But each year has seen progress and any time a record is made nowadays the athletic followers learn immediately whether the performance will be accepted. And once the officials agree in this regard the new records are accepted without the hesitancy in all parts of the world, because it is realized that the executives know their business.
Cites Improved Timing
Take the refinements in watch-making. That is apparent by a glance through the I. C. A. A. A. A. records. Watches that recorded half-seconds and quarter-seconds were in use in the early years. Then came time-pieces which recorded seconds in fractions of eight and for several decades the fifth-second watches were used by the timers. Finally, in 1922, came the tenth-second watches, and while some of the sprinters feel that this watch is unfair to the old dash marks, the tenth-second watches are now used annually at the intercollegiate meets.
The athletes who will round out half a century of competition this year will be struggling to surpass records which in many instances are world marks. Yet a glance through the early summaries reveals that the improvement has been slow and sure and the gradual increase in speed and distance makes one wonder just what marks can be reached by competitors.
The history of the I. C. A. A. A. A. lends itself admirably to a comparison of times by eras. I have split the meet into three eras of sixteen years each. Sixteen years represents four complete college generations. In order to do this I have disregarded the performances of the first year, and have taken into consideration the 48 meets since then. The averages thus obtained speak for themselves, as follows: These tables furnish food for comparisons. Who would care to estimate what the average for the next four col- lege generations will produce? What is the limit of our collegians? I would not care to prognosticate on such a subject, but there is a further contrast in I. C. A. A. A. A. winning performances which indicates that the intrusion of the world war may have figured in slowing up the development of the athletes. After the second of the foregoing eras there were eight meets before the war and there have been eight meets since hostilities ceased in France. The only break in the continuity of the college championships came when the 1917 meet was cancelled because of more important things. In the eighth year stretch before the war two full college generations no less than six events averaged better than in the post-war period of similar length. One reason for this odd development traces to the presence of two of the world's most wonderful athletes in the pre-war era: John Paul Jones of Cornell and Ted Meredith of Penn. But that does not explain why the furlong sprint, the shot put and the pole vault averages for the post-war period have failed to measure up to the figures established in the eight years before the war. Here are the figures: