Athletic Training

CHAPTER XII RUNNING HIGH JUMP THE running high jump is an event which calls for a good supply of natural spring and strength, though the high jumper need not necessarily be a large man. In spite· of the '1 fact that two of the best high jumpers who ever lived, M. F. Sweeney and W. Byrd Page, were small men, it is a rule that ~he tall man has a decided advantage in this event. Until 191~ Sweeney held the world's record of 6 feet 5f inches, while Page held the collegiate record for nearly thirty years. Sweeney was only 5 feet St inches in height, yet he could jump 9 inches higher than his own head. Page was ~ inches shorter than Sweeney, in addition to which he suffered many years with a slight deformity in one leg. But in spite of these two exceptions the best of our high jumpers have been tall men, the majority being from 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches in height. 101 ) '