Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-22
YANK ATHLETES
BREAK RECORDS
AT PARIS MEET
However, Even Better Records for
the Events Have Been Made in
This Country Before.

Washington, D. c., July 22.-Ath-
ietes of the United States in the
competitions of the inter-allied
games pushed the European record
for the 500 meters relay race down.
ward several seconds. In doing this
thew were pushed by the Canadian
athletes, both in the preliminartes
and the final trials. Their perform
ance calls attention to the fact that
the American counterpart OF the
500 meter relay race, the half mile,
is on the program of but one OF the
naior. college events of the United
States, and also that competition is
restricted to a comparative limited
section of the country within hall
ing distance of the Mississippi river.
A COMPARISON of the record made
in the inter allied games and the
records of the Missouri valley con-
ference. and other events in which
the half mile relay has part shows
that. even the brilliancy of the
sprfnters of the A. E. F. has been
more than equalled by several col
iepe teams in this country. IN facl
one team of travelling athletes, com
netting in Sweden in 1916, made the
L
seamingIy under conditions which
cannot count for an European rec
ord. This team was made up OF Joe
LOOMS of Chicago, Ted Meredith OF
the University of Pennsylvania,
ANDY Ward Of the University OF
Chicago and Robert Simpson OF the
University Of Missouri. They ran
the event several times in Sweden,
making slower records in the otner
attempts.
Half Nile is Longer.
The half mile is a fraction more
than So yards longer than the 500
meters. This should add relatively
three and one-haIf seconds to the
record but the fact remains that IN
the ten years that the event mas
been a part Of the program OF the
Missouri valley conference, it has
heen run as slow as 1888 but once.
At ST. Louis, in 1915, team from
the University of Chicago set the
record Of the valley conference at
1923 2-5. the quartet of flyers being
Ward. DESMOND, Barancfk ana
Knight. This is a second and two
6fths faster than the inter-all1ed
Games record with an additional
thirty-six yards Of competition. An
other record almost as fast is cred
tied tn the team Of the Chicago Ath-
Ietic association, which in a special
reIav event at St Louis in 1917
made the distance in 1929 3-5- This
team was composed of 10 LOOMS,
sherman I.anders, Frank Smart ana
ANDY Ward. It is, as far as knoWn'
the best non-collegiate record
The real sensation of the hair
mile records, however, belongs TO
team from the University Of Wis
contin. with assisting honors TO
tearos from the University of I'LL
nois Notre Dame University ana
Drake University This event was
over A track, checked by state
engineer. The timing Of three ex-
ne~+e was assisted by an electric
lining device. The event was the
[sIP mile struggle in the Drake uni
versitv relay games in 1916. 1t was
1-novvn before the race that Wis
consfn. Notre Dame and Drake mad
exceptional teams. Illinois came
into this select number through the
great running Of Carroll IN the maj
furlong. Wisconsin broke the tape
hut the other teams were less IMAM
a foot behind and while Wisconsin
has the honors for the 1:2S 3-5
mark. all four of the teams bettered
the accepted mark of 1:29 20. Inc
Radger team of winners was made
nm of W. J. Carter, c. B. Smith, F.
r. Casey and J. D. Peterson. 1t Is
worthy of note that all members OF
the four winning teams found
nIaces in the army, and one Of the
members of the winning team IS
member of the A. E. F. team IN the
allied games, C. B. Smith being one
of the quartet wearing the colors Of
Uncle Sam in medley relay.
Pulled TendOns Hurt.
Tt would seem probable that an
even better record might have been
recorded for Uncle Sans athletes
hut for the epidemic of pulled ten
ions which relieved the team of the
possible efforts Of Eddie Madden,
Joe Kelly, Billy Moore, Charles
Carroll and Howard Drew This Is
the second time Drew has failed to
compete in the finals of big over
seas meet because of a pulled
muscle. He tied with Ralph Craig
for the American 100 meter record
in 1912 in the tryouts for the
Olympic team, won his heat in the
trials at Stockholm and pulled a
tendon and was out of Che finals.
This time, he pulled a tendon in
The preliminary work and did not
compete in even the A E. F. games.