the end.
Although the inter-city games at the Berkeley Oval, a week ago Saturday, were at no time exciting, because of the marked difference in strength of the contesting teams, yet in many instances the contests were exceedingly interesting, and, take it all in all, the occasion was worthy of a greater display of public interest than it received. I was surprised at the small size of the audience present. I had expected to see twice as many spectators as there were at the Oval on the previous Saturday, and no doubt there would have been if the games had been properly advertised. As far as I know not a daily newspaper of this city announced, on that morning, that there would be interscholastic games at the Oval that afternoon. This is not the fault of the newspapers; it is the fault of the managers of the Inter-City games, who should have made it their duty to see that the occasion was duly advertised and heralded. These same managers were so anxious to fill their coffers as to make all contestants pay an entrance-fee into the grounds, like ordinary spectators. If they had spent a few dollars in reading notices in the daily papers, and a few cents in postage on polite notes to the various City Editors, they would have doubled the number of spectators present, and the contestants could have been admitted free—as they should have been in any case. I hope my words on this subject will not be taken as a complaint or as fault-finding, for they are not so intended. Contestants in track games, as in other sports, can do better if encouraged by a crowd, and so I think, in justice to them, no reasonable efforts should be spared to attract a large audience.
Otherwise the games were pretty well managed. The events might have been run off a little faster, but as it was they did not drag, and by five o'clock the programme was at an end. The advantage of having few entries was clearly demonstrated, and a tiresome succession of trial heats was avoided. How much better it would be if the Interscholastics could be conducted on some such plan next year. The programme was a compromise, and a very good compromise at that. The mile walk and the Junior 220 were omitted, and the bicycle race was made two miles instead of one mile. The latter change was commendable, because the inter-collegiate event is two miles, and so it is in almost all of the other interscholastic programmes of the country. The long distance makes a better race, and the fact that New-Yorkers won every place in the event proves pretty conclusively that the N.Y.I.S.A.A. riders can cover that distance as well as they have been doing the mile.
The Long-Islanders started out with a spurt, and earned 22 of their 33 points in the first four numbers on the card. Stevens, the B.L.S. sprinter, was responsible for 10 of these, and he showed himself a strong runner. He is tall and slim, somewhat resembling Sherrill in his build, and will no doubt equal Sherrill's and the other champions' time before he retires from the track. He ran a dead heat with Hall in the first 100, doing 10-3/5, and on the run off he was victorious by about a foot in 10-4/5. Hall is not strong after his first dash, and seldom does himself justice in the finals. I believe that if he would train hard, however, he could get staying power that would enable him to do as well in the third heat as he now does at his first trial. Whether under any circumstances he could defeat Stevens is a question, for the Long-Islander showed his mettle by following up his first hard victory, and winning the 220 in the record time of 22-4/5 seconds. He could have done even better if he had known he was so close to these figures.
Fisher, of Harvard School, who holds the scholastic record of 52-1/5 sec. in the 440, was counted on by the New-Yorkers to take that event. Fisher has been training for it all spring, but since his injury last year he has not been able to get into very fit condition. He started off at a rapid gait and held the lead for about 300 yards, when his wind gave out, and Jewell, who did so much for Adelphi, in Brooklyn, the previous week, passed him easily, and came in an easy winner, with Fisher a weary third. His time, 54-1/5, was 1-2/5 seconds better than his winning time at the L.I.I.S.A.A. games. Meehan again had an easy victory in the half-mile, running as strong and pretty a race as he did the week before. In the mile, Tappen did not appear, having gone out of training, but McCord, who ran third in the N.Y. Interscholastics, came to the scratch and won in 4 m. 58-4/5 sec. He is a promising athlete, and this performance is especially creditable, as it is only his second race. Mosenthal, who beat him home the week before, ran second.
Harris. Pell. Syme.
FINISH IN FINAL HEAT LOW HURDLES OF THE I.-C. GAMES.
POLE VAULT AT THE I.-C. GAMES.
Simpson clearing the bar at 10 feet.
The high hurdles were run in three pretty heats. Beers came home ahead in the first in 16-1/5 sec. with a couple of Brooklyn men upsetting the hurdles behind him, and Vom Baur took the second heat in 16-2/5. Then came a neck-and-neck race between these two. Beers, who won the Interscholastics, ran well, and both men leaped together all the way. But Vom Baur was a little stronger at the finish, and left his opponent only a few inches behind him. It was an exciting race, and an exceedingly close finish. Syme won the final of the low hurdles easily, after coming in behind Harris in his heat, and Brooklyn was closed out of any points in the event by Harris and Pell. Powell took the lead in the bicycle, and made creditable time, 5 m. 32-2/5 sec. This was doubtless due to the pacing of Ehrich, which was permitted by the mutual consent of the Interscholastic Committees.
The field events were more interesting than the track events, especially the hammer, in which the record was broken by two men. Batterman threw first, and landed at 123 ft. 7/8 in. The record is 117 ft. 4-1/2 in., made by Irwin-Martin at the Interscholastics on May 11th. Irwin-Martin did not appear at the Inter-City games. Having made so good a throw, Batterman felt confident of victory, but Ayres stepped up and threw 123 ft. 11-1/4 in. Neither mark was bettered after these two performances. Baltazzi kept up to his mark in the high jump, and cleared 5 ft. 10-1/2 in. Then he had the bar put up to 6 ft., and tried for a record. He nearly did it, touching only with his ankle-bone, and he did not try again. My assumption that Baltazzi would represent the N.Y.A.C. in the International games in September has proved correct. Captain Baxter has asked him to become a member of the N.Y.A.C. team. Cowperthwaite jumped half an inch further than he did at the Interscholastics, but came near being defeated by Jewell, who cleared 20 ft. 10 in., then lost his balance and fell back. Jewell is one of the best all-round men in the schools. Simpson's work in the pole vault was of the first order, his best jump, 10 ft. coming within 3/8 of an inch of the interscholastic record established by him the year before. The accompanying table will show the day's record. The names of the Long Island representatives and schools are italicized for convenience of reference.