South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-04-28
PENN RELAY GAMES
TO GET UNDER WAY
AT PHILLY TODAY
Stage All Set for Two-Day
Track Classic-600 Colleges
Send 1000 Men.

PHILADELPHIA, April -t.-tCr
two days beginning Friday athletes
representing the principal colleges
and universities OF all areas OF the
country Will participate here in the
2Sth annual Relay Carnival of the
University Of Pennsylvania al Frank
lin field. II viii be the first bis
intercollegiate track and field meet
Of the year.
Despite the absence CT teams from
abroad. whose presence in the past
added dash Of international inter
est. this years entry list is larger
than any OF it's 81 predecessors.
About 500 colleges. universities. pre-
paratory and grammar schools are
expected 10 be represented by more
than 1000 athletes, those in the. col
lege and university category being
the flower Of the varsity track teams
Of the nation.
All except the grammar school
events have been opened 10 the ath-
letes of the world The juvenile
/ contests are restricted 10 Philadel-
phia because Of the larger number
who compete, which Il expanded
would congest the field. Since 1912
ex-university men have been barred
J for a similar reason.
Surprising Interest.
OF the myriad Of contests spread
over the two days. five have surpass-
/ ing interest. These-the quintet
I upon which the carnival was built
and from which It derives its popu-
; larity-are the rational intercolle-
/ State championship one-mile. two
mile four-mile, sprint medley and
distance medley relay races. In
them the competition IS anticipated
to be the keenest and the victories
the more important.
The University Of Pennsylvania
is far ahead OF her rivals in the
records Of all except the distance
medley relay The Quaker inStitu-
tion has won the one-mile event
seven times, the two-mile nine times,
the four-mile seven times and the
sprint medley five times. Chicago
university has won the distance
medley relay three times.
In the one, two and four-mile re-
lays world records have been made
from time to time that still stand,
thus giving the trio a peculiar ira
dition in the carnival. The last was
I established in 1920 10y the oxford
Cambridge quartet which covered
two miles in m. so % $. The pre-
vious world record had been made
i'm 1916 10y Yale team.
The one-mile record of the fam
Gus 1915 Penn team, Of which Ted
Meredith was a member, established
a record Of m. IS s. for this event
that has withstood two Olympiads
in addition 10 the efforts in the six
subsequent Franklin Field annual
I carnivals The four-mile relay
record Of II m. 81 10 s was es-
tablished in 1916 by Cornell.
Pennsylvania holds the carnival
record Of m. % S. for the sprint
medley relay, made in 1920, and
Yale's mark OF ~ m. 20 ;. for the
distance medley relay, set in 1915
has not been equalled since.
Disagree On Origin.
Sports historians are not agreed
on the origin OF the relay race. such
as they are upon the Marthon Race
which a stoical Greek introduced IL
ancient times. but everyone agrees
that the relay was unfamiliar 70
p Europe and but little known in the
b United states when Frank B. Ellis
b member of the University oil
b Pennsylvania track committee. i'm.
troduced it extensively.
1t has been suggested that the re-
lay had it's origin in American
Revolutionary days when news wa:
circulated by relays Of horsemer
D who rode. however. until they were
exhausted and not until they had
p traversed a specific distance. Blu
, whatever the origin NJ. ellis dUstet
of the idea and polished IL to re.
vive athletics at Penn.
Il proved satisfactory 10 him IN
1895 and within three years had be-
come so successful that colleges and
universities throughout the country
were requesting permission TO enter
Chicago university became the frs
western entry i'm 1898, the year tha'
: special events were combined with
the relay and the period Of the frs
expansion Of the carnival
Illustrating the national complex
ion Of the present day carnival /.
the records Of its recent years ir
which participating athletes repre-
scented institutions N California
Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsyl
vania, Utah Missouri. Michigan
Virginia. New York, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Connecticut and
District of Columbia