The April 30, 1930 Jefferson Bee newspaper had an article about two Jefferson High School relays winning Class B titles at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. Races were run in yards and not meters in those days, and the tracks were rock or dirt, and not the synthetic surfaces used today. So, it’s not an exact “apples to apples” comparison, but those kids from Jefferson 95 years ago were fast!

The 440 yard relay of Fred Morain, Marvin Lyon, Leonard Shcarff, and Joe Rogers set a Drake Relays record of :45.90 in the prelims and 46:00 in the finals. The 880 relay was a winner with Morain, Wayne Hasbrouck, Scharff, and Rogers in 1:34.90 in the preliminary round and 1:34.80 in the finals.

In those days, Class B winners advanced to the Class A races against bigger schools and Jefferson was third in the 440 yard relay in :45.30 behind Davenport and Mason City. The 880 yard relay was second in 1:33.30 behind Mason City.