Coach Larry Salley -
Today I had the pleasure of updating the "school records" page on the school website to reflect Kyra Schaeffer's new mark in the pole vault. One of the neatest things about track and field is that the sport has an "institutional memory." Every time an athlete takes the field, they run, jump, or throw against the competitors they see, as well as against the body of records that provide the lore of the sport—whether world records, school records, or individual personal bests. In this new millennium, the Cyclone track program has had many opportunities to rewrite school history. Since the 2000 season, our athletes have either bettered existing records or established new ones in eighteen different events. Some of our records, like Tommy Hutto and Walter Hundley's 10.01 seconds in the 100 yard dash, or Jimmy Boyd's 4:26 mile have been "retired" with the advent of metric distances. There are those of us, including Kyra and myself, who have the advantage of being among the first to perform in a new event (my old 100 meter record would barely place on PG's top-10 list now). And there are some records, like those of '85 All-American Ben Dixon in the hurdles, or that of his teammate Eddie Buxton in the shot put, which seem almost impossible goals for kids 20 or more years later. But everyone who takes their place on that list, even for a short time, has the distinction of being able to say, "once upon a time, I was the best." And even now, there are middle school kids making plans to take their place.