The Washington herald., 1915-12-19
Ed. Bushnell Picks All-American Grid
Team and All College Track Athletes
~ EDWARD n. BUSHNELL.

The critic who picks an All-Ameri-
can track team can AFFORD to look
upon his handiwork with q certain
amount of satisfaction. Unlike the
man who picks All-American football
teams. the track Spert has definite
records and performances to guide
him. The football dopester has to de-
pend upon his own Judgment. and this
in turn is frequently warped by the
newspaper notdriety certain players
have received.
In track athletics all the stars come to-
gether under almost the same condi-
tions. A man wins because he is the
best man.
In pjckinr, first an All-American
track team, and then an All-College
team. 1 have been guided by two FAC
tors: % Actual performances in
meets, (e) Consistency. All the selec-
tions not explained by actual per-
formances will become clear in the
light of consistency shown through
out the athletic season. In picking
the All-Amercan team nave CohSio-
cred both the college and club men.
A curious feature of this team OF
eighteen men for twenty events is that
twelve of the eighteen are either pres
ent or past college athletes, the re-.
manning six being strictly club men.
In spite of the college men getting the
majority. they would get even more
were it not for the fact that the A,
A. L. program contains twenty events
while I have considered only twelve
for the college athletes.
There may be some surprise that
Joe Loomis is picked for the best 100
yards sprinter in preference to How
ard Drew. Loomis is given the posi-
tion not only because of his high
class performances, but also his con-
sistency. In the Central A. A. u.
championships he did 9 As seconds.
and against the pick of America at
San Francisco he won in the same
splendid time. Had Drew been in as
good shape he was last year he
would probably have won. but he had
more or less difficulty with his leg in
which he pulled a tendon at Stock
holm in 1912 and was not himself.
There was not a consistently high-class
man IN the 30 yards dash. Drew. Morse.
of Brooklyn: Smith. of Michigan; Meyer.
of New York and Ward. of Chicago; were !
all good for better than twenty-five sec |
onds. But with Drew uncertain and the J
others not exceptionally fast the honor |
Is given to Morse. of Brooklyn. who |
cleaned up most of the best men in the
East and won the event at San Fran
cisco in p is seconds.
]. r. Meredith, of the University Of
Pennsylvania. is picked for the 40 yards !
dash by unanimous consent. Meredith
won virtually every scratch race in which |
he started. equalled the intercollegiate |
record of forty-eight seconds. and with |
a slight wind at his back also equalled
the worlds straishtaway record of forty |
seven seconds. Dismond. of Chicago, was
almost as fast and so was Wilcox. of
Harvard; WiIkie. Of Yale; and Halpin. Of |
Boston. but Meredith had something on
them all.
Passing on to the half mile Meredith |
also deserves first place here although |
he did not run the event at San Fran |
cisco. Meredith is the worlds record |
holder with a mark of 1.52 IL which |
he made at Stockholm in 1912. He proved |
that he had lost none of his marvellous |
speed when after winning the quarter |
mile in the l. c. A. A A A. champion |
fresh field of men in the half mile in |
Ia % Furthermore he best Campbell. |
of Chicago. tn A. A. u. victor at San
Francisco, in a special race in New York. !
Campbell deserves to be ranked second.
It is not so easy to decide the merits |
of Norman Taber. the former Brown star. |
and Ray. of Chicago. for the mile. Taber |
is the holder of the worlds paced one
mile record of Alp 3-5. a performance he
made at Boston last summer. Ray. how
ever, beat him at San Francisco, and
in addition has to his credit at 4:16 1-5
mile run previously at Chicago. The |
place is given to Taber for the reason |
thdt ne ran tnree races curing tnc suIH- |
mer under 40 and in the Eastern A. A.
Z. tryouts did a mile in Ais 3-5. Ray
deserves to rank second.
The two-mile run did not figure much
in A. A. U. meets. And the honor in
this event is given to d. F. Potter, of
Cornell. the eastern intercollegiate cham
pion. Potter could have made a new
American record had he realized how
strong he was. Al 1t was he did 9.T is
and ran his second mile faster than his
first Hannes Kohlemainen. the great
Finnish runner now competing for the
Irish-American A c., is the A. A. u.
man in the same class with Potter and
Hoffmire. of Cornell, and Overton, OF
Yale.
In the five and ten-mile runs there is
no one In the same class with Kohle-
mainen when the latter is at his best
These distances are not run by the col
lege men except In cross-country fash
ion. Similarly walking is no longer a
college event and the club men carried
OF all the honors here. Edward Benz, of
the Mohawk A. c., the A. A. u cham
pion of 1914 and 1915. easily leads the
field.
Taking up the hurdles the factor of