National High School Records Through the Years
Girls Outdoor Record – Pentathlon
Cathy Hamblin (Jackson Junior High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Performance – 4,659 points
Date – Sept. 7-8, 1968
Place – Los Alamos, N.M.
Meet – Olympic Qualifying meet
Previous Record – 4,480 by Hamblin at an Olympic Development meet in Azusa, California, August 23-24, 1968
Hamblin was a precocious 15-year-old just beginning ninth grade at Jackson Junior High in the Fall of 1968 trying to make the difficult Olympic standard of 4,600 points. Fifty-seven years ago today she got it, made the U.S. team and went to Mexico City in October as one of the youngest Olympians in the country’s history. The five-event multi at that time was sometimes contested in one day, sometimes two. It consisted of the 80-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 200. Her breakdown for this competition, contested at the high altitude (7,337 feet) of Los Alamos, not far from her hometown of Albuquerque, were 11.4, 35-8 ¾, 5-3, 19-8 ½ and 24.6. All but the HJ were PRs. Two weeks later she did yet another pentathlon, increasing her best score to 4,707 and also giving her a world age-15 record. Because of a leg injury, her score at the Olympics fell to 4,330, for 24th place. A year later she moved on to Manzano High School, her track career gradually in decline.
National High School Records Through the Years appears once a week, compiled and written by a track historian, Jack Pfeifer (Lake Oswego, Oregon). Inquiries may be directed to him by email ([email protected]).
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