Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-05-14
COLLEGE SPEED
ARTISTS RENEW
PRE-WAR FORM

ITHACA, N. Y, May 1S.-America's
college distance runners gradually
are approaching pre-war standards
and 1 look for wonderfully bal
anced field in the fiftieth annual 1.
G. A. A. A. A., tWi-mile event at the
Harvard Stadium, May 29,' declared
Jack Moakley, veteran Cornell uni
versity coach.
"This distance was added to the
championship program in 1899, con-
sequently this years race will be the
twenty y-seventh on record" MoakIey
said.
willard L. Tibbetts of Harvard,
winner of the 1925 championship, nat
urally will be an outstanding favor
ite to retain his title. Anyone who
has seen the determined clean strid-
ing little Harvard captain at his best
will readily concede that he may
lower the association record The
present mark of nine minutes, % 2-5
seconds, set by Ivan Dresser of Cor
nell in 1919, already has withstood
six assaults.
''The best record for two miles ever
made by a college man is that of
Tell Berna, another CorneIlian, inter-
collegiate champion of is years ago,
but his best mark of OF As was
not made in the I. G. A. A. A. A.
meet
"I often have been asked whether
I consider Berna's record to be with
in the reach of Tibbetts or any other
competitor in the forthcoming strug-
gle. Frankly, such an opinion must
be based on pure guesswork, for the
weather must be just right, the track
fast and the competition keen. An
adverse wind would initiate against
a runner of Tibbetts' comparatively
frail physique, but if conditions are
ideal it is within the possibility that
the collegiate record will be lowered
''Distance running in American col
leges b1ossomed with the launching
of the intercollegiate Cross Country
association in 1899. England led the
world in distance running in those
days, yet it was only a matter of
half a dozen years before the per-
formances of our athletes were on a
par with those of the Englishmen.
One reason why America has failed
to hold its own in the international
distance classics is because college
men give UP distance running after
being graduated.
Outstanding college distance men
drop from view just at the time they
begin to get an idea what it is
about With the same incentive they
possess in college competition there
is no reason to suppose that they
could not keep improving for a num-
Der of years after their college days
are over.
Occasionally the question is
brought sup as to why distance run
ners of the far west have not serious
ly threatened the supremacy of the |
east in the two-mile event as they |
have done in other branches. Some
are inclined to the theory that the
climate in California is detrimental to /
distance runners of high calibre |
cannot subscribe to this view I be-
lieve that this backwardness traces
to a general lack of schoolboy inter- |
est and competition in the distance
events in that section.
"Athletes who are strong and ma
ture are best fitted to become con-
sistent distance runners. We have an
exhibition to prove the rule in the
case of Tell Berna, which provides
conclusive proof that speed can be
obtained by an athlete with little
more than stick-t -it-ive-ness. Derna
was an Ithaca high school boy. He
first reported for track in his senior
year. He was one of the also rams
on his school team. Tall and quite
awkward, he was about the crudest
candidate that ever reported for a
Cornell track team. 1t was not until
his senior year that he developed