National High School Records Through the Years

Boys Indoor Records – Several

Performances  – 5.0 seconds for 40 yards, 4-foot-5 high jump

Date – November 24, 1886

Place – New York City (12th Regiment Armory)

Meet – Berkeley School Fall Games

It was 139 years ago that the Berkeley School, a private prep school in New York City, held an indoor track meet at the 12th Regiment Armory at 45th and Broadway in Midtown Manhattan in what today is referred to as Times Square. It may have been the first indoor meet ever held for high school students in the U.S. The events were the 40-yard dash, high jump, 220, 440, 880, 12-pound shot put, a sack race, a tug of war and a potato race. In the latter, 12 potatoes per contestant were placed on the floor 5 feet apart. The contest was to collect the potatoes one at a time and stack them in a square. The 12th Regiment Armory was “reminiscent of the military architecture of the Middle Ages … a massive and handsome structure … a tower of strength to lovers of civic order and peace…” The city’s outdoor high school championships – limited to private schools -- had begun seven years earlier. 

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).     

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