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On This Date in College Track & Field History: March 18

By Jesse Squire

March 18, 2019

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The track and running world has come to a screeching halt in an effort to battle the spread of COVID-19. In an effort to fill the void I’m taking a deep dive into my various archives and pulling up what I find in the history of college track and field.

2000, Tuscaloosa, AL: Alabama wons a men’s quadrangular over Georgia, Mississippi State, and LSU. The long jump was won by the Crimson Tide’s Miguel Pate, who two years later jumped over 28 feet. The shot put was won by Georgia’s Reese Hoffa, who was an Olympic bronze medalist 12 years later. Georgia won the women’s quadrangular.

1995, Berkeley, CA: UCLA’s men and women both beat Cal in a dual meet. The Golden Bears’ Richie Boulet won both the 1500 and 5000, narrowly defeating the Bruins’ Meb Keflezighi in the shorter race. UCLA freshman Suzy Powell broke her own American junior record in the discus with 57.96/190-2, and won the javelin too.

1988, Houston, TX: Odessa Junior College won the men’s 4×200 meter relay at the Texas Southern Relays with Jon Drummond on the anchor leg. Drummond is still serving out an eight-year coaching ban based on information Tyson Gay gave to USADA after Gay’s positive drug test in 2014.

1978, Eugene, OR: Speaking of coaches serving out bans, Oregon’s Alberto Salazar won the 10,000 meters at the Oregon Invitational. His time of 29:55.4 qualified for the NCAA Championships and put him #3 on the all-time Duck rankings. Sophomore Rudy Chapa ran 3:59.9 to anchor Oregon’s wining distance medley relay.
Eugene Register-Guard article

1972, Fresno, CA: Oregon defeated Fresno State by the score of 138 to 59. Steve Prefontaine won the 2 mile by more than ten seconds, but his time of 8:55.3 left him unsatisfied. Citing the windy conditions, he said “I’ll never run in this hole again”.
Eugene Register-Guard article

1967, Tempe, AZ: USC trounced Arizona and Arizona State in a triangular. The score was USC 102, Ariuzona 41, ASU 38. O.J. Simpson won the 100 yards, was second in the 220, and ran third leg on the winning 4×110 relay.
AP wire story

1950, Tempe, AZ: USC defeated Arizona State, 95½ to 35½.

1933, Los Angeles, CA: Despite arranging golf-style handicaps for the opponents, USC defeated Occidental by the score of 83⅓ to 57⅔.

1933, Berkeley, CA: Cal defeated the San Francisco Olympic Club, 75⅔-55⅓.

1929, Los Angeles, CA: USC’s Daily Trojan newspaper opened its “dope sheet” prediction contest for the USC vs Stanford dual meet on April 6. Local merchants offered up prizes for the top three students in the contest.

Jesse Squire

I was second in the 1980 Olympic* long jump. (*Cub Scout Olympics, Pack 99, 9-10 age group.)