Then & Now: BYU Track Stars Ralph V. Mann and Shaquille B. Walker
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Then & Now


Mann Ralph Record

Courtesy BYU Photo

AT THE 1970 NCAA Championships, junior track star Ralph V. Mann (BS ’73, MS ’74) set a world record in the 440-yard intermediate hurdles—and a BYU record that still stands today. He’d win the national championship for the third time as a senior, then go on to win silver at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Mann also joined Paul M. Hackett (BS ’72), Mark D. Low (BS ’74, MA ’76), and Saimoni N. Tamani (BS ’75) to set a BYU 4×440-yard relay record, one that would stand for 44 years.

Shaquille Walker

Photo by Jaren Wilkey/BYU


ON MAY 30 Shaquille B. Walker (’17) joined Mario B. Harper (BA ’15), Sean T. Adams (’16), and Jesse F. White III (’16) to anchor the 4×400-meter relay team that shattered BYU’s 44-year-old record. Earlier in the year, just months after returning home from his mission to England, Walker (below) ran BYU’s fastest 800-meter indoor time. Then, on April 11, the sophomore blazed his way to a new BYU outdoor 800-meter record with the NCAA’s fastest 800 of the season to that point: 1:45.78.