IC4A

At the end of May 1921, the 45th annual intercollegiate championship was held under the organization of IC4A (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America). The event took place at Harvard University's field in the Greater Boston area. The University of Pennsylvania, the defending champion from the previous year, was among the competitors.

IC4A is one of the oldest annual track and field competitions in the United States, first held in 1876. Originally, it included only East Coast schools, but over the years, organizations from the West Coast, such as Stanford University, have joined as well.

In the 1921 competition, only one athlete managed to win two events. Canada's Olympic champion and world record holder Earl Thomson of Darthmouth won both the 120-yard and 220-yard hurdles. He set a world-class time of 14.8 seconds in the highs.

Nowadays, the best European sprinters are allowed to go directly to the semifinals in continental championships held in Olympic years. This was not the case at the IC4A championships. There were 150 competitors in the 100-yard dash, which involved four rounds of heats before the final. Morris Kirksey from Stanford, the silver medalist from the Antwerp Olympics, emerged as the winner.

The Decisive Last Event

Some of the best results were achieved in the sprints. Eleven thousand spectators witnessed Allen Woodring of Syracuse, the 200-meter Olympic champion from Antwerp, winning the 220-yard race, which was held on a straight track as the final event of the competition. Al LeConey (Lafayette), who had run the anchor leg in the 4x100 meter relay team of the USA in Antwerp, sprinted furiously in the stretch but could not catch Woodring. The winning time of 21.4 seconds equates to 21.8 seconds on a full-turn 200-meter event, placing fourth in the 1921 world season rankings.

Significantly, R.K. Hutchinson of California managed to secure third place with his final effort, ensuring a narrow team victory for his alma mater.

As the homestretch of the 440 yards began, Californian Ocran Hendrixson and Pennsylvanian Robert Maxam surged to the front. They battled for the win shoulder to shoulder. Henrixson managed to lunge across the finish line a couple of inches ahead of his opponent. The clock hit 49.0, which corresponds to 48.7 for the metric distance. That placed him sixth in the season's rankings. 

Jimmy Connolly of Georgetown might have earned the most impressive victory of the meet. He stormed to a win in the mile with a bold three-lap kick. A few years later, Connolly would get to examine the tread patterns on Paavo Nurmi's spikes from behind.

Edward Gourdin jumped 7.28m (23-10  1/2). Later in the summer, he set a world record of 7.69m (25-3 1/2).

The University of California, Berkeley narrowly won the team competition. Harvard University, which had underperformed in previous IC4A competitions, surprisingly took second place. "The competition was high class and it was a narrow squeeze. Almost too much for a man to stand," sighed California's head coach, Walter Christie.