The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-13
Prospects for Uncle Sans Ath-
letes in England Bright.
"A Comparison With Other 0lym-
pic Teams Is Given.
RUNNERS VERY FAST.
In High and Broad Jumps We
Are Also Strong.
Scotch Sprinters Are Considered
Most Dangerous to Face.

New York, July 13.-America
prospects of winning the Olympic
championship in track and field attn
letics in the stadium at London are
now brighter than ever. The selec-
tons made by the American Olympic
committee leave no room for cr1tl-
cism. The American team is truly
representative one, every part of the
country from Massachusetts, to Cali
fornia and from Michigan to Texas
having members on 1t. College ath-
letes, both graduates and under
graduates, hold an important place,
and this will probably be pleasing to
the Britons, for they know that these
men belong to the highest class OF
amateurs, though it can safely be said
that not a man on the Olympic team
bears the slightest faint of pro-
fessionalism.
OF the 76 athletes picked to carry
the Stars and Stripes it is hard to see
fwhere any bad mistakes were made.
There may be several men on the sup
Elementary list who should change
places with those on the first list, but
even II they did it is hardly probable
that 1t would add much to the point
getting ability of the team as a
whole. A careful comparison of the
results of the American and British
tryouts would seem to indicate that
there are few events on the Olympic
programme in which our men will
not score.
Our greatest handicap will be the
change in climatic conditions. The
distance runners will suffer most,
but these are the events in which we
are weakest, and consequently the
score will not be greatly affected.
Records show that we have a good
chance to win all the points in the
Il n -
strongest this country or any other
has ever mustered together. J. B.
Taylor and Jack Atlee should take
good care of the quarter-mile dash.
We are better represented in the
800-meter race than ever before. 1t
is hard to see where there is any man
who can hold M. w. Sheppard, who
has run the half mile in 1:43 3-5.
Though our other half-milers are
sterling performers, they are at least
four seconds slower than Sheppard.
H. G. Halstead of Cornell, H L. Coe
of Michigan and ]. p. Sullivan of the
Irish-Amerfcan A. c. form trio of
milers that should be able to beat
the Britons at their favorite distance.
Fred Bellars of the New York A G.
VIII be close up at the finish IN the
i've event. our hurdlers out
class the world, and we should sweep
the card in these two events. The
u.
in which A. c. Gilbert will perform
Ray Ewry will undoubtedly win both
the standing high and broad Jumps
We should score heavily in the running
high and broad jumps. though we may
not Win. Sheridan, Dearborn and Gar
rells seem to have a first class chance
to take the majority of the honors in
the discus throws, while our represen-
tatives in the hammer throw and shot
put will almost surely outdistance their
rivals. The hop-step-and- jump should
be an American victory, but our
chances of winning the Marathon race
are not particularly good
England looks to her distance men
to wipe out the stain of double defeat
which the Americans inflicted at
Athens two years ago. On Crabbe
McGough, Anderson and Hawthey does
she chiefly rely OF the lot, Hawtrey
was the only one to win at Athens.
The others went down to defeat before