Some records aren’t meant to be broken.

At least that’s the case for the Coos County Meet, where several records have been retired since the events aren’t contested anymore.

Prior to this year, the only records that were officially retired were the javelin marks set before the current javelins, which are designed to be safer and not fly as far, were put into use in 2001.

The decision to retire the records for the additional events came this winter, when North Bend track coach Steve Greif was doing research to commemorate the 100th county meet.

“I hadn’t even thought of it,” said Marshfield coach Fran Worthen. “Once we had the research done, it was easy.

“I think it’s a great idea.”

One reason the idea came up was because of Steve Prefontaine’s record in the mile in 1969, which had been converted to a 1,500-meter time.

Greif said that record was closely scrutinized for two reasons.

“One was, to always preserve Pre’s record, by locking it at the mile, since we don’t run it anymore,” Greif said. “It locks him in as the all-time record holder, which I think is appropriate.”

“Secondly, it’s not as easy to convert the mile to the 1,500 as it is the shorter races. The 2-mile, to convert it to the 3,000, is not an easy conversion.”

The 1,500 is an entire straight-away shorter than the mile, which means Pre might have used a significantly different strategy for his pace, how soon he started a kick, for example.

Because of the change, there are new record holders for both the 1,500 and 3,000 — the athletes with the best times since those events replaced the mile and two-mile distances in 1978.

Coquille standout Rob Calley now holds the 1,500-meter record with his time of 4:04.6 in 1986. Marshfield runner Dave Gilbert now holds the record for the 3,000  with his time of 8:48.8 in 1980.

Greif’s research led to many other retired records, events that were contested for only a few years or for many.

“It was a fun year to do it because we found all the old ones,” Greif said.

“This gives us a chance to highlight several events. It gives people a chance to see that all sports change.”

While the standing broad jump was contested just three years — Tom Laird of Bandon holds the record with a leap of 9 feet, 61⁄2 inches — the 880-yard relay was a staple for half a century.

“It’s a chance to see the guys who set the record in the 4x200 relay truly retired,” Greif said, adding that the Myrtle Point team of Reed Gurney, Craig Brown, Terry Pullen and Dave Hatfield now will be properly remembered for their time of 1:33.4 in 1963.