A note that combines two disparate threads.
Yesterday we were talking about the 3-generation Gibsons in NCs and I was
hoping to find a place for middle-member Greg in the Cross, but couldn't, so
apparently he was only ("only"!) a track competitor. In looking for his
record I found that he competed three times, never made a final. In '76 he
was 11th in his heat, beating Tom Byers.
More interesting (to me at least) was looking up at the top end of his heat
and seeing that 4th was one Craig Masback, in 3:42.9. This is germane
because this was a *non-qualifying* time. Obviously the tracks were indeed
much shorter then.
That was the year that NCAA switched from 1500 to mile (bad choice, but
that's a topic for another rant another time). Here's the stats for all the
NCAA 1500s since. The "Q" is what the slowest qualifier ran to advance to
the final (if no prelims, no Q listed). Note that Masback was faster than
the slowest qualifier in '76, but he didn't advance because in those
days--as god intended--place was more important than time.
At any rate, note that his non-Q mark from a quarter-century ago would have
made every final since that had a Q, save for one:
1976
(Philadelphia, June 5)
(36 contestants, 9 finalists; Q‹3:43.44)
1977
(Champaign, June 4)
(39 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:45.83)
1978
(Eugene, June 3)
(47 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:46.83)
1979
(Champaign, June 2)
(29 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:49.01)
1980
(Austin, June 7)
(30 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:49.62]
1981
(Baton Rouge, June 6)
(27 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:44.76)
1982
(Provo, June 5)
(14 started, 13 finished)
1983
(Houston, June 4)
(13 started and finished)
1984
(Eugene, June 2)
(37 contestants, 14 finalists; Q‹3:43.80)
(Austin, June 1)
(22 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:43.3)
1986
(Indianapolis, June 7)
(10 started and finished)
1987
(Baton Rouge, June 6)
(28 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:44.28)
1988
(Eugene, June 4)
(13 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:46.71)
1989
(Provo, June 3)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:48.15)
1990
(Durham, June 2)
(19 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:46.28)
1991
(Eugene, June 1)
(17 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:48.47)
1992
(Austin, June 6)
(23 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:44.32)
1993
(New Orleans, June 5)
(22 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:43.59)
1994
(Boise, June 4)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:48.70)
1995
(Knoxville, June 3)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:44.52)
1996
(Eugene, June 1)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:42.39)
1997
(Bloomington, June 7)
(18 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:49.43)
1998
(Amherst, June 6)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:43.03)
1999
(Boise, June 6)
(10 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:49.38)
2000
(Durham, June 3)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:45.44)
2001
(Eugene, June 2)
(19 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:44.73)
2002
(Baton Rouge, June 1)
(20 contestants, 12 finalists; Q‹3:45.19)
gh (stats drawn from my someday-to-be-published-but-don't-hold-your-breath
book, a statistical history of the NCAA Champs)
