600 meters

5 runners between 4:06 and 4:10

a sixth runner ran sub 4:10 in a separate race in the same meet.

I would have loved to see that California State meet 2 mile in the 70s when Hulst and Serna ran 8:44/8:45.

Concorde District Meet (7 schools), Northern Virginia -2001

Finals MEN'S 1,600 METER RUN

1. Webb, Alan, SOUTH LAKES 4:06.74 (first 800 in 2:14)

2. Smith, Richard, SOUTH LAKES 4:14.91

3. Gaeta, Phil, Oakton 4:17.41

4. Maline, Matt, Oakton 4:17.75

5. Thompson, Rasheed, HERNDON 4:17.79

2003 Arcadia 2 mile????? 11 preps under 9 mins.

Men 3200 Meter Run Invitational

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Name Year School Finals Points

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1 Solinsky, Chris 12 Stevens Point 8:43.24

2 Vaughn, Brent 12 Smoky Hill,Auror 8:45.60

3 Moe, Carl 12 Auburn River 8:48.04

4 Curtis, Bobby 12 St Xavier,KY 8:48.39

5 Debole, Matt 12 Mount Tabor 8:50.16

6 Hassen, Steven 12 Vanguard HS 8:52.75

7 Ruiz, Manuel 12 Monroe High 8:55.80

8 Trafeh, Mohamed 11 Duarte High 8:55.87

9 Kollar, Christopher 12 Strongsville 8:56.35

10 Nelson, Tim 12 Liberty Chri 8:58.89

11 Alizzi, Mark 12 Syosset High 8:59.63

12 Dalpiaz, Brian 12 Sayville High,NY 9:01.20

13 Hampton, Charles 11 Brophy Colle 9:04.62

14 Burrell, Ian 12 Air Academy 9:04.78

15 Ramos, Austin 12 Jesuit HS 9:07.17

16 DeVries, Hakon 11 John Jay (Ny 9:10.44

17 Cardenas, Jonathon 11 Reno HS (Nv) 9:12.92

18 Mineau, Jeremy 11 Menlo-Atherton 9:15.30

19 Poe, Mike 12 Etiwanda 9:23.34

20 Wall, Alec 12 Grant (Or) 9:24.10

21 Alcorn, Kyle 12 Buchanan,Clovis 9:31.36

or

1966 4 x 800y Match race between Andrew Jackson and Boys and Girls HS's.

Tied running 7:35.6 which was the national record until not so long ago. Plus, sure was on cinder, St. john's in Queens, NY.

My memory is fuzzy on this one. The 62-68 years had so many good Metro area runners. Sometimes when a race like this unfolds you see the race but not that it will be one of the great records of all time. I'm not going to keep saying I think but 40 years...Jackson-Coach Milt Blatt/Boys-Doug Terry..St Johns Track Queens the new track first or at most the second year was called All-weather brand no clue but it was hard,black and a spike size rule was in effect for the first time.The spikes we used for cinder were too long so we used needle spikes. The race was pretty much Boys on the shoulder of Jackson both team thinking if we are in the hunt the anch or can bring it on. Two gutty runners Boy's Had Jim Jackson and Jackson had Mark Ferrell both were great indoor 600 runners. Julio Meade leads Mark Edmead at the hand off buy a second.Bill Jacobs(J) goes out hard Lanky John Henry strides along looking easy and draws even on the sesond lap into the exchange zone -out comes Sam Thomas (J)3 two strides ahead of Mike Randall both keep the race about the same with Sam getting a little more distance,Randall closes a bit on the pass but Mark Ferrell is 3 may be 4 strides out. Jimmy Jackson greyhoud lean gets up right a way bur Ferrell surges and its three strides again... Jimmy has a fair amount to get up on the third 220 and they run in with nothing between them thru the yarn. I do not think any one realized just how fast the race was, no big officials meeting no fuss nothing said. the meet moves on. I had Boys splits on my pad and worked out Henrys split cause I felt it was a burner for him...I guess I missed the over all speed of the race and did not math out the rest. Flipped the page,reset the watch and moved on. Only when I read the papers did I realize I had seen history(Yes Track&Field got good Press in NYC back then) Ferrell 1:51.3 Jim Jackson 1:50.6.I wish I could make it more exciting than it was but thats all. My old HS was at the Meet and I was focused on them.

the best one i ever saw in person i think is the DMR at indoor nationals between south lakes with Webb adn R Smith and the team with the Jefferson brothers. Webb got the stick approx 30m-40m down and closer slightly but couldnt catch up with like 4:04 for Webb and 4:07 for Jefferson? We were standing right next to the Jeffersons dad who was going bonkers to put it mildly heh.

Marc Bloom's "Me and Julio down by the school track" dramatically captures the race. Jimmy Jackson, the anchor for Boys that day coaches the Boys anfd girls team, nowadays concentrating on the girls team which has had some memorable races of their own these last few years.

Yeah i'm gonna have to go with that as the best race in H.S. history. Nobody has run fast like that since, well not 4 or 5 teams under 7:40.5. THe winning time in illinois is usually like 7:44 or so. There had to be a crap load of sub 1:50 splits among those teams. The 4x800 is always the most exciting event at the illinois state championships. 3 yrs ago when Pfifer was a junior and brought Edwardsville from 3rd to way in first running like a 1:50 or something crazy like that. Thats about as close as anybody has come to the caliber that those teams had.

Jim Jackson is a great guy still thin and tuff.Last I saw of him he ran on a club team and coached B&G. He must have a seat at 168ST with his boney behind print worn in by now.Great days of running I once put together a make believe team of kids that ran in that era-Otis and Larry from White Plains the Dyce boys John Carlos afor he went west. I'll dig it out. Marc Bloom was running then also I've never read Julio piece is it an the web? coach I'm guessing you too ran the boards of 168 ST.

I'm from the Chicago area and competed against nearly all those teams in the first post. "Donald" White probably is Charlie White, unless Charlie had a little brother. Charlie was a national-class 880 guy his junior and senior years. A horse. But there were so many horses back then. Greg Foster, Nat Page, Virgin, Kurt Schallenberger, Billy Fritz, Howard Jones . . . unbelievable Illinois athletes. Saw some dude from Englewood win the IPI 880 one year.

The depth of the 1970's is often overlooked. I recall my school finishing 5th in a four-mile relay against some of the aforementioned schools (Lyons took first) and although it was humbling getting our asses kicked, our time ranked very high nationally that year. The fact our time still stands as our school record after 30 years is still a source of pride.

If you pull up the IHSA records from the state meet at Detweiler Park, you'll see how performances and athletes from the 70's still dominate. In retrospect, the times I ran in '74 and '75 barely got me on the radar state-wide, but today my times would be near the top. While that would probably be ego-gratifying, it was the depth of the competition back then that made me into the runner I was.

The ego might be overblown today, but the experiences today would never come close to back then. Almost every weekend, from February to the end of May, I competed against some of the best runners in the country. Better to be relatively anonymous in the 1970's than have one's life dissected online because you're committed to being among the best.

Forgive a Senior Moment on that June day in 1966 we saw another great race Dave Jackson>Larry James>Carl Reed>Otis Hill=1:25.4HSR 21.8,21.5,21.3,20.8. Just a week later the same White Plains team ran 3:12.7 HSR(14 June66)Reed>Jackson>James>Hill-49.8,48.0,47.4,47.5 And I think a kid from Jamacia had a big jump,not as big as his BIG jump but a good jump.

One of the state meets for CA in the 2 mile, i believe in the mid 80s, had about 9 or 10 guys under 2...i'll try to get more details

wineturtle wrote:

Forgive a Senior Moment on that June day in 1966 we saw another great race Dave Jackson>Larry James>Carl Reed>Otis Hill=1:25.4HSR 21.8,21.5,21.3,20.8. Just a week later the same White Plains team ran 3:12.7 HSR(14 June66)Reed>Jackson>James>Hill-49.8,48.0,47.4,47.5 And I think a kid from Jamacia had a big jump,not as big as his BIG jump but a good jump.

Wineturtle think first then type..Bob Beamons Jamacia HS 25'3.5" was Downing Stadium in 65

For what it's worth, I'd say the best track race I ever saw in HS was Virgin's 8:40.9 at Mt. Prospect. Sage vs. Keller at 2000 IL state was close. Nehemiah's 12.9 at Evanston was probably the most perfect race. Nat Page high jumped 7' indoors with a full-length cast on his arm at a dual meet against us once, and then ran a ridiculous time in the hurdles.

Webb vs. Ricky Brookshire at Great American 1999 was one hell of an exciting cross-country race. Ritz-Teg-Sage at FL regionals was also pretty mind-blowing.