1915-2020: About the Track and Field Marks

I have reprinted Steve Brand’s 2012 track and field annual (2013 is being updated as this is written).

Steve and I have shared an equal love of high school track for many years.  My newspaper, the Evening Tribune published the first annual in 1965 and another was published in 1971.

I attempted to list the top 50 performers in each standard event, plus the leaders in other infrequently run events.

The research was a labor of love for me and I was thankful that my newspaper thought enough of the effort to publish my findings.

I left the newspaper business in 1972, at about the time Steve Brand arrived at The San Diego Union.

All marks from 1973 forward were compiled by Steve (probably 95 per cent came after Brand took over the lists). I would be responsible for those before 1972.

Brand has kept the all-time and yearly lists alive, verifying, authenticating, running down performances that weren’t published in the newspaper.  He has listed thousands of performances.

As track and field evolved, keeping and updating an annual list became more challenging.

Yards were replaced by meters when the United States went to the metric system. Age-old hand timing (just what it means, timed by the hand on a stopwatch) gave way to automatic timing.

You could wait up to an hour or more for results at major track meets in the past. With automatic timing,  results now are available as soon as the last runner crosses the finish line.

Dirt and crushed granite tracks were replaced by all-weather layouts. Diet and training became more important.

Steve Brand has kept pace with all of this and I hope he continues.  I’ll be around to help.

(The 1915 date in the title represents the first year of the California state meet, although marks were kept further back.  Leslie Dana of San Diego High was reported to have run a 10.1 100-yard dash and covered 440 yards in :51.6 in 1913).