CORRECTION – Mile and 880

Now that I’ve written the story of the 1970 state meet as I remember it, it is time to inject some facts that don’t fit with my memories. It turns out that it did NOT happen exactly the way I remember it. Close, but not quite, but I didn’t know that until after I wrote the story. It took many weeks to write the dad-gum thing and I just don’t have the motivation to re-write it to fit the exact facts. Let’s just call the story “creative non-fiction”, and itemize the creative parts here.


While I remember Dennis Schultz from Manchester winning the mile AND the 880-yard dash in 1970, the record book shows that he only won the 880. Apparently I have mixed up parts of the mile and the 880 in my memory.

http://www.iahsaa.org/track/2010_Track_Stat.pdf


Dave Krantz from Waterloo Columbus ran 4:18.0 to win the mile. Dennis Schultz was second. My third place 4:19.9 isn’t as far back as I portrayed it. I actually did get fairly close to Krantz and Schultz. Finishing 1.9 seconds behind Krantz means I was roughly 13 yards behind at the finish. Not exactly close, but hey, not as far back as I portrayed it in the story. I guess I was so physically wasted at the time it just felt like a long way back. As yet another consolation prize for me there is some satisfaction in running a faster time (4:19.9) than any of the state champions in the smaller school divisions. (4:21.9, 4:26.7, and 4:35.2)


The record book does show that Dennis Schultz ran a 1:55.2 to win the 880-yard dash in 1970. Just glancing through the record book it appears that that time was the fastest time ever in the state of Iowa. This must be the spectacular race I remember the fans going nuts about and when I gave Dennis a shove towards the stands and the newspaper reporters. Again, there is some satisfaction that my 1:59.9 in the slow heat was faster than the state champions in two of the smaller school divisions. (2:03.1, 2:00.1, 1:59.1)


I remembered someone other than Dave Krantz from Waterloo Columbus winning the mile my junior year in 1969. This is also incorrect. The 2010 Track & Field State Meet Stat Book shows that Krantz won the mile in 4:22.9 in 1969, and I know Dennis Schultz finished in front of me, and I finished fourth. There must have been a senior battling Krantz for first place that year. I guess I didn’t finish too far back this year either with my 4:24 and some change. Again, it looks like I was closer than I remember my junior year. If I had been in any of the three smaller classifications I’d have won the dad-gum thing as a junior. (4:24.9, 4:25.0, and 4:26.5)

http://www.iahsaa.org/track/2010_Track_Stat.pdf


The shocking conclusion I’ve drawn from all of this is that I’ve been wrong for 40 years! After 40 years of thinking otherwise, I now discover that that I was much closer to Krantz and Dennis than I remember. Maybe I wasn’t with them at the finish of the mile, but I was in the neighborhood.

Who’d-a-thunk-it?