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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1956
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.BLS HANDBALL GL OYES
fSQUASH RACKETS
MICHIGAN "T"SHIRTS
GOLF CLU BS
BRUNSWICK BOWLING
BALLS -- BAGS-- SHOES
Wolverine
Thinclads Retain
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Both Indoor, Outdoor
Titles
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By JOHN HILLYER
It was another banner year for
Michigan track.
Under the able guidance of their
successful young coach, Don Can-
ham, the Wolverines again brought
both the indoor and outdoor Con-
ference titles back to Ann Arbor,
making it four straight crowns, in-
cluding both indoor and outdoor
meets.
The indoor season was high-
lighted by several excellent per-
formances in both invitational
and team competition.
Set Record at MSV
At East Lansing and the Michi-
gan State Relays, a sprint medley
relay team composed of Grant
Scruggs, Dick Flodin, Bob Rude-
sill and Captain Ron Wallingford
set a new world's indoor record
for the event, and excellent clock-
ing of 3:26.5.
This broke the old mark, set at
the same meet in 1954 by a Kansas
foursome anchored by Wes San-
tee. A new Jenison Fieldhouse
standard of 3:17.4 was established
by the mile relay team of Rude-
sill, Robin Varian, Flodin and
Scruggs, to add to the evening's
success.
Next important victory of the
season was a thrilling 58-56 con-
quest of mighty Kansas on the
Jayhawk's home track as Law-
rence. This was a victory which
came as a surprise to many, and
provided an ominous forecast for
Big Ten teams to heed.
O'Reilly Stuns
The follgwing weekend found
the lanky resident of Dublin, Ire-
land-Brendan O'Reilly-execut-
ing a stunning high jump of 6'14",
to highlight an easy victory over
Ohio State, Marquette and Wes-
tern Michigan at Yost Field House.
This eclipsed the Varsity record
set in 1940 by Coach Canham him-
self, and won an automatic berth
on the Irish Olympic team for the
surprised O'Reilly, who will be only
a junior this year.
Then came the Big One ... the
Conference indoor at.East Lansing.
And the powerful Wolverines were
ready for it.
Circulating among the track
luminaries on hand was the ques-
tion, "Who's going to stop Michi-
gan?"
No One Stops Michigan
Michigan had the answer all
prepared in advance-"No one."
Four previous Big Ten indoor
champs from Ann Arbor held on
to their superiority-Pete Gray in
the 1000-yd. run, Wallingford in
the two mile, Dave Owen in the
shot put and Mark Booth, who tied
Iowa's Les Stevens in the high
jump.
One new monarch from Michi-
gan was crowned-pole-vaulter
Eeles Landstrom-who cracked the
fieldhouse mark of 14'1%/8", set by
Illinois' Dale Foster in 1955, with
a 14'2" effort.
The incomparable Wolverines
scored in every event except the
high hurdles, in which they had no
entry, whipping their nearest com-
petitor, Iowa, by better than 10
points.
BREAKING THE TAPE-Ron Wallingford, last year's track,
captain, was often the winner in the distance races in which he
specialized,
Club (triangular) and Indiana,
both of which proved easy wins.
Showdown Meet
But th Big Ten showddwn at
Minneapolis on May 25-26, as
usual, made all of the other meets
seem almost insignificant. And
this, the 1956 outdoor champion-
ship, provided enough thrills to
last at least a year.
Injuries convinced Coach Can-
ham that it was Iowa's show all
the way. And for a while, it looked'
as though he would prove correct.
But true champions never quit-
they don't know how-andMicahi-
gan proved to be a champion, and
a great one at that.
Bob Rudesill, who had become
quite proficient at the low hurdles,
was counted upon for a spot in the
top three in thatPevent, which was
the next-to-last of the afternoon.
Trips Over Hurdle
And it looked very much as
though he would make it, until he
had the misfortune of tripping
over the final barrier, stumbling
to a fifth.
Iows, meanwhile, had garnered a
second in the event, which meant
that if the Hawkeyes finished
ahead of the Maize and Blue in
the last event, the mile relay, they
would take team honors by half of
a point voer Michigan.
In the indoor finals, Iowa had
sprinted to an easy second in this
event, well ahead of the Wol-
verines, and must have been favor-
ed to do so again, since Michigan's
relay men were either worn out
from recent races or the .heat,
suffering from lack of condition-
ing due to recent leg injuries or
both.
Canham's choices were Don
Matheson, whohadn't evencom-
peted for several weeks because of
a muscle injury; Varian, who had
just run the half-mile; and Laird
Sloan and Flodin, both of whom
had run races that day and were
in poor shape in addition.
Run Best Quarter-Miles
What happened was that each
of'these men dashed off the fastest
quarter-mile of his life, Flodin
anchoring in :46.9, as the quartet
ran the third quickest mile relay
in Michigan history-.13.7.
It was good for a close second-
leaving Iowa a tearful distant
third-and the outdoor champion-
ship was Michigan's.
So much for last year. It was a
great one, but several outstanding
athletes will be missing this sea-
son, among them dash man Bb
Brown, versatile Tom Hendricks,
Wallingford, Gray, Booth and
Landstrom, who will be back next
year after a hitch in the Finnish
army.
Yet performers like Varian,
Sloan, Jim Pace, O'Reilly, Ron
Kramer, Flodin, Rudesill and
Geert (Keilstrup, to name a few,
will still be around, and a budding
crop of sophomores will comple-
ment this solid nucleus.
Thus things look at least prom-
ising enough to lead one to take a
cue f r o m past performances,
counting Michigan's track team
right in the thick of things until
proven otherwise.
i
I
DAVE OWEN
.. shot put champion returns
A couple of standout perfor-
mances featured the remainder of
the season. At the Knights of
Columbus Meet in Cleveland,
Landstorm scored 14'8", the best
he's done in the U.S., to tie the
great Bob Richards, among others.
A sensational race then ended
the indoor circuit at the Chicago
Relays the following Saturday.
Wallingford ran the year's best
two mile of any collegian in the
BRENDAN O'REILLY
... also back in high jump
country-9:05.1-only to lose the
event by two-tenths of a second to
Deacon Jones, Iowa's ineligible
distance star, who was running
unattached.
Turning to the outdoor season,
the Blue vas kept busy with Drake
and Penn Relays, which saw some
fine performances by all but over-
shadowed by the tough competi-
tion; and ,,by home meets with
Marquette and the Chicago Track
.. , - 4- - - '' - -
HOCKEY SKATES FIGURE SKATES I
' V t.i,
4' 9,.. l
b'p th e tIthlete"
Michigan's NCAA Entry
Finishes in Eighth Place
71T
it., Phsorn NO 8-6915
' iR OLD& TRICK
902 South
Five members of, Michigan's
track squad finished in the scor-.
ing in the National Collegiate.
Track and Field Championships at
Berkeley, Calif.
With a team point total of 19
7-10, the Wolverines placed eighth
in the meet won by UCLA with 55
7-10 points.
Dave Owen was outstanding for.
the Wolverines, bettering his Con-
ference title-winning shot put by
almost four feet as he finished
third at Berkeley with a heave of
Captain Ron Wallingford, in his
last= race for Michigan, ran fifth
in the 5,000 meter event in 14:53.7.
Geert Keilstrup also added points
for theWolverines by placing third
in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in
9:34.3.
Michigan's other points were
gathered by Eeles Landstromr and
Mark Booth in the pole vault and
high : jump, respectively. Land-
strom tied for third in his spec-
ialty with a leap of 14'4", while
Booth repeated " his 1955 tie for
State, Phone NO 8-7296
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57' 3/8". fourth place by jumping 6'4".
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and
EVERYONE
IN
ANN ARBOR
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