In baseball the Oaklanders have as good a record as in track athletics. Their nine this year won every game played, and the contests were not only with academic teams, but also with some of the strongest nines in that section. Two years ago the O.H.-S. had the reputation of possessing the best team of amateur baseball-players on the Pacific coast. So great is the interest in athletics there that the Grammar and Primary schools of Oakland got up a field day on May 23. There was a great deal of enthusiasm displayed by the colts, and their best performances were in the high jump, 5 ft. 3 in.; and the quarter-mile run, 59 sec. The season, however, is now pretty well closed, and not until next fall will there be any great activity in any kind of sport among the schools of California.
The activity in sport of the Californiana has acted as an incentive to many schools in the middle West. I know this to be true from correspondence I have had with many captains of teams in that section of the country. Foremost among those who have been drawn into emulation of the Oaklanders are the athletes of the University School of Cleveland, Ohio. Comparatively little had been done in athletics there until about a year ago, but since that time a great improvement has been noticeable, and at the University School's field day a week or so ago some very good figures were made. Alexander threw the hammer 123 ft. 6 in.; Hord vaulted 9 ft. 9½ in.; McBride jumped 5 ft. 5½ in.; and Alexander put the shot 36 ft. 6 in. It will not be long before the records in the middle West will equal those of any of the scholastic associations of the country.
Iowa H.-S.A.A. Games, Cedar Rapids, May 22, 1896.
| Event. | Winner. | ||||
| 100-yard dash | Jackson, Cedar Rapids. | 10-3/5 | sec. | ||
| 220-yard dash | Jackson, Cedar Rapids. | 23 | " | ||
| Quarter-mile run | Carmichael, Clinton. | 51-1/5 | " | ||
| Half-mile run | Brown, Sioux City. | 2 | m. | 6 | " |
| One-mile run | Brown, Sioux City. | 5 | " | 8-3/5 | " |
| 120-yard hurdles | Horton, Muscatine. | ||||
| No time taken. | |||||
| 220-yard hurdles | Conger, Clinton. | 29-1/5 | " | ||
| One-mile walk | Davis, Clinton. | 8 | " | 6-3/5 | " |
| Running high jump | Flournoy, Clinton. | 5 | ft. | 8 | in. |
| Running broad jump | Jackson, Cedar Rapids. | 20 | " | ¼ | " |
| Pole vault | Walsh, Clinton. | 9 | " | 2 | " |
| Throwing 16-lb. hammer | Leo, Cedar Rapids. | 89 | " | 5 | " |
| Putting 16-lb. shot | Hartung, Des Moines. | 32 | " | 11¾ | " |
| Two-mile bicycle | Cherry, Cedar Rapids. | 5 | m. | 59 | sec. |
| Half-mile bicycle | Cherry, Cedar Rapids. | 1 | " | 14-2/5 | " |
When the Iowa State H.-S.A.A. held its first field meeting last year this Department criticised the schedule of events, which contained a number of acrobatic feats not usually recognized as track or field events. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I notice a change this year. The Iowans are certainly a progressive set of athletes, as has certainly been proved by their sending a team to the National games of last Saturday.
Clinton High-School is the leading institution in athletics there at present. Clinton won the championship among the Iowa schools, and also, in a dual meet, defeated Rockford H.-S., whose team won the Illinois championship.
The Clinton High-School team also challenged the Milwaukee team, but their invitation for a dual contest was not accepted. The Iowa Association is the only one, I believe, of the Western interscholastic leagues that has joined the National I.S.A.A., and for this they deserve great credit. Their action and enterprise will no doubt be of the greatest benefit to sport in that region, and will serve to place the Iowa schools in the front rank of scholastic athletics.
The Graduate.