THE BATTALION•••••••••« Tuesday, April 13, 1965 College Station, Texas Page 5

Eyewitness To History

Matson Breaks World’s Mark

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Randy Heaves Shot Put67-11V4 ForOn a warm Friday night in historic

Kyle Field, Randy Matson fired a shot heard round the world.

As 3,000 fans looked on, Matson eclipsed Dallas Long’s world record of 67-10 with a heave of 67-1114,. It came on his sixth and final throw during a quad­rangular meet with Texas, Baylor and SMU.

A huge roar went up from up the north end of the stadium when Matson’s record-breaking effort was unleashed. The toss landed barely on the outher side of a maroon line which represented Long’s distance.

The 260-pound A&M sophomore was the calmest man in the area after his feat. His comment was a characteristic understatement, “That one felt pretty good.”

Matson’s divot was measured and re­measured by officials under the watchful eyes of A&M Athletic Director Hank Fold- berg. The record was confirmed and a wooden stake was driven into the historic depression by Aggie equipment manager Monk Meeks. The shot itself was then weighed and found to be exactly 16 pounds. The field will be surveyed within 30 days to make sure it was level.

A&M Track Coach Charley Thomas made thorough preparations before the meet to insure the official acceptance of Matson’s efforts.

Randy’s other five throws measured 66-8, 62-21/2, 65-3, 66-10, and 66-9y2 re­spectively. The final heave measured 20 meters, and 71 centimeters.

Later in the evening, Matson com­pleted the greatest weight double in track history. He spun the discus to an all-time personal high of 190-7, only three feet shy of the NCAA record.

In breaking the world record, Matson climaxed a drive which has taken an al­most unbelievably short time. The 20- year-old giant fired the shot 60-6 in the National Federation Meet the summer after his high school graduation.

As an A&M freshman he recorded a 62-5 effort in the indoor Season in Dallas. He reached a peak of 64-101/2 that spring, in a freshman triangular in Houston with Rice and Texas.

At the National AAU meet in New Brunswick, N. J., he hit 64-11. On Septem­ber 8 he reached a high of 65-5 in an all­comers meet in Los Angeles. He qualified for the Olympics in Los Angeles and set out for Tokyo. On October 16 he pushed the shot 66-314,, good for a silver medal. Dallas Long won the Games with a throw only five inches longer.

Matson re-enrolled at A&M this spring, and hit 66-814, in a dual meet here with Baylor. Then two weekends ago in Austin, he propelled the iron ball to 67-9 in the Texas Relays, thus setting the stage for his record-shattering toss Friday night.

New RecordPaced by Matson, the Aggie cindermen

rolled up an impressive win in the quad­rangular, their final home appearance be­fore the SWC meet May 7-8.

The Cadets piled up 72 points, Baylor notched 46, Texas had 33 and SMU fin­ished with 15.

Javelin-thrower Dan Meadows turned in a tremendous performance in his spe­cialty, smashing the A&M school record by 14 feet with a 234-101/> effort. It was an improvement of nearly 20 feet over the Corpus Christi product’s previous best.

Hurdle Don Kooser was the only A&M double-winner besides Matson, picking up victories in both the 120-yard highs and the 440-yard intermediates. He clocked a 15.0 in the first event and a season’s best or 54.8 in the latter.

Sophomore high jumper Mike Schrider also set a new personal all-time high with a leap of 6-7%. He captured first place in the event and was followed by two other Aggies, Stephen Holtz (O-S^) and Cecil Wood (6-214,).

Sprinter James White continued his impressive performances, securing a pair of second places and anchoring A&M to victory in the 440-yard relay. His times of 9.6 and 21.6 were a tenth of a second behind Baylor’s Wayne Brandt in both cases.

White teamed up with Gilbert Smith, Billy Schmidt, and Robert Martin in the sprint relay, winning in a time of 40.9.

Consistent winner Bob Brown notched another broad jump win with a leap of 22-51/>. In fourth place with 21-514 jump was the versatile Meadows.

In the three-mile run, unheralded Bill Turney of Houston finished in 15:22.1 to bring A&M the victory. Turney, not on a track scholarship, asked Thomas if he could run the 880. He received permission but arrived at the starting line too late to enter.

Turney then decided to try his hand at the three-mile and the results speak for themselves. He gained the lead about mid­way through the 12-lap race and held on for the victory. Second place went to Ag­gie Don Smith in 15-25.3.

Other pointmakers for A&M were David Glover, whose 170-1 toss was good for third place in the discus; Johnny Gos­per in the mile, who gained a fourth with a 4:27.7 time; Larry Mcough in the 440, with a fourth place 48.5; Earl Edwards in the pole vault, with a second place 13-0; Donny Ayers, whose 174-3 was good for fourth in the javelin; Robert Ginsbach, with a third place 15.6 in the high hurdles ; and Gilbert Smith, who picked up a third in the 220 with a 21.9;

Ted Nelson, A&M’s ace quartermiler, didn’t compete because of a muscle cramp.

Next meet for the Aggie cindermen is Wednesday’s triangular with Baylor and Texas Tech at Waco.

They Measured To Be Sure