Y, SEPTEMBER11, 1962 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Trackmen
To Defend Outdoor Crown
ERGAS LEPS
hard to replace
By STAN KUKLA
The Wolverine track team suf-
fered a "down and up" track sea-
son last year-losing the indoor
track meet to the Badgers of Wis-
consin by 14/2 points in March
and then coming back in May to
defeat all comers and take the out-
door track crown by seven points.
Michigan's loss of the indoor
crown ended a three-year domina-
tion of the title, while their win
in the outdoor meet gave them a
two-year winning streak.
Track coach Don Canham
thought that the team was in good
shape to take the indoor title but
he did not count on the double
drubbing handed to Michigan
hurdler Bennie McRae by Larry
Howard of Wisconsin. Couple that
with injuries to his only sprinters,
Mac Hunter and Ken Burnley,
and Michigan's losing deficit is
accounted for.
Raimey Surprises
A big surprise of the meet was
junior Dave Raimey who, after
only two weeks of practice, placed
third in the broad jump, just a
quarter of an inch behind win-
ner Paul Warfield of Ohio State.
The next two months were spent
in tuning up for the outdoor
meeet and everything Canham did
pointed toward that big week-end.
On April 21 a representative
squad of 'M' thinclads journeyed
to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio
Relays. The meet proved disas-
trous for Raimey, who pulled a
muscle in the 440-yd. relay, and
didn't compete in the final round
of the broad jump. His leg trouble
plagued him the rest of the season
and kept him out of the cham-
pionship meet. Senior pole-vaulter
Rod Denhart won his event with
a leap of 14' 8%" and just missed
in his tries to become the first
Michigan man to ever clear 15'.
Denhart Breaks Record
He came back two weeks later,
however. Before a wildly cheering
home crowd he cleared 15' 1",
breaking the varsity record of 14'
9%" set by Beles Landstrom and
the Ferry Field record of the same
height set by Landstrom, Bob
Gutowsky and Mel Schwarz in
1959.
The day was also highlighted by
McRae's victory in the 120-yd.
high hurdles over Olympic silver
medalist Willie May. It represent-
ed a come-back for McRae, who
had a disappointing day the week
before at the Penn Relays.
In fact, the whole team had a
disappointing week-end at the
monstrous Penn Relays in in-
dividual events. But togther they
were unbeatable. They took repeat
victories in the two and four-mile
relays.
Relay Marks
The two-mile team was led by
Jim Neahusan, followed by Jay
Sampson, and then Dave Hayes.
Ergas Leps provided the finisher
and his patented kick, which has
won so many races for him, pulled
the race out of the fire and put
it in the Wolverine's credit column.
Their time of 17:12.5 was just a
second and a half off the meet
record. From this victory, the same
team went on to capture the two-
mile relay crown later in the
afternoon. Michigan's dominance
in these two events may come to
an end this spring however. Coach
Canham prefers the smaller Drake
Relays and is hoping to take his
team there next spring.
The Wolverines' final prepara-
tions for the outdoor track
championships were dealt a blow
the week before the meet when
the thinclads were beat for the
first time in their history by their
upstate neighbors, Michigan State.
Though the meet was triangular,
the third team,. Ohio State, was
out of the picture from the be-
ginning. MSU managed to pull the
meet out with a victory in the
final event-the mile relay. Den-
hart again set a field record when
he vaulted 15' even.
Big Ten Meet
Then came the big week-end,
May 18-19. After the first day
Coach Canham was dourly pre-
dicting that Michigan would only
take 35 points. Indeed, things
looked bad fo the Blue and Gold.
McRae had hit a hurdle in the
220-yd. low hurdles and his leg
was swollen like a balloon. No
one had placed in the broad jump
finals and Michigan had placed
only six men in the finals (com-
pared with 12 for Wisconsin and
Michigan State). Burnley had
placed for Michigan in the 100-yd.
dash but his leg was again bother-
ing him.
But Canham was wrong in his
predictions-for the first time all
season. When Denhart finished
vaulting-an hour and a half after
the meet was over-he had set a
new record and became the first
roan in the Big Ten to ever of-
ficially jump over 15'. He jumped
15' %" and just missed in his
tries for 15' 4".
Michigan scored 4834 points,
beating Wisconsin by seven points.
The day was filled with sur-
prises. McRae won both the 120-1
yd. high hurdles and the 220-yd.
low hurdles. Howard, who had
defeated him in the indoor meet,
finished a dismal third in the highs
and didn't even place in the lows.
Leps, bidding for his third
grandslam in the 880 and mile
runs, won the mile easily but was
defeated by some twenty yards in
the 880 by Bill Frazier of Iowa
It marked only the second time
that Leps had been beaten in Big
Ten competition.
Replacements Needed
The Wolverines have lost some
big guns by graduation. Gone are
McRae, Leps,\ Denhart, shot-
putter Wally Herrala, high jumper
Steve Williams, who was second
in the outdoor meet, and sprinter
Jeff Engel.
Gone too are Len Cercone and
Bill Hornbeck, Michigan's 440 men,
and long distance man Ole Torger-
son.
Michigan's best bet to fill Leps'
shoes is Charlie Aquino who in
his sophomore year, won the 1000-
yd. run in the indoor meet and
the 660-yd. run in the outdoor
event. Behind him is Ted Kelly,
a Dearborn boy, and Dave Romain.
Coming up from last year's fresh-
man team will be Dan Hughes, who
finished second behind Kelly in
the 660-yd. run during the Michi-
gan Open.
Other freshmen who may make
their mark on the Michigan rec-
ord book include Ken Bernard,
Angus McDougald, and Sam Dyke.
Together with Hughes they set
a new freshman mark in the mile
relay. Their time of 3:19.6 was
eight-tenths of a second faster
than the previous record.I
McDougald is a long distanceJ
possibility, as he has proven by
winning the mile run in the Michi-
gan Open last year.
Records Periled
Denhart finds his records being
periled as two top vaulters aim
for them-senior Steve Overton
and sophomore George Wade.
Wade already holds all the fresh-
man records in the pole vault.
In the hurdles, Joe Mason and
Charles Peltz will be trying to
prolong Michigan's dominance of
these events.
These men have their work cut
out for them if they wish to keep
up the tradition of fine Michigan
track teams and Coach Canham
thinks that they have the poten-
tial to become one of Michigan's
finest groups.
I
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V.,
KEN BURNLEY
sprint potential
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MAC HUNTER
... leg injury
TRACK OLD-TIMERS:
Which Was the Best?
OSU, 'M', Illinois?
By DAVE GOOD
Whenever people talk about how
good the old-timers were, track
and swimming fans always bring
in sheafs of statistics to show that
modern athletes are miles ahead
of their more ancient counter-
parts.
It's small consolation to both
sides that the great stars from
different eras can never get to-
gether to settle the question once
and for all.
With this background in mind,
a high school cross-country coach
in Minnesota named Doug Ru-
dolph has compiled figures for
what he calls the "Mythical All-
Time Big Ten Outdoor Track
Meet."
Now psychologists have an at-
titude which they term "voluntary
suspension of disbelief" which is
essential to developing any inter-
est in this all-star project, but
anyway Rudolph has gone ahead
and doped out the all-time top
performances in every event in
the Big Ten outdoor meets.
Michigan, Illinois Tops
A person might suspect that
if this meet could be held, either
Michigan or Illinois would come
-out on top. Records in the Big
Ten Office show that the Wol-
verines have won 24 outdoor titles
and the Illinois 22 through 62
years of conference track.
And last year Michigan coach
Don Canham picked his champ-
ionship team as the best in Big
1. Ohio State (52), 2. Michigan
(49), 3. Illinois (481/2), 4. Indiana
(25%), 5. Minnesota (16), 6. Mich-
igan State (9), 7. Iowa (9), 8. Pur-
due (8%), 9. Northwestern (6%),
10. Wisconsin (5).
Ohio State, which has won only
two conference titles, got its main
thrust from the incomparable
Jesse Owens, a triple winner in
the 1936 Olympics and a sprinter
who Phil Diamond, head timer at
Michigan for over 40 years, says
"could beat the pants off these
:09.2 boys (Frank Budd and Rob-
ert Hayes)"
Owens still has the best times
in the 100-yd. dash (:09.4), 220-yd.
dash (:20.3), 220-yd. low hurdles
(:22:6), and broad jump (26'8%").
But Canham, who conceeds that
on an all-time basis Ohio State
might well win the meet, still in-
sists "you just can't do it that
way."
People Count
Although any other method
would probably be more unfair
than taking the best conference
marks, Canham points out that
any all-time system has to disre-
gard the competitive, "human"
element of track.
"It's not valid at all," he re-
marked. "First of all (Michigan's)
Tony Seth could have beaten half
those guys listed in the 660. And
the same goes for (Michigan's)
Peter Gray and (Illinois) Stacey
Siders in their events."
And for the two-mile winner,
EI