The 1923 NCAA Track and Field Championships were held at Stagg Field in Chicago on June 15 and 16, 1923.[1] The University of Michigan won the team title, accumulating more than twice as many points as the second-place team. Michigan's dominant performance in the NCAA championships led the Associated Press to report:
"Seventeen men from the University of Michigan nailed the leaders' flag to their masthead today by scooping the championship track and field games of the national collegiate athletic association from a fighting array of picked men from sixty-two institutions of America. The Wolverine stars, with 31 points, far outdistanced the field, often leaving dust in the eyes of competitors with teams twice her size pitted against her."[2]
Michigan's victory in the track and field championship was the school's seventh collegiate athletic championship in nine months. The Atlanta Constitution reported on the unusual accomplishment as follows:
"With the winning of the National Collegiate Athletic association championship track meet at Chicago last week, the University of Michigan brought to a close one of the most successful athletic years that has been the lot of any major institution in the country, winning a total of 7 championships in the 9 months of competition. ... Michigan's track team, in addition to winning the national collegiate meet, won the conference indoor and outdoor track titles and these, coupled with the cross country championship made four championships that were brought to Michigan by the track squad."[3]
In the opening event of the meet, Charles Brookins of the University of Iowa set a new world record of 23.9 seconds in the 220-yard low hurdles around one turn.[1]
Six NCAA records were set in the broad jump, pole vault, hammer throw, shot put, half-mile run and 220-yard low hurdles.[2][4]
DeHart Hubbard, an African-American athlete competing for the University of Michigan, broke the NCAA record in the broad jump with a distance of 25 feet, 2 inches. He broke the previous NCAA mark by 13 inches.[2] Hubbard's jump was one inch short of the world record set by E.O. Gourdin in 1921.[2]
1. Commodore Cochran, Mississippi A&M (Mississippi State)- 49.2 seconds
2. T. Smith, Kalamazoo State Normal (Western Michigan)
3. Sweet, Illinois
4. Fitch, Illinois
5. Williamson, Stanford
Half-mile run
1. Alan Helffrich, Penn State – 1:56.5 (new NCAA record)
2. William Homer Hattendorf, Michigan
3. Schuyler Enck, Penn State
4. Jim Reese, Texas
5. Harry Morrow, Iowa
One-mile run
1. Schuyler Enck, Penn State – 4:27.4
2. Robbins, Wabash
3. Brandes, Hamlin College
4. Schneider, Wisconsin
5. Krogh, Chicago
1. DeHart Hubbard, Michigan – 25 feet, 2 inches (new NCAA record)
2. Van Arsdale, Wabash
3. Perry, Miami
4. F. Johnson, Illinois
4. O. Anderson, Univ. South. Calif.
High jump
1. Tom Poor, Kansas – 6 feet, 1 inch
2. Ray W. Smith, Michigan
2. Weeks, Notre Dame
2. Weatherdon, NYU
2. David MacEllven, Michigan
2. Dickson, Chicago
Pole vault
1. James Brooker, Michigan – 13 feet, 1 inch (new NCAA record)
1. McKowan, Kansas State Teachers – 13 feet, 1 inch (new NCAA record)
3. Rogers, Kansas
4. Hammann, Wisconsin
4. Rueherwain, YMCA College, Chicago
4. Kirkpatrick, YMCA College, Chicago
4. Mason, Washington
^ abc"Michigan in Lead: Cracks Record in Shotput". The Evening State Journal And Lincoln Daily News. June 16, 1923.
^ abcd"FIRST HONORS WON BY MICHIGAN TEAM: Seventeen Wolverines Scoop Up the Championship Track and Field Crown in the Big Meet On Stagg Field". Sunday State Journal (Associated Press story). June 17, 1923.
^"Univ. of Michigan Closes Successful Athletic Year: All Teams at University Meet With Success The Football Team Went Through Undefeated". The Atlanta Constitution. June 24, 1923.
^Edward C. Derr (June 17, 1923). "MICHIGAN TRACK MEN LEAVE FIELD BEHIND, WIN NATIONAL MEET". Wisconsin State Journal.
