The Washington herald., 1912-08-18
MEREDITH TELLS OF
OLYMPIC TRIUMPH
Nineteen-year-old Schoolboy Says
He Was Lucky to Win
S00-meter Race.

1t will be recalled that in the recen
olympic games at Stockholm J. E. Mere
dith, the representative of the MERGERS
burg Academy, won the Soo-meter race
breaking two worlds records. He I'm
ished the so0-meter race in f:59 $40. and
then ran about five yards farther and
velous achievement to secure two world.
records in one race.
A few days later Meredith won hi,
heat in the 4oo-meter race. running thai
distance in 0:fs fiat. making another
worlds record, In writing to Jane.
Curran, the Mercersburg trainer, abou
the 4oo-meter race, Meredith says:
The race was run in lanes, which were
little confusing to me. I sprinted toe
hard at the start and blew up at the
finish"
Immediately after winning the soo-metei
| race Meredith wrote a description of his
feelings to DR.. w. NJ. Irvine. the head
| master OF Mercersburg Academy. Imme.
diately after receiving the news of Mere
| diths victory, DIR. Irvine cabled him the
congratulations of the academy. Mere.
dith says: II received your cablegram
| and thank you very much for II. You can
appreciate. l know, how good a thing like
that makes a fellow feel. / was mighty
lucky to get away with the s00-meter race
and am as proud Of that performance as
can be. for the reason that beat Shep-
pard and Braun, the best half-milers that
ever ran, think most critics say. / al
ways thought Sheppard the best of all.
He has run for. ten years in record time.
and when beat him this time he ran his
fastest race, so from that feel as II
am not afraid Of any of them now II
was the talk of every one here, and all
the trainers and old timers say that they
never saw race equal to 1t. In my heat
l got second, as two qualified and, al
though II went in only 1:57 / was all
tuckered out. In the semi-finals I went
out to win it II / could. so that If I did
not get a place in the finals / could get
in my name as winner of the semi
finals. We ran in 1:5i %. and I felt all
in and did not feel as IL should place in
the final. / got about as nervous as I
could be for the final, and felt as IL !
could hardly walk to the start. I wanted
to set the pace, but Sheppard took the
first turn and / was second, with Braun
tugging at my side to get past; but when
he would try to pass me 1 moved up
alongside of Sheppard, and Sheppard
would only go faster. so that We ran the
first quarter in 0:52 is. We went along
that way until We hit the last stretch, and
someone came alongside of me. 1 was
an ln' put got some strength from some
place, for / moved up, and then came the
final spurt home. don't know how did
II, but / caught and passed Sheppard
about twenty yards from home and won
the s00-meter race by a yard. with Shep-
pard second and Davenport third. 1 knew
the tape would be stretched at the full
half mile. so l ran on about five yards,
and l was glad I did. for It got me the
half record. I felt better after that than
II of ffa,r nft 81 Nre. L..
semi-finals, but 1 guess II was because
I won. The one thought that had when
! crossed the tape was that I had won
an Olympic race, which had been my am
bition for four years, ever since I read
about the last Olympic meet"