National High School Records Through the Years

Boys Outdoor Record – Javelin

Glenn Winningham (Grants Pass, Oregon)

Performance – 225-6 ½  

Date – April 18, 1959

Place – Eugene, Oregon

Meet – Hayward Relays

Previous Records – 222-10 ¾, Jan Sikorsky (Ramsay, Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania) May 18, 1957, in Mt. Lebanon

Glenn Winningham had had a dramatic win at the 1958 Class A-1 Oregon state meet in Corvallis. Entering the finals he was trailing Gary Stenlund (David Douglas, Portland), who had thrown 215-1 ¼ in the preliminary round on Friday to set a new state record. Winningham admitted that the pressure of being behind brought out the best in him. In the Finals on Saturday he threw 10 inches farther – 215-11 – to win the state championship, in his junior year, and grab that state record along with it. It was the second-longest javelin throw in the nation in 1958. Fast forward almost a year. It’s the Hayward Relays in Eugene, and with one throw remaining, Winningham is trailing Jim Maxwell (Benson, Portland) by four  inches, 197-0 to 196-8. Not only that, Winningham had let Maxwell use his javelin that day. “I hadn’t been defeated in two years,” Winningham said. He was fired up. His final throw went beyond the 200-foot line, but officials only had a 200-foot tape available. They scrambled to locate a second tape, attached it to the first one, and measured it out to 225-6 ½, a new national record. It was the first time an Oregon prep had set the national record in an event beloved in the Pacific Northwest, and is believed to be the first national high school record ever set at Hayward Field.

One month later Winningham repeated as state champion, with a big throw of 220-3 ½ to beat his year-old meet record. Winningham was lucky to be throwing the spear. After a serious kidney injury from playing football for Grants Pass in 1957, he barely survived and javelin throwing was ruled out in his future. But he stayed with it, crediting Coach Rus Werner. “If it wasn’t for him,” Winningham said, “I wouldn’t be here.” In practice sessions, he threw for distance just once a week and focused on calisthenics, including 100 pushups a day. His rivals from high school days went on to plenty of success – Pennsylvanian Jan Sikorsky, the previous recordholder, was NCAA champion for USC in 1962, and Stenlund was NCAA runner-up twice for Oregon State. As for Winningham, he joined the Army after graduation but in time enrolled at Arizona State and became an All-American, placing fourth in the 1965 NCAA meet. 

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 (jack.pfeifer@gmail.com).