Chapter 6: Surpassing Pre
"I have this rule I made for myself that I can't look back." - Craig Virgin
Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine was born in Coos Bay, Oregon, on January 25, 1951, four years and seven months before Craig. Prefontaine's father, Ray, worked as a carpenter and welder while his German-born mother, Elfriede, was a seamstress. Coos Bay is a blue-collar town, the perfect breeding ground for a hardworking distance runner. Pre had shown an aptitude for running in junior high gym classes. Later, as a Marshfield High School freshman, he started out as the cross country team's seventh man, but moved up to second by season's end, finishing 53rd in the state meet. His 5:01 mile best in track as a freshman gave little hint of what was to come.
The following fall, Pre placed sixth in the state cross country meet. His sophomore track season featured bests of 4:29.1 in the mile and 9:42.1 in the two-mile, but he failed to qualify for the state track meet. Pre went undefeated in cross country as a junior and went on to lower the state two-mile record to 9:01.3. Another unbeaten cross country campaign preceded Pre's senior track season. His national high school record two-mile of 8:41.5 came in Corvallis on April 25, 1969.
Three years later, Prefontaine would place fourth in the 5,000-meter run at the 1972 Olympics while an impressionable Craig Virgin watched on television. "Watching Prefontaine and Shorter in Munich started the fire burning inside me and made me set the bar higher and think farther and faster," Craig said.
Craig's last tune-up before attempting to erase Prefontaine's record was the June 2 Top Ten meet at Dolton. On the Tuesday before the meet, Craig told Star-Tribune Publications he was going for the national scholastic mile record of 3:58.3 set by Jim Ryun of Wichita, Kansas, in 1965. (Track & Field News considered Ryun's "postseason" 3:55.3 in 1966 to be the national record.)
Crete-Monee's Craig Stanley paced Craig through opening laps of 59 and 64. Feeling quick and comfortable, Craig sped home in 63 and 58 for a career best of 4:05.5. "That restored the confidence that I had lost at the state meet," Craig told the Chicago Sun-Times. The only prep to run faster in 1973 was Matt Centrowitz of New York City's Power Memorial Academy at 4:02.7. Craig and Centrowitz would race each other often in the coming years. Craig's 4:05.5 ranked second in Illinois history behind Tom Sullivan's 4:03.5 from 1961. "I would have needed to change my training to be a little more specific for the mile to break 4:00," Craig said. "I didn't have the knowledge to train for speed back then and neither did my coach."
The second annual International Prep Invitational in Mount Prospect on June 9 drew the nation's top athletes and some from overseas. Elmhurst York's Joe Newton, the first high school coach to serve as a US Olympic coach in 1988, was the meet director. To heighten the drama for the crowd, Newton made the two-mile the last event at 3:30 p.m. The second-fastest entrant behind Craig (8:42.6) was Dave Taylor of Merced, California, who'd run 8:53.6. Also in the field were Robbie Perkins of Richmond, Virginia, at 8:57.8, Matt Centrowitz at 9:01.0 and Greg Meyer of Grand Rapids, Michigan, at 9:05.8.
The 86-degree weather at race time made it unlikely any two-miler would get a personal record, let alone a national one. The low 33 percent humidity and weak 5-mph wind helped, but the black rubberized asphalt track acted like a furnace. Centrowitz, who'd become a two-time Olympian, has colorful memories of the race. "It was the hottest fricking day," he said decades later. "It was a black track, hard as shit." Feldt stood opposite the starting line ready to read 220-yard splits and give a thumbs-up if Craig was on pace. Craig hoped to hear 32s and 33s. He'd hear nothing above 34.
The race quickly turned into one of Craig's many solo time trials in which no one would or could stay with him. "Craig took off and, after two laps, there was no more race," Centrowitz said. But Craig wasn't exactly alone as the crowd of 8,000 chanted "Go, Craig, go" through all eight laps. The crowd included Wieneke, who couldn't believe what he was seeing. "People literally dropped out of the competition," he recalled.
Afterward, Craig told Wieneke, "Yes, it was hot, but it's been a lot hotter on the tractor down at home." Craig blitzed the first lap in 62.5 and the second in 64.9. His feet began blistering inside his red, white and blue Nike Pre-Montreal spikes during a 65.6 third lap. A seventh lap of 65.9 left him needing a 64.2 to break Pre's record of 8:41.5. "Going into the final 100 yards, all I could think about was that I had just missed the record at the state meet and I just wanted to be sure that I didn't miss it again," Craig told the Chicago Tribune.
With the help of a standing ovation, Craig ground out a 63.5 last lap to complete an 8:40.9 masterpiece. "It's over! It's over! It's over!" he said as Feldt removed his spikes. It'd be 35 years before anyone in a race limited to high school runners would run faster. A straightaway behind, Centrowitz placed second in a personal best of 8:56.8 while Perkins was third in 9:01.1. "A good track on a cool night, he had another five or six seconds in him," said Perkins 36 years later. "These guys running fast today would have had a hard time beating Craig Virgin that day."
As Craig signed autographs, his immediate reaction wasn't joy. "Relief," he said, "relief that it was over now."
Craig's 8:40.9 nearly eclipsed Gerry Lindgren's 1964 national indoor record of 8:40.0 set against open competition that included older runners. Craig held the outdoor national record until 1979 when Jeff Nelson of Burbank, California, running against open competition at UCLA, placed third in 8:36.3. By 2016, Craig had slid to sixth in US history indoors and out.
Craig ended his high school career with a national record 17 sub-9:00 times for two miles (3,218.7 meters). The closest anyone came to matching him was Eric Hulst of Laguna Beach, California, who had 15 before graduating in 1976. Craig also ran two 3,000-meter races in the summer of 1973 that were the equivalent of sub-9:00 times (8:49.4 and 8:55.8).
In the 1973 AAU national junior meet (limited to those 19 and under), Craig sped three miles in an age-17 world record of 13:36.8 at Gainesville, Florida. The old record of 13:38.2 had been set in 1971 by Dave Merrick. This effort qualified Craig for a rematch with the Russians at Odessa in the Soviet Union.
Before leaving for Europe, the US Junior National Team gathered in New York City. Craig flew into LaGuardia and took a limousine to the Royal Manhattan Hotel. Robbie Perkins remembered Craig made an unforgettable fashion statement in his plaid madras pants and jacket. "He showed up in New York ready to take over the city," Perkins said with a chuckle. "He really looked like something. We were all laughing at him." It wasn't the last time Craig would be the target of teasing by peers, who had no more success shaking his assurance than they did at beating him on the track. After going for a seven-mile run in Central Park with his teammates, Craig noted in his diary there were "weird people all over."
Prior to facing the USSR in a dual meet on July 27 and 28 at Odessa, the US team contested two other duals: July 14 at Heidenheim, Germany, and July 20 at Warsaw, Poland. After 31 hours of travel, Craig came down with a cold. That didn't stop him from taking the lead in the 3,000-meter race at Heidenheim where he and Bobby Grubbs faced two members of the West German Junior National Team. Craig could tell he wasn't 100 percent, but still hoped to break Prefontaine's national record of 8:08.0 set in 1969. The West Germans clung to Craig through a 4:21 first mile. "In the last 200 meters, they got me just like the Russians had the year before," said Craig, who took third in 8:10.2, the equivalent of an 8:49.5 two-mile. Hans-Jürgen Orthmann won in 8:08.8 followed by Michael Lederer in 8:09.2. Seven years later, the quality of that race became clearer when Craig and Orthmann went 1-2 in the World Cross Country Championships.
Collecting Memories
That night after the race, Craig took another step on his journey into adulthood by buying a beer stein. Beer was included in the stein's price of 3.50 marks and Craig didn't want to waste his money. While traveling on the top level of a double-decker bus back to the hotel, he chugged the liter of beer on an empty stomach. His only previous experience with alcohol had been a few sips of wine at family dinners. He developed such a buzz, teammates had to help him off the bus. As for the stein, it broke before he got home.
The US team arrived in Warsaw, Poland, by bus two days earlier than their hosts expected. Polish officials informed the Americans they'd have to stay in "average" accommodations for two days before they could move into nicer digs. They wound up at the International Youth Hostel, which Craig described as "almost worse than primitive." The US coaches and their travel agents tried to find another hotel, but the Poles said that was impossible. Even a call to the US embassy didn't help. As Craig later related to Bob Emig, "There were no towels, bathrooms on every other floor, fungus in the showers, roaches all over the place, the food was bad and the waitresses had scabs all over their bodies." That night, Craig met an Australian and a Pole, who took him for a taxi tour of Warsaw. He returned with the impression "Poland is very depressing as you look at the conditions and the people."
By 4 a.m. the next day, Craig believed he had food poisoning on top of homesickness. His mood teeter-tottered between depression and encouragement as his body dealt with the fatigue of a long season. He did not find encouragement from US assistant coach Jerry Isom, who told Craig he was loafing and complaining too much about his health. The criticism made Craig appreciate Feldt's coaching style all the more. Craig noted in his diary that Isom "really doesn't know me."
The tumultuous week was enough to make Craig forsake his front-running style in a 3,000 against the Poles. He passed a mile in 4:30 and pulled away with two laps left to win in 8:16.0, the equivalent of an 8:55.6 two-mile. Craig and a few teammates blew off steam that night by meeting some American college girls for dinner at the Grand Hotel where Craig ate duck and apples washed down by tea and a screwdriver. The group moved on to a discotheque and Craig didn't get to sleep until 2:30 a.m.
On July 23, the Americans flew to Kiev for a passport check before flying on to Odessa. The Soviet versions of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts handed out flowers as the Americans got off their plane. By the time Craig disembarked, the flowers had run out. The next day the team visited the Black Sea, which was a mile from their hotel.
On one of the remaining off days, some Russians offered Craig 40 rubles for a pair of jeans. It was then he noticed secret police-at least a dozen wearing plain clothes yet distinguishable to his "alert eye"-around the hotel. That afternoon, an official AAU photographer was arrested for taking photos in downtown Odessa, but released 20 minutes later.
On a shopping outing, Craig got separated from his group. He walked "half-lost" two hours back to his hotel. "I thought the KGB was behind every building or tree," said Craig, who was so traumatized by the incident, it took several hours for his adrenaline to dissipate. Later that day he learned the Russians were bringing in "two fine 5,000-meter runners" to oppose him. He could accept the fact he was in for a tough race, but was ticked Isom didn't have much confidence in him.
Avenging a loss
The top Russian in the 5,000 at Odessa was Enn Sellik, who'd later run in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. Sellik's personal best was 20 seconds ahead of Craig's. "This was to some degree a revenge match, a grudge match for me because of the two Russians who had beaten me on American soil in Sacramento the year before," Craig said.
The meet was televised in the United States with Marty Liquori providing color commentary. Among his comments was:
Virgin, of Lebanon, Illinois, will be attending the University of Illinois this fall and should be one of the greatest runners ever to come from the United States. He's a very talented boy. He really is dedicated and has a very cold and calculating approach to his training and racing. The complete runner, he's run a mile very quickly this year. He's run some great distance doubles. He seems to be very strong, and with age, he should improve greatly.
Centrowitz, who'd placed second in the 1,500 the day before, served as a rabbit, but did not figure in the team scoring. He paced Craig through opening laps of 63 and 67. Craig moved in front, but didn't gain separation until two laps remained. He remembered suffering the last half of the race. "I got to the bottom of the barrel of what I had," he recalled. "The only thing that got me through that race was the embarrassment that I felt from having let those two Russians beat me in the last 150 meters the year before in Sacramento." Craig won by 3.2 seconds over Sellik in 13:58.2, an age-17 national record that ranked third in national high school history behind Gerry Lindgren (13:44.0) and Prefontaine (13:52.8). Only eight Americans of any age ran faster in 1973 than Craig.
Craig's bold front-running earned him the Athlete of the Meet Award. "I ran the African way back in 1971, '72, '73," he said, "just go out hard and the last man standing wins." The Americans won the dual, 123-108.
At the postmeet banquet, a Russian gave Craig a gargoyle to ward off evil spirits. "It looked like an evil spirit itself," he said. The distance runners later congregated in Isom's suite to split five bottles of champagne and a bottle of vodka.
The next day the team flew to Moscow, which made an impression on Craig, whose diary notes: "Can't believe I'm in Moscow." He toured Lenin Stadium and Red Square on July 30 and shopped for gifts. The long list of gifts included five Cuban cigars, a bottle of vodka and some caviar. He also got a toy AK-47 rifle for his brother, Brent.
Craig had no way of knowing he'd never again be in Moscow, which in 1974 would win the right to host the 1980 Olympics. During the 30-hour journey to New York, Craig's suitcases were lost. In the confusion of trying to find his luggage (which he eventually received), he never got to say good-bye to his teammates.
Looking back across the decades, Craig believed he raced too much in high school yet maintained quality and consistency, especially his senior year. But it could be that what looks like over-racing was actually the perfect training for a national record setter. Dr. David Martin, who ran the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State University for 30 years and conducted scientific testing on Craig, studied the way Kenyans train compared with Americans. "They spend more time at race pace than we do so they are more specifically focused for training at speed and they do it more often," Martin said. So Craig may have been doing as much of his running at race pace as if he were a present-day Kenyan.
The quality of his last prep campaign led Track & Field News to name him its high school athlete of the year in 1973. All the magazine's 13 voters picked Craig No. 1, labeling him "one of prepdom's all-time greats." At that point, he owned 12 world age-group and national class records from two miles to 5,000 meters. He'd only lost four times his final three years, prompting the magazine to say, "His competitive record borders on the unbelievable."
