I remember reading that at the first indoor track meet in New York, they had one pair of spiked shoes, which the contestants shared. That night, the spikes won three races and placed in a couple of others, according to the late Wally Donovan, whose history of indoor track is about the only record we have of those days.

	It's become an expected thing for runner like Gail Devers to break records.

The meet took place in the Empire City Skating Rink in New York before construction on the structure was actually finished. That place is long gone, and so are the spikes. The gentlemen who organized the event have all moved on, as well.

It has been 135 years since, and we have seen a few changes. In the first century of the sport, since so many facilities were so different, and so many of them weren't optimal, records didn't really mean very much. Sure, there were records, and athletes, reporters and fans all expressed joy when they fell.

Winning meant more, though. Look through the old clippings, and read about Hayes Jones and his amazing 55 consecutive wins in the indoor hurdles, or Don Gehrmann's 39 consecutive mile races. You don't hear those things anymore. Perhaps it is harder to compile big winning records now that track is so competitive around the world.

Yet when Haile Gebrselassie runs, you'd think the media would talk about how much he has won. Instead, the headlines read, "Gebrselassie Misses 3K Record." Forget the race. No one tried to beat him. It's all about the records now.

And with so few records to go after, it's gotten much harder to nail them. Does anyone out there remember when newspapers would talk about 11-lap track records? Or when people would run the 70-yard hurdles? How about the 500-yards? My personal favorite had to be an event I dug up while researching the history of indoor track in Detroit. At the city high school championships one year, held on the suspended track above a high school gymnasium, the athletes contested a 25-yard dash. Organizers couldn't fit in anything else.

As much as Stacy Dragila's latest vault impressed me -- or Allen Johnson's hurdle win or Regina Jacobs' distance double -- at the recent USA Championships, I have to admit I pine for the old days in the worst way. I'd rather see the great races that happened before I was born.

Give me a time machine, and a free weekend, and I'd head to Madison Square Garden in 1934, just two months after my father's birth. I would squeeze past the mounted police trying to control the crowds outside the Garden. I would elbow and claw my way to a place high above the standing-room only crowd. I would watch as the great Glenn Cunningham, spotlight on him, gets a standing ovation. Then I would see the spotlight land on Bill Bonthron, his young challenger from Princeton. The crowd screams in delight. Earlier, when the two had tried to warm-up, the crowd got so excited that the sprint final had to be delayed.

When the race starts, I would watch intently as Cunningham, Bonthron, and Gene Venzke stake out positions in the pack, letting someone else lead through a pedestrian 2:14. Then, with five laps remaining in the race, Cunningham takes the lead, and relentlessly starts hammering. Yet he cannot lose Bonthron or Venzke. The pace keeps going faster and faster. On the final lap, both of the pursuers look stronger than ever. Bonthron goes after Cunningham in the final strides, leaning to catch him at the tape, with Venzke a stride behind. They run their last half in two-flat.

I'd be pretty happy seeing that race, though I wouldn't mind seeing the next weekend's rematch, where all three would break the 1,500 world record. (Back then, records were an occasional by-product of racing. Now, racing is an accidental by-product of the quest for records.)

I'm curious what races my readers would have liked to see if they had the same time machine. Any takers out there?

College Roundup
While many of America's best competed at the nationals, their future challengers shone in college conference meets over the weekend. Arkansas handily won the women's SEC title on the strength of its distance runners and pole vaulters. The Razorback men won, also, their 23rd indoor conference title (different conferences, of course).

Coach John McDonnell's distance runners came through (22 points in the mile helped), and he also got a boost from Jaanus Uudmae, who finished second in the triple jump. Uudmae, an Estonian, is the son of Jaak Uudmae, who won the gold medal in that event in the 1980 Olympics.

Wisconsin won the Big 10 men's title by a mere two points over Minnesota. With as few as three events to go, Purdue led. Then Wisconsin took places two through five in the 5,000, grabbing a four-point lead. Minnesota, favored to win the 4x400, did just that, but lost its chance to win the meet when Wisconsin finished second.

In the women's Big 10, Michigan won over Indiana. Wisconsin's Bethany Brewster won the mile and the 3,000. Perdita Felicien of Illinois won the hurdles in 8.02 over Indiana's Danielle Carruthers (8.07).

Cornell won both Heptagonal titles, with Yale freshman Joslyn Woodward capturing the 60, 200 and long jump, while earning athlete of the meet honors.

The BYU women won the fourth straight Mountain West title, as the BYU men unseated the Colorado State defenders. Keren Sari-Bentzur of New Mexico scored a whopping 30 points.

In the WAC, Nevada's women topped Rice. The Owls' Allison Beckford made conference history by being the first woman to win an event four straight years. She captured the 400 again, this time in 53.97. On the men's side, SMU topped Rice by eight points.

In the Big Sky, Northern Arizona's men beat Weber State, although the Lumberjack's Landon Benson won both the 55 and 200. Weber State, however, turned the tables in the women's standings.

Boaz Cheboiywo won a distance triple in the Mid-American Conference, capturing the mile (4:05.96), 3,000 (8:04.53) and 5,000 (13:58.71). That helped Eastern Michigan to the team crown over Central Michigan. Kent State won the women's crown by less than four points over Ball State. Donielle Swany of Kent won the weight in 62-8.

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.