Blast from the Past: May 3-9

May 6, 1922
Petaluma’s Les Schwobeda won the State mile in 4:40.0, under gale winds, and placed 2nd in the 880.
The meet was held at the Stockton Fairgrounds and was the mile a one lap race and the 880 half a lap?
The 440 was run on a straightaway .
Oxnard’s Bud Houser, in non-scoring competition in the 16-pound shot, smashed the interscholastic world mark with a heave of 45-9 3/4. The old mark had been made in 1903 by Ralph Rose (Healdsburg High) at 45-6 1/4. Houser went on to world fame by winning the shot put in the 1924 Olympics and the discus in both the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. He set Olympic records in the discus both years. More Ralph Rose

Les Schwobeda

Did you know the javelin was an event in California until 1933.

May 9, 1925
Petaluma’s Beckford Young placed 4th in the javelin at the State Meet.

May 8, 1926
Napa’s Herbert Gould took second in the State Meet javelin.
Young placed 3rd this year in the shot put.

May 7, 1927
Petaluma’s Paxton “Jack” Akers broke the State Meet record in the javelin with a 174-4¼ winning mark.

<strong>Akers</strong>, Petaluma 
Javelin 174-4¼ 1927
Jack Akers

May 6, 1967
Montgomery’s Mel Gray put on an amazing show at the NBL I sub finals at the SRJC.
In the trials he ran 100 yards in 9.4 seconds which is the fastest ever for the Empire. That’s equivalent to about 10.54 for 100 meters. It is listed as 5 mph wind or 2.2 m/s so it was wind aided. In the finals he ran a wind legal 9.5. He then broke the Empire record in the long jump at 24-7 which is still the meet record. In the 220 he tied the NATIONAL RECORD running 20.9 seconds. To top things off he anchored the 4X220 relay team to a win in 1:28.4 meet record.

May 8, 1971
Another meet record set over 50 years ago happened on this date.
Santa Rosa’s Joe DeDora set the still standing 1 lap meet record in the NBL I & II finals finishing the 440 in 48.1. =48.06 400.

May 7, 1975
If your looking for the fastest 2 lapper ever run in a dual meet here it is.
Petaluma’s Dan Aldridge ran the 880 in 1:53.8 against Ukiah at home. =1:53.38 800m.

May 3, 1984
Piner’s Tammy Wessendorf won the Sonoma County Leagues finals in the triple jump hopping to 36-5.

May 6, 1995
On this date Piner’s Pat Leonard set the Empire high jump record at the Sacramento MOC meet clearing 7-0¼.

May 7, 1997
You won’t find a faster 300 hurdle race in a tri-meet than Santa Rosa’s Katie Schukle as she clocked 45.9 verses Maria Carrillo & Ukiah at home.

May 8, 1999
Sonoma Valley’s Dan Littlefield had one of our longest ever long jumps at the Sacramento MOC meet landing at 23-7¾ +3.7.

May 6, 2009
When your competing against your city rivals big things can happen as Petaluma’s Sterling Lockert ran our dual meet record for a 1600 running an amazing 4:14.9 verses Casa Grande at home.

May 5, 2010
Montgomery sprint sensation Alyssa Page set the tri-meet 200 record at 24.7 against Maria Carrillo & Ursuline at home. She warmed up with a 12.1 in the 100.

May 6, 2015
Fastest FAT 100 meters in a dual meet?
That would be Analy’s Xavier Freeman at Healdsburg.
May 4, 2016
Running all alone Santa Rosa’s girls 1600 relay team still ran the fastest dual meet time ever at Rancho Cotate clocking 4:04.5.

May 3, 2019
Santa Rosa’s Brayden Glascock set the NBL finals meet record in the 300 hurdles running 38.76.

Brayden Glascock running his meet record by Michael Lucid.

May 4, 2019
The next day Middletown’s Bryson Trask added more than 13 feet to the discus record at the Coastal Mountain Conference finals at 175-7. He nearly won the shot put by 13 feet also with his 55-0½ meet record.

May 6, 2022
Not one but three NBL finals meet records were broken on this date.
In the girls Montgomery’s Hanne Thomsen blazed to a 4:45.51 1600 meters record to go with her 10:21.15 3200 win.

Hanne Thomsen on her record run by Michael Lucid

Meanwhile Maria Carrillo’s Lily Mulligan added an incredible one foot 7 seven inches to the pole vault meet record clearing 13-1 which was for awhile an Empire record as well.
On the boys side Santa Rosa’s Alexander Manning flew over the high hurdles in a meet record for a race with a legal wind reading stopping the clock at 15.15 -0.5.
Alexander Manning running the record by Michael Lucid

In this new weekly tidbit column, “Blast from the Past”, I’m going to take a look at some special performances that happened during the week we are on.
Other Blast from the Past stories