Evening star., 1909-02-21
BIC RACES RUN
AND CROWD CHEERS
Record Gathering Watches
Athletes Strive at Fed
eraI Meet.

1t is all over now, but while it lasted 1t
vas splendid. The Federal Olympic games
for 1909 were certainly grand, with very
large G. From first to last 1t was a
snappy, fast moving Kaleidoscope OF run
ners, jumpers. weight throWers ana
every other variety of indoor athlete.
Convention Hall was crowded. 1t seemed
that every seat was filled, filed with an
audience that roared and stamped,
cheered, whistled and yelled until the big
arched roof seemed almost to raise up to
let out some Of the exuberance.
There is no use talking about the fea-
.ure of the meet or the hero who nearly
broke his neck running for the sake of
the dear old school," or any of the time
honored fudge that goes with events of
competition in Drawn and muscle, for there
was so much doing every second of the
evening that it was all jumbed into a
great, grand, glorious hurrah, There was
not a wasted minute. AS soon as one race
was over-Crack, went the starters pistol
and away went the bunch. There were so
many relay races and fast dashes that the
eye tired of watching, the ear ached from
the rah-rah and the excited screams of
college youths, school boys and the femi-
nine shreks of thousand very pretty
and excited girls.
Cheered Relay Teams.
Each relay race seemed to have as many
rooters as the others. Each plucky runner
got his whirlwind of applause as he would
gain on the man ahead of him. and when
a Washington runner got even show
the crowd had a few seconds of noise
Mysteries.
While the local boys were lauded to
the skies. hero-worship in its most maltg-
nant form was evident when any one of
the real Olympic champions, who COM
peted last night. even moved finger. No
matter if a race that meant everlasting
honor to Washington was being pulled
off and Harry Porter, Olympic high jump
er, hoped over ) foot height that any
one can clean with ease the crowd jump
ed to its feet and roared.
Or If Harry Hillman, hurdler, who made
the world at large look sick in the big
London games, walked across defunct
hurdle in practice there were no eyes for
any one else. No matter if Tommy Smith
of Georgetown beat Hillman in trial
heat-the cheers were all Hillman's-ex-
eept solitary Good work Tommy.
Tel1tale Figures.
Look at the summaries and see the
figures showing the results, but those
who were not at Convention Hall last
night can never imagine the excitement
of 1t all. The lust for victory and the
quick heart beat as the favorite fought
it out with some unknown; the thud,
thud of the runners as they circled the
track; the flash of a vaulter or jumper
as he shot across the bar. Any one who
whistled the classic Looks to Me Like
a Big Night Tonight wh1stled right,
that's all.
Locals Did Well.
All the Washington favorites did well,
as the results show. Those who did not
win did not show any yellow. There were
a whole army of local entries-lots of
them unheard of by the world at large.
but husky kids, all right.
Jack Sterrett was watched every min
ute. He and BreZin of Princeton had a
pretty fight. Sterrett tried for the world S
indoor championship and all but made 1t.
lie and the Princetonian fought for it
all the evening and at times the unattaln-
able ii feet inches was almost reached.
Each man went over it, but the bar fell
with him.
The 3,VO0-meter run. which was twenty
laps of the hall, was the longest event of
the evening and had eleven starters. For
the first two laps all of the runners were
punched, but during the next ten laps five
of the leading men pulled to the front
with Elphinstone of the Baltimore Cross
Country Club leading. The runners held
this position until the last two laps, when
Levering of Pennsylvania forged to the
front on the nineteenth lap and gained
about six yards. His team mate. Beck
was second and the Baltimore man was
third. The runners finished in the order
named
An interesting relay race was that of
picked teams of Baltimore and Washing
ton, which resulted i'll victory for the
Orioles. The victory for the Baltimore
team is due practically to the running of
Paul Herring of this city, who is a menu
ber of the Mount Washington Athletic
Club of Baltimore, and consequently he
represented that city. The local boy
took up the running for his team on the
last laps and finished strong in the fast
time OF minutes a. % seconds
The principal and most exciting event
of the evening was the final one on the
program. when the University of Virginia
and University of Pennsylvania relay
teams clashed. the former winning after
one OF the best races that has been seen
in this city between big college teams
The runners kept abreast until the last
two men took UP the running, when Thur
low, for Virginia. forged to the front on
the first lap and won with fifteen feet to
spare.
Summaries.
5omct"r dash open schoIastic-won by J. c.
Patterson Baltimore City College; second j.
Smith. Tome Institute; third f. ID. Stafford
Baltimore City College. Time. q 2-5 seconds.
borough. Tome Institute; second. ]. Silkman,
Baltimore City COLLEGE third. J. Tew. Technical
~ meter dash, scholsstic-Won by r. r. Rau-
ling, business High School; second, n. G. Rath-
bone. Western High School; third. J.. $. Lore,
business High School Time, q % seconds
600 meter novice. scholastic-Won by Marshall
t'uthery. Western High School: second, r. f..
Rawlings. Business High School, third, A. r.
Guy Western High School. Time. l minute
81 - seconds.
lJoo-meter run. open handicap-won by w s.
McGee Princeton University second. j. Gala
CHER. Brown Prep School; third, ]. T. Wymeat
Pennsylvania University. Time. minutes s 81
seconds
4@-meter run. scholastic-Won by Ed Stafford
Baltimore City College; second Farmer Tech
nical High School; third. b. j. Rawley Brown
Prep. Time. 80 As seconds
1.'oC-metcr run. scholastic-Won ny ]. J. Gal
isgher, Brown Prep School. Philaselphia Pa