This Day in Track & Field, January 29, Alistair Cragg upsets Kenenisa Bekele (2005) at Boston Indoor Games, by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service  (wmurphy25@aol.com)

This Day in Track & Field–January  29

1949—Wisconsin junior Don Gehrmann won the 1st of his 4 straight Wanamaker Miles on a brand new track at Madison Square Garden in front of 15,000 fans.

Harrison Dillard (60y-hurdles/7.3) and Bob Richards (Pole Vault/14-4 [4.37]) each won their respective events at Millrose for the 3^rd year in a row.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/01/30/96612317.html?pageNumber=150

1953 (New)—Villanova’s Fred Dwyer (4:08.2) won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in front of 15,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Finishing a surprisingly close 2^nd to Dwyer was Brown’s Walt Molineux (4:08.5), with Fred Wilt and 4-time defending Wanamaker champion trailing in 3^rd and 4^th.

Five gold medalists from the previous year’s Olympics in Helsinki followed up with Millrose wins.

2-mile: Horace Ashenfelter-8:54.6 (Steeplechase)

60y: Andy Stanfield-6.3 (200)

600y: Mal Whitfield-1:10.9 (800)

Pole Vault: Bob Richards 15-0 (PV)

60y-Hurdles: Harrison Dillard 7.3 (110-hurdles)

Richards and Dillard extended their Millrose winning streaks to 7!

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/01/30/96494596.html?pageNumber=15

1955—Future Hall-of-Famer Wes Santee ran 4:03.8 in the Mile before a packed house at the Boston A.A. meet, breaking his own World Record of 4:04.9.

NY Times Obituary(2010)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/sports/15santee.html?_r=0

1971(updated)—Marty Liquori was hoping to present Millrose Games meet director Fred Schmertz with the meet’s first sub-4 mile, but fell just short with his winning time of 4:00.6 after going through the ¾-mile split in a slower-than-hoped-for 3:05.5. It was the 3^rd straight Wanamaker win for Liquori, who tied Tom O’Hara’s Meet Record.

Other winners included Lee Evans in the 600y (1:10.5),  Cheryl Toussaint in the 880y (2:10.0-MR), and Australia’s (and UTEP’s) Kerry Pearce, who won the 2-mile (8:36.4-MR) over Frank Shorter (8:38.2).

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/01/30/81996622.html?pageNumber=17

1982–It was a night to remember for pole vault fans in Toronto. France’s Thierry Vigneron, the Indoor (18-8  ¼ [5.70]) and Outdoor (19-1/4 [5.80]) World Record holder, was favored to win, but he went out early after only clearing 18-1/2 (5.50).

That opened the door for an American to win, but who would it be? Dave Volz and Billy Olson both cleared18-4  ½ (5.60), while Earl…