# 1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

The 1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships men's competition took place between June 19–21 at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College in Sacramento, California. The women's division held their championships separately almost two months later, combined with the Girls Track and Field Championships at Aurora Public School Stadium in Aurora, Colorado. The 20K race walk took place in Long Beach, California on June 29.
The anticipation of the 1968 Summer Olympics affected the choice of Aurora due to the high altitude. The late August date because the entire track and field calendar shifted later due to the late October dates for the Olympics. Being an Olympic year, all races were run in meters.
It was at this meet, on the evening of June 20, 1968, when three men, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith and Charlie Greene, bettered the (hand timed) world record in the 100 metres (and several others were very close), is famous amongst track and field historians as the "Night of Speed." Hand timing was the official timing system for track and field worldwide for another 9 years. During that time, the record was equalled a further 11 times by six additional individuals but was never beaten.

## Results
### Men track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters | Charles Greene | 10.0w | Jim Hines | 10.0w | Lennox Miller Jamaica Roger Bambuck France Ronnie Ray Smith | 10.1w |
| 200 meters | Tommie Smith | 20.3 CR | John Carlos | 20.4 | Ronnie Ray Smith | 20.6 |
| 400 meters | Lee Evans | 45.0 CR | Vince Matthews | 45.0 CR | Wayne Collett | 45.4 |
| 800 meters | Wade Bell | 1:45.5 CR | Mark Winzenried | 1:46.5 | Byron Dyce Jamaica John Perry | 1:46.5 1:46.6 |
| 1500 meters | John Mason | 3:43.1 | Roscoe Divine | 3:43.4 | Brian Kivlan | 3:44.0 |
| 5000 meters | Bob Day | 13:50.4 CR | Bob Finlay Canada Larry Wieczorek | 13:53.4 13:56.0 | Van Nelson | 13:56.8 |
| 10,000 meters | Tracy Smith | 28:47.0 CR | Bill Clark | 28:56.6 | Van Nelson | 28:57.6 |
| 110 meters hurdles | Earl McCullouch | 13.64 | Tommy Lee White | 13.68 | Mike Butler | 13.80 |
| 400 meters hurdles | Ron Whitney | 49.6 CR | Gary Knoke Australia Russ Rogers | 49.8 50.3 | Andy Bell | 50.3 |
| 3000 meters steeplechase | George Young | 8:30.6 NR | Bob Price | 8:35.4 | Conrad Nightingale | 8:38.4 |
| 3000 m racewalk | Don DeNoon | 12:37.9 | Ron Laird | 12:40.6 | Larry Young | 12:49.4 |
| 20 kilometres race walk | Ron Laird | 1:33:00.0 | Larry Young | 1:33:05.2 | Don DeNoon | 1:33:24.4 |

### Men field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High Jump | Ed Hanks | 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) | Otis Burrell | 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) | Lew Hoyt | 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) |
| Pole vault | Dick Railsback | 5.19 m (17 ft 1⁄4 in) | Jonathan Vaughn | 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in) | Casey Carrigan | 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in) |
| Long jump | Bob Beamon | 8.33 m (27 ft 3+3⁄4 in) CR | Ralph Boston | 8.12 m (26 ft 7+1⁄2 in) | Charles Mays | 7.91 m (25 ft 11+1⁄4 in) |
| Triple jump | Art Walker | 16.39 m (53 ft 9+1⁄4 in) CR | Dave Smith | 16.24 m (53 ft 3+1⁄4 in) | Charles Craig | 16.19 m (53 ft 1+1⁄4 in) |
| Shot put | Randy Matson | 20.55 m (67 ft 5 in) CR | Dave Maggard | 19.92 m (65 ft 4+1⁄4 in) | George Woods | 19.56 m (64 ft 2 in) |
| Discus Throw | Jay Silvester | 62.10 m (203 ft 8 in) | Al Oerter | 59.28 m (194 ft 5 in) | Tim Vollmer | 56.89 m (186 ft 7 in) |
| Hammer Throw | Ed Burke | 66.14 m (216 ft 11 in) | George Frenn | 65.50 m (214 ft 10 in) | Hal Connolly | 65.25 m (214 ft 0 in) |
| Javelin Throw | Frank Covelli | 82.14 m (269 ft 5 in) | Gary Stenlund | 79.93 m (262 ft 2 in) | Mark Murro | 77.49 m (254 ft 2 in) |
| Pentathlon | Joe Hilbe | 3456 pts | | | | |
| All-around decathlon | Bill Walsh | 7609 pts | | | | |
| Decathlon | Bill Toomey | 8037 | John Warkentin | 7370 | Dick Emberger | 7263 |

### Women track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters | Margaret Bailes | 11.1 | Wyomia Tyus | 11.3 | Chi Cheng Taiwan Mildrette Netter | 11.3 11.4 |
| 200 meters | Wyomia Tyus | 23.5 | Margaret Bailes | 23.7 | Mildrette Netter | 24.1 |
| 400 meters | Jarvis Scott | 52.9 | Louise Drinkwater | 54.6 | Gail Fitzgerald | 54.6 |
| 800 meters | Doris Brown | 2:05.1 | Madeline Manning | 2:07.6 | Francie Kraker | 2:07.8 |
| 1500 meters | Jane Hill | 4:46.5 | Maureen Dickson | 4:47.3 | Judy Oliver | 4:49.3 |
| 80 meters hurdles | Mamie Rallins | 10.6 | Chi Cheng Taiwan Patty Van Wolvelaere | 10.7 11.0 | Judy Dyer | 11.2 |

### Women field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump | Theresa Thresher | 1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) | Eleanor Montgomery | 1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) | Sharon Callahan | 1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) |
| Long jump | Willye White | 6.38 m (20 ft 11 in) | Martha Watson | 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in) | Chi Cheng Taiwan Barbara Brown | 6.08 m (19 ft 11+1⁄4 in) 5.90 m (19 ft 4+1⁄4 in) |
| Shot put | Maren Seidler | 15.33 m (50 ft 3+1⁄2 in) | Lynn Graham | 14.32 m (46 ft 11+3⁄4 in) | Carmelita Capilla | 14.06 m (46 ft 1+1⁄2 in) |
| Discus Throw | Olga Connolly | 52.07 m (170 ft 10 in) | Carol Moseke | 49.02 m (160 ft 9 in) | Nancy Norberg | 48.39 m (158 ft 9 in) |
| Javelin Throw | Barbara Friedrich | 54.51 m (178 ft 10 in) | RaNae Bair | 50.65 m (166 ft 2 in) | Louise Gerrish | 49.27 m (161 ft 7 in) |
| Pentathlon | Chi Cheng Taiwan Patricia Daniels-Winslow | 4823 4481 | Barbara Emerson | 4327 | Jan Glotzer | 4319 |

### Men's 100 m results
#### Semi-finals

Semi-final 1 (Wind +0.8 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Hines | United States | 9.9 (10.03) | WR |
| 2 | Ronnie Ray Smith | United States | 9.9 (10.14) | WR |
| 3 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.0 | =existing WR |
| 4 | Larry Questad | United States | 10.0 | =existing WR |
| 6 | Kirk Clayton | United States | 10.0 | =existing WR |
| 6 | Ernie Provost | United States | 10.0 | =existing WR |
Semi-final 2 (Wind +0.9 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Greene | United States | 9.9 (10.10) | WR |
| 2 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.0 | =existing WR |
| 3 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.0 | =existing WR |

#### Heats

Heat 1 (Wind +2.8 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Hines | United States | 9.8w | |
| 2 | Ronnie Ray Smith | United States | 10.0w | |
Heat 2 (Wind +2.8 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.0w | |
Heat 3 (Wind +2.7 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.0w | |
| 2 | Bill Gaines | United States | 10.0w | |
Heat 4 (Wind +2.0 mps)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Greene | United States | 10.0 | =WR |
| 2 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.0 | =WR |