Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-20
INDOOR TRACK
SEASON BRIGHT
The Runner Predicts Sew
eral Records Will Go
by the Board
BY J. f. ("TED") MEREDITH


II is the custom each new year for pre-.
| dictions to be made for tho public, and
| these predictions always point toward a
| more brilliant and prosperous year than the
| one just past.
| am going to make my predictions for
| the coming indoor season.
The indoor season will, in my opinion, be
the greatest that this country has ever
seen and, not to make this seem an idle
statement, will try to show the why's and
whercrOrs.
The first reason is the fact that there
are TO bo more big meets and that there
will be moro stars in these meets than ever
before. The managers arc bringing on the
best from all sections when they have their
games, and with the fields of tho events so
filled with stars the time made at these
performances is bound 10 be the best
Take the coming Mllrose meet on Jan
uary "a, for instance We will see Loonis
from Chicago and Don Scott, the national
half-mie champion from Mississippi, in New
York for these games. They will come a
long distance and are going to be in fine
shape, which means that the eastern men
who will meet them will put on extra efforts
to hold their laurels, the result being great
races. In the Middle West they have sew
eral big meets which bring together the
cream of that section, and there too, they
make it a point to bring out the best from
the East to meet their stars.
ON January 26 in Chicago there is to be
q meet that will be as big II not bigger
than we have in the East. IL will be held
In new armOry in which is said to be the
fastest track in the country. They are
planning 4i0-yard race between Dismond,
Halpn and myself in an effort to smash
the indoor record
The western intercollegiate body Is also
promoting on March a set Of games which
are to resemble the indoor intercollegiate
games in the East, which will be held at
Philadelphia this year.
That records will be in danger is a
surety The ones that are most liable to
be swept from the boards are the middle
distance and hurdle marks. The middle
distance marks are always in danger during
an indoor season, as these events are al
ways the attractions with bunch of stars
in them.
This year the field of mldde-dIstance run
ners Is better than ever. The old guard is
still at it in Halpn, Caldwell, Baker, Hig-
gins, OVerlOn and DismOnd, while the last
outdoor season has brought out such men
as Scott, Eby, ScuddeT and several others
who We're not to be counted on H." year be-
fore. This band of men viii be seen mat tched
in the different meets and will always run
close to record time.
The hurdles are surely in danger. make
this statement on the ground that there are
two men out this year who never took active
part in the INDOOR work before Bob Slmp-
son is comparatively a new man on the in
door track, but will be out this season in
most of the big hurdle events. Fred Muir
ray will also be on the boards around New
York, and will be a new figure ON the in
door tracks.
Several new developments in the way OF
indoor meets have come along also The
most recent in this line is the triangle meet
which has been arranged to take place In
Boston in February Harvard, Dartmouth
and Pennsylvania are the colleges that will
meet in this meet. Tn S goes to show that
the colleges are fast coming around to
recognize indoor work as beneficial TO their
men for the outdoor season. The men will
not lay back, as they did several years ago.
and fear pulled tendons as the result of any
great activity on the boards, The West put
this theory aside long ago and has mad big
meets for several years. All things point
to the fact that We VIII see more activity
this year than in the past, and my predic-
tions are that it will be the most successful
indoor year Of The history of athletics