Krafian sets the record for records

This year at the AYF Olympics, Anoush Krafian of Greater Boston broke the record in the triple jump, becoming the first person to hold an Olympic record in five events simultaneously. She also has marks in the 100 meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and pentathlon. Krafian said that she “never attempted triple jump before this past summer, but it seemed like the next easiest record to break, so I wanted to give it a shot.” Her father Ara coached her, and she also sent videos to a former Dartmouth triple jump teammate for tips. After reviewing Krafian’s accomplishments, this reporter checked the “archives” for other AYF athletes who have held four or more records in the past. The first person to do so was Detroit’s Sue Merian, who was undefeated in six straight Olympics and retired with 90 career points. In 1954, Sue set records in the 100 yard dash and the long jump and tied the mark in the 50 yard dash. In 1957, she added a record in a new event, the 50 yard freestyle swim, which was not broken until 1971. Merian held these four records until 1965, when both sprint times were bested by Anahid Sarkissian of Montreal. The second person to hold four records simultaneously was Merian’s niece Nancy Gavoor, also from Detroit. Gavoor set records in the 220, 440 and 880 yard runs in 1973 and then added the 100 yard run the following year. She maintained these four records until 1976, when teammate Robin Avedisian bettered the time for the 880. In 1977, Gavoor set a record for the new pentathlon event, her fifth career record. However, they were not held at the same time. Also in 1977, Nancy's teammate Andrea Nranian set records in the 50, 100 and 220 yard dashes. The following year, Nranian added the 400 meter record to her achievements, thus holding four records. She maintained all four for 41 years, the longest of anyone to date. Her 50 meter time was finally broken by Melanie Sarafian, also from Detroit, in 2019. Nranian continues to hold the other three sprint records. Jill Tosoian of Detroit also held records in five different events, four of them briefly at the same time. Tosoian set the records for golf and the 50 yard breaststroke in 1973. Her swim time was defeated in 1976 by Valerie Kizirian from Providence, but in 1979, Tosoian broke all three freestyle records and had the lowest golf score. The next year, Valerie Hagopian from Fresno broke Tosoian’s 50 and 100 yard freestyle records. Also in the 1970s, Boston’s Rich Chebookjian was a record holder in four different events simultaneously. In 1973, he tied the 100 yard and broke the 220 and 440 dash records. Chebookjian improved his 440 time in 1975, and all these times are unsurpassed today. In 1977, he set the record in the new pentathlon event and held it until 1979, when it was broken by teammate Fred Hintlian. One of Chebookjian’s other teammates, Shooshan Tutunjian, held records in the 220 yard dash, shot put, javelin and the 800 meter, but not simultaneously. Her 800 meter mark lasted until 2012, long enough for two of her children to hold records at the same time. In 1983, Laura Apkarian from Detroit set new records in the 25 yard butterfly, 50 backstroke and 100 yard freestyle. The next year, she added the 50 yard freestyle to her list and held all four until the backstroke was bettered in 1986 by Ani Mekjian of Boston. Another Detroit swimmer, Raffi Karapetian, broke the 50 yard breaststroke along with the 50 and 100 yard freestyle records in 1991. Karapetian then set his fourth record in the 50 yard butterfly in 1992. He improved two of these times before he retired undefeated with 75 career points in 2000. Karapetian held these four marks until 2008 when Philadelphia’s Dan Kaiserian beat his butterfly time. Both his freestyle times are still the best to this day.

Krafian sets the record for records

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Bob Tutunjian

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Bob Tutunjian

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