1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships explained

1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Host City:	Sacramento, California Aurora, Colorado United States
Dates:	June 19–21, August 14–18
Stadium:	Hughes Stadium, Sacramento City College Aurora Public School Stadium
Previous:	1967
Next:	1969

The 1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships men's competition took place between June 19–21 at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College in Sacramento, California. The women's division held their championships separately almost two months later, combined with the Girls Track and Field Championships at Aurora Public School Stadium in Aurora, Colorado.^[1] The 20K race walk took place in Long Beach, California on June 29.

The anticipation of the 1968 Summer Olympics affected the choice of Aurora due to the high altitude. The late August date because the entire track and field calendar shifted later due to the late October dates for the Olympics. Being an Olympic year, all races were run in meters.

It was at this meet, on the evening of June 20, 1968, when three men, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith and Charlie Greene, bettered the (hand timed) world record in the 100 metres (and several others were very close), is famous amongst track and field historians as the "Night of Speed."^[2] ^[3] Hand timing was the official timing system for track and field worldwide for another 9 years. During that time, the record was equalled a further 11 times by six additional individuals but was never beaten.

Results

Men track events

100 meters

10.0w

10.1w

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1 (Wind +0.8 mps)

Rank	Name	Time	Notes
1	Jim Hines	9.9 (10.03)	WR
2	Ronnie Ray Smith	9.9 (10.14)	WR
3		10.0	=existing WR
4		10.0	=existing WR
6		10.0	=existing WR
6		10.0	=existing WR

Semi-final 2 (Wind +0.9 mps)

Rank	Name	Time	Notes
1	Charlie Greene	9.9 (10.10)	WR
2		10.0	=existing WR
3		10.0	=existing WR

Heats

Heat 1 (Wind +2.8 mps)

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Jim Hines		9.8w
2	Ronnie Ray Smith		10.0w

Heat 2 (Wind +2.8 mps)Heat 3 (Wind +2.7 mps)

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Lennox Miller		10.0w
2	Bill Gaines		10.0w

Heat 4 (Wind +2.0 mps)

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Charlie Greene		10.0	=WR
2	Roger Bambuck		10.0	=WR

200 meters		20.3 CR		20.4		20.6
400 meters	Lee Evans	45.0 CR	Vince Matthews	45.0 CR	Wayne Collett	45.4
800 meters	Wade Bell	1:45.5 CR	Mark Winzenried	1:46.5	Byron Dyce John Perry	1:46.5 1:46.6
1500 meters	John Mason	3:43.1	Roscoe Divine	3:43.4	Brian Kivlan	3:44.0
5000 meters	Bob Day	13:50.4 CR	Bob Finlay Larry Wieczorek	13:53.4 13:56.0	Van Nelson	13:56.8
10,000 meters	Tracy Smith	28:47.0 CR	Bill Clark	28:56.6	Van Nelson	28:57.6
Marathon		2.24.10.6		2.29.44.6		2.33.43.6-->
110 meters hurdles	Earl McCullouch	13.64	Tommy Lee White	13.68	Mike Butler	13.80
400 meters hurdles	Ron Whitney	49.6 CR	Gary Knoke Russ Rogers	49.8 50.3	Andy Bell	50.3
3000 meters steeplechase	George Young	8:30.6 NR	Bob Price	8:35.4	Conrad Nightingale	8:38.4
3000 meters racewalk		12:37.9		12:40.6		12:49.4
20 kilometres race walk	Ron Laird	1:33:00.0	Larry Young	1:33:05.2	Don DeNoon	1:33:24.4

Men field events

High Jump
Pole vault
Long jump	CR
Triple jump	CR
Shot put	CR
Discus Throw
Hammer Throw
Javelin Throw
Decathlon	8037	7370	7263

Women track events

100 meters	11.1	11.3	11.3 11.4
200 meters	23.5	23.7	24.1
400 meters	52.9	54.6	54.6
800 meters	2:05.1	2:07.6	2:07.8
1500 meters	4:46.5	4:47.3	4:49.3
80 meters hurdles	10.6	10.7 11.0	11.2

Women field events

High jump
Long jump
Shot put
Discus Throw
Javelin Throw
Pentathlon	4823 4481	4327	4319

References

Results from T&FN
results

Notes and References

Web site: AUG 5 1968, AUG 7 1968; Set for National Meet; Charlotte Hawkins of.
Web site: Olympics - the Night of Speed - Signed print - an Affordable Gift or Investment XXX - Out of Stock - XXX.
Web site: Track & Field News • View topic - 100 m of 1968 AAU championship . 2014-04-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120922071912/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=417685 . 2012-09-22 .