New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-29

of Mercersburg Academy, must be men
toned and in a sense he was the athletic
marvel Of the year. This schoolboy VIC
tory in the Sp0-metre run At the Olympic
games was a brilliant feature. lie ran
the distance I'm 1:5l Gle, a new Olympic
record. and then continued on 10 the half
mile post, which he reached in the world s
record time Of 1:52i2. thus smashing the
Old mark OF 80 4-5 set by Emilio Lunshi,
of Italy, i'm 1909.
He was not satisfied with this. and In
a trial heat of the iO0-metre run set a
worlds record and an olympic record by
flying over the distance in IS seconds.
&C.. r. Reidpath, of Syracuse, won the
final heat i'm IS Is seconds. He too, was
speed marvel
One year ago Meredith was not known
outside Of his own little circle yet now ne
is ranked as the greatest middle distance
runner Of all time. In practically three
months he proved himself by winning
worlds championship and smashing three
worlds records, one Of which has been the
goal of every nalf-miler i'm the history Of
the sport It is not given to many ath-
ietes TO earn fame so quickly on the cinder
path. but 10 Meredith's credit be il said
he was modest in his triumphs. He came
out boldly and said that his great victory
at stockholm was due largely to the won
derfu pace set by. Mel Sheppard, and thus
generously shared his honors with the
middle distance runner who has had few
equals in recent years.
Coorcga TIoripa failed at tho nj r
games. due no doubt TO the change i'm eli
mate and possibly too much training, but
early in the year he smashed Mike
Sweeneys long standing record for the
running high jump, by setting the mark
at feet 6 Is inches. II was a remark
able performance. and is likely 10 stand
for wears unless he himself betteIs IT,
HORNE had jumped even higher, but the
record has not yet been accepted by the
Amateur Athletic Union through mis-
| take in not forwarding the papers on time.
| Mark Wright. Of Dartmouth made his
name in the pole vault. by clearing the
bar at 13 feet Ia inches on June s. thus
breaking a worlds record made only a
few days before by Il. A. Gardner. OF Yale.
/ That mark, too will be hard TO eclipse
| The fifth man i'm this particular honor
/ role is Howard Drew. the negro school
| boy Splinter, who has been dubbed the
fastest man i'm the world" The young
/ ster beat Ralph Craig in the Olympic try
outs at Cambridge and equalled the Amer
| lean record of 10 As seconds for the 90
| yard dash lie pulled a tendon at Stock
! holm in one Of the trial heats, leaving the
Z cid 60 MI, t,.t
| for the United States I'm commanding
style Drew wound up the year by equal
| ling the worlds record of Z Is seconds
/ for 20 yards indoors. II should be men
| toned here that Donald Lippincott. Of
| Pennsylvania set new Olympic figures and
/ equalled the worlds record of 10 So sec
onds for 100 metres in a trial heat at
/ Stockholm.
! The worlds distance honors for 1912 be-
long TO Harnes Kolehmainen. of Finland,
/ who carried all before him at the Olympic
games at distances from 5000 metres up.
| il is worthy OF mention. however, that on
coming to this country he suffered his
first defeat in a scratch race by going
down before Abel Kiviat, one Of the most
| consistent runners of the yeaI and the
man who came close to breaking John
/ Paul Jones's worlds record of 4:l5 % for
\ one mile. when he covered the distance al
! Cambridge in AIS 3-5 Kiviat also estab-
lished a new worlds record Of 1855 4-j for
I 100 metres. which is about l2O yards
short of a mile. but he was beaten over
the same distance at the Olympic games
| by Jackson. of England, in 1856 As. after
! Of Brown. and Jones also were beaten by
! a narrow margin.
! Records began 10 fall in January and
/ continued throughout the year. and so far
as possible they are here recorded in
| order:
J George Bonhag. Pat Macdonald and
John Eller, all three Of tie Irish Ameri-