45TH TEXAS RELAYS Memorial Stadium The Univ. of Texas at Austin April 6-8, 1972 Time Schedule: Open six-mile run Thursday, 9 p.m. Prelims begin 9 a.m. Friday. Finals Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Relays Directotl Texas track coach Cleburne Price is in his second year as director of the Relays. He was assistant under Jack Patterson for seven years before accepting head job at Dallas Baptist in 1970. He returned to Texas as head coach in January, 1971. Referees: Referee of the 45th annual Texas Relays is Prairie View A&M coach Hoover Wright. Honorary referee is H. c. "Bully" Gilstrap, veteran coach, staff member and athletic great at Texas who served as clerk of the course for 25 years. Headliners: World record holders Randy Matson, shot put, Texas A&M ex and Jim Ryun, 880, mile and sprint medley relay, Kansas ex. Olympic champions Matson and Dick Fosbury (high jumper) Oregon S~ate ex. In addition world indoor pole vault record holder Kjell Isaksson of Sweden (17-10 1/2); Tom Von Ruden, Oklahoma State ex who was hottest distance runner on indoor circuit and Leonard Hilton, Houston ex who won the recent US-Russian indoor mile. Open Events: In addition to the six-mile run on Thursday, there will be a special 880-yard run on Friday night featuring world record holder Jim Ryun, former Texas aces Dave ~rorton and David Matina, former Kansas State star Ken Swenson and former OSU greats Peter Kaal and Larry Rose. On Saturday there will be an open two-mile run in addition to the open Jerry Thompson mile. Other open events on Saturday will be the Pole Vault, High Jump and Shot Put. Entries: A total of 1,186 athletes representating 111 schools in six divisions will compete in the Texas Relays. Universities: (39) ACC, Alabama, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Baylor, Colorado, Cornell, Drake, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, LSU, McNeese, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, NE Louisiana, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pan American, Rice, Southern Illinois, SMU, SW Louisiana, Texas A&M, UT Arlington, UT Austin, UT El Paso, TCU, Texas Tech, Tulane, West Texas and Wichita State. Colleges: (24) Alcorn A&M, Angelo State, Arkansas AM&N, Dallas Baptist, Eastern New Mexico, Emporia State, Ft. Hays State, Huston-Tillotson, Kansas State College of Pittsburgh, Lubbock Christian, Marymount, McMurry, North Dakota State, Paul Quinn, Prairie View A&M, SW Texas, SF Austin, Sul Ross, Tarleton, Texas A&I, Texas Southern and Western Illinois. Junior Colleges: (10) Blinn, Cisco, Eastern Oklahoma, New Mexico, Odessa, Ranger, San Jacinto, South Plains, Tyler and Wharton. High Schools: (26) Austin High, Austin Crockett, Austin Johnston, Austin Lanier, Austin McCallum, Austin Reagan, Austin Travis, San Antonio Central Catholic, Clearl Creek of League City, Corpus Christi Miller, Corpus Christi Moody, Edinburg, Elgin, Ft. Worth Northside, Ft. Worth Terrell, Gregory-Portland, Harlingen, Lamar Rosenberg, Mart, Mesquite, Midland High, Pasadena, Sealy, Smithville, Houston Strake Jesuit and West. Girls: (12) Alcorn A&M, Huston-Tillotson, Paul Quinn, Prairie View A&M, Waco Robinson, Somerset, Texas Southern, Texas Track Club of Abilene, Texas Woman's University, Houston Thomas, Houston Worthing, and Houston Second Baptist. Defending Champs: Seven individual champions from the 1971 Relays will defend this year. They include: Dave Roberts of Rice,(record holder at 17-0), Cliff Branch of Colorado, 100-yard dash (9.2w), Jim Bolding of Oklahoma State, 440- yard hurdles (50.5), Garry Bjorklund of Minnesota, three-mile run (13:25.3), Danny Brabham of Baylor, long jump (25-9) and Randy Matson, Texas A&M ex~ open shot put (68-8). Roberts also won the NCAA pole vault. William Brown of Tulane will defend his University-College mile run (4:09.2). NCAA Champions: In addition to Roberts' 17-6 1/2 vault to win the NCAA, two other NCAA champions will be in field this year. They are Bjorklund of Minnesota who won the six-mile and Karl Salb of Kansas in shot put. Salb will join Matson and others in the open shot on Saturday. 'IRE UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTU:i SPORTS NEWS S~~VICE JONES RAMSEY/BILL LITTLE (FOR RELEASE AT SIX P.M. SATURDAY) MARCH 21, 1972 AUSTIN, Tex., March~- Kjell lsakeson of Sweden, world indoor record holder in the pole vault, will compete at the 45th annual Texas Relays here April 7-8 Director Cleburne Price announced Saturday. Isaksson set the world record of 17-10 1/2 at the recent AAU Indoor championships in New York. His vault was the third highest ever recorded. Only two outdoor vaults -- the record 18-0 1/4 by Chris Papanicolaou and Wolfgang Nordwig'e 17-11 -- are higher than Ieaksson's indoor mark. Isaksson wUl be joined at the Texas Relays b7 fellow countryman Hans Lagerqvist, who has a personal best of 17-4 1/4. Both are training in California for the 1972 Olympics. Price announced the two top vaulters are among a group of outstanding athletes who will compete in open competition at the big track and field meet which gets underway here with a six'"'lllile run on Thursday, April 6. Preliminaries get underway the morning of April 7 with finals set for Friday night and Saturday afternoon, April 8. In addition to the regular Jerry Thompson Open Mile Run -- a fixture at the Texas Relays - there will be an open shot put, an open 880-yard run and an open two-lldle run. World record holders Randy Matson of Texas A&M f81l8 and Jim R.yuu, foner Kansas great will appear here while furthering their training for the 01,-pic games at Munich. Matson will appear in the shot put on Saturday afternoon. He won this event last year with a 68-8 effoft. He holds the world record at 71-5 1/2 and also the University­ College shot mark at the Relays of 68-8. Ryun, who recently movad his trainiq headquarters from Oregon to his alma matre l~nsas, will run in the special half-mile race on Friday night. He holds both the mile (3:51.1) and half-mile world records (1:44.9). Other top athletes running here include fo~er Longhorn greats Dave Morton and David Matina, Oklahoma State's Tom Von Ruden and Peter Kaal, Rex Maddaford of Eastern New Mexicoe Leonard BUton, fozmer Houston ace and Conrad Nightingale, former Kansas State star. '''' THE UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN SPORTS NEWS SERVICE JONES RAMSEY/BILL LITTLE MARCH 20, 1972 (Release on Receipt) AUSTIN, Te.~e, March _____ -- Eight individual champions will be on hand to defend their titles at the 45th annual Texas Relays here April 7-8. The giant track and field carnival will be held in Memoriel Stadium on the Univ- ersity of Texas campus with a six-mile run getting the carnival underway on Thursday, April 6. Preliminaries will begin Friday morning at 9 a.m. with finals set for that night and Saturday afternoon, April 8. The eight winners at last year's Relays are led by NCAA and SWC champion Dave Roberts who set a new Relays record of 17-0 here last year. Roberts' personal best of 17-6 1/2 came while winning the NCAA at Seattle last June. The Rice junior won the Southwest conference last year with a 16-foot vault. Other 1971 winners include: Cliff Branch of Colorado, 9.2 in the 100-yard dash; Jim Bolding of Oklahoma State, 50.5 in the 440 hurdles; William Brown of Tulane, 4:09.2 in the mile run; Garry Bjorklund of Minnesota, 13:25.3 in the three-mile run; Raima Pihl of Brigham Young, 264-1 in the javelin; Danny Brabham of Baylor, 25-9 in the long jump and Randy Matson, Tel~s A&M ex, 68-8 in t he open shot put. Bjorklund, the 1971 three-mile winner, was NCAA six-mile champion last year. Another NCAA championp Karl Salb of Kansas, will join Matson and Steve Will1em, Kansas ex 9 in this year's open shot. Bolding won both the 120 highs and the 440 hurdles at the Arlington Relays last Saturday while Branch has been one of the hottest sprinters on the indoor circuit this past winter. Dill THE UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN SPORTS NEWS SERVICE JONES RAMSEY/BILL LITTLE MARCH 30, 1972 (Immediate Release) AUSTIN, Tex. , Mar. 30 --Olympic champion Dick Fosbury heads up a list of seven- foot high jumpers who will appear here next week in the 45th annual Texas Relays. Fosbury, who set the Olympic record of 7-4 1/2 at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, -rh~ originated~osbury Flop style of backward jumping used by so many athletes today. The former Oregon State star is now competing for the Oregon Staters Track Club while preparing for the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The special, open high jump will be held Saturday afternoon, April 8, at the same time as the University-College jumpers compete. Joining Fosbury here will be his fellow OSTC athlete, John Radetich, winner of the 1971 Astrodome high jump at 7-2; former Longhorn captain, Bill Elliott, who has cleared 7-3 1/4 and is working toward the '72 Olympics and Ray McGill, former Texas Relays champion from Kansas State who has cleared 7-1. Heading up a list of University-college junpers will be Baylor's freshman sen- sation, Gary Kafer of Gatesville, winner of the 1971 High School division here. Relays Director Cleburne Price announced a star-studded field of entries for the big Relays carnival that gets underway in Memorial Stadium with a special six-mile run on Thursday night.