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Show I; AMERICA'S CHANCES HAT KAFFECTH ' Club Pusses Rcsolntions Con- ! derailing Halpiirs Olympic Appointment. AMERICANS FAVORITES V, . IN THE MIDDLE RUNS Sheridan and Flanagan Arc Almost Al-most a Team in Themselves. Them-selves. (Trlhunn Special Sporting Service, i OT YORK, Jan. d.Jf the ath letes of the Irish-American A. C. back up tho club's threat to stay out of tho trip to London for tho Olympic games next summer, should M. P. Halpin of 1 ' '.the Now York A. C. have chargo of the expedition, America's chances in f.lio big Bullish meet will be materially affected. af-fected. The aciion of tho Irish-Amer-) ican A. C. in passing resolutions eon t denining Ilnlpin's appointment, leaves I little doubt that the Celtic Park club I moans' business, but .just how fnr the ! .' individual athletes will back up Pres- ( idfiiit Conway' and his board of direct- ') ors remains "to be seon. It is alleged 1 that JIalpin is not a fit person to rep resent tbe United States abroad on such an important mission, either by ' temperament, education or pcrsonalit'. The Irish-Americans furnished more pointy men than any other club in ' America in the last Olympic games at ,; Athens. Sheridan was almost a. team i in himself, scoring first in the discus and shot events, besides getting second sec-ond place in the stono throw and standing jump. Myer Prinstein, another anoth-er winged first man, won tho broad jump with a wonderful leap of 23 foot S inches. Lawson Robertson was third in tho standing broad jump, and tied for second in the standing high jump. Another winner was George JJonhng, in tho 1500 metre walk. These men picked up over 25 points, or more than one-third of the American total. Without With-out them the Yankee learn would have made a sorry showing. Sheridan alono . ,i scored more points than most of the i nations represented at the meet. I- ' , World Beaters, it Sheppard, tho grentest half-miler in j the world, is the man tho United States must depend upon in the SOO-mctre and J I 1500 metro run. Then there is Martin " Sheridan in tho discus throw, John it . i Flanagan in the hammer and "fifty- l six" events, Forest Smithson, tho fast- , ii est man in tho world over the high U hurdles; .Tames P. Sullivan, the 4.22 1 1 'j miler; E. T. Cook, Jr., and Clnude Al- .! len, both sure 12-feet men in the vault; f Bill Keating in the sprints; Lawson 1 Robertson in the standing jumpB, and ! , Charley Bacon in the -100-metre hur-;, hur-;, i dies. Should all these men refuse to 1 compete under Halpin it may be readily read-ily seen that tho American team will cut n small figure in the Olympiad. C When tho athletes of the world congregate con-gregate at London the Americans will, for the first time in tho history of in- I ternational athletics, be regarded in tho P light of favorites in the middle distance J runs. At all previous meets where i'" American runners havo met the crack l ! Britons in the quarter, half and mile, ; America's chauces have been long ones I I at tho best, but next summer, if the I Yankees' full strength can be prescnt- 1 cd at London, it will be a different tale, t j Instead of ranking as outsiders, .the i, men who wear the atars and stripes I ji'l will bo reckoned as most dangerous of 'jj all among the world's mid-distancers. y John Taylor, tho fleet negro, will be ' this country's hope in the quarter-mile. 1 Tho only bar to Taylor's success in the i London meet is lack of condition. If : j i lie arrives in England early enoagh to ; be thoroughly accustomed to the cli- I mate, there is hardly a doubt that tho j - great ebony flyer will bo the one to ! j burst the tape in the 400-metre race. H Taylor is only about fivo yards slower than tho peerless Mnxoy Long. He is a quarter-miler such as is found in athletics ath-letics about once in ton years, and to j boat him on the big one-third of a mile track at Shcpard's Bush will take a 140 performance such as the athletic world has not seen since Long's record rec-ord raco at Guttcnburg. Shoppard Never Defeated. Coming to the half-mile, tho stars and stripes will no doubt bo carried by Sheppard, Glarncr and Sheehan. Since his early career, Sheppard hns never suffered a half-mile defeat, and it is hard to see how the Britons and Swedes will be able to turn the trick next summer. Like Taylor, Sheppard in his i true form is about as unbeatable us a j human runner can be, and this is at j tested to by his performance of 1.53 li-o nt Travers Island a year ago. In case Sheppard should fail, Andrew Glaruer of San Francisco and Frank Sheehan of Boston may do something. Glamor ! is a consistent 1.56 man. and has prov- en that he might do better in a pinch. ! Sheehan won the junior titlo on the poor Jamestown Exposition track last ' summer in 1.56 2-5. Tho Boston lad! led all tho way and won easily, and j Melvin Sheppard himself is authority I for tho statement that Sheehan will bo yards faster next summer. America's milers include Lighttwby, tho two-time 1500-metro world's champion; cham-pion; Haskins, who ran 4.20 last spring; Sullivan, the rejuvenated Irish-American A. C. runner, who hns done 4.23; Coe of Michigan and Lew's of Cornell, both 4.23 men, and Fred Bodge rs of the New York A. C. who has a 4.23 race to his credit also. Of the string, the most likely appear to be Light body and Haskins. ' Lighrbody is a wondor-ful wondor-ful runner. When in condition he has never been pushed in a niilo race, and proved on the trip to Athens that ho can travel a bit, too, without losiug his running form. Haskins, though he has a wonderful mile to his credit, has hardly been as consistent as Lightbody, but if he is in shape to run one of his groat races ai London, something will happen. At any rato, with this great bunch of mid-distaneers it seems certain cer-tain that Uncle Sam will glean many tolling points in these races providing his men arc all on the ground. Tn the quarter-mile and half-mile, tho Americans Amer-icans must be granted an ovon chauco to win tho honors, whilo in the milo I our chances aro about one in three. This state of affairs, months beforo tho big games, is eminently satisfactory. |
