Track records set at national outdoor meet by athletes moving to new age groups
Was it the saturday lobsterfest? The first-ever webcast? What accounted for a dozen world or U.S. records being set at USA Track and Field's National Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships?
Nothing fishy, it turns out. Most of the age-group bests claimed in Orono, Maine, which played host to 1,100 athletes from Aug. 2 to Aug. 5, were thanks to that old Masters magic: aging up.
Philippa "Phil" Raschker, who set three world records and a U.S. best, turned 60 this year, which moved her into the women's 60-64. Carol Finsrud, who twice raised the U.S. record in the discus, just turned 50. Georgia's Jeanne Daprano clocked U.S. age-group records in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs. She's an even 70. And Bernice Holland, a 1948 Olympic hurdler, set a U.S. record in the discus -- at age 80.
Other record-setters were 65: Marie-Louise Michelsohn of Stony Brook, N.Y., whose eighth world record of the season came in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, and Frank Condon of Chico, Calif., who added the U.S. record at 800 meters to the U.S. mile best he set a month earlier in Los Angeles. In fact, form was upset by only one athlete. Gary Hunter of Fort Wayne, Ind., posted an age-group world record of 15 feet, 7 inches in the pole vault -- at 51.
Here are some remarkable (if not record-setting) performances by some of Masters track's usual suspects.
Houston's Bill Collins, 56, swept the sprints (100 meters in 11.74, 200 meters in 23.99 and 400 meters in 54.04) for the fifth consecutive year despite his airline losing his luggage in Cincinnati. (His track shoes didn't arrive until 45 minutes before his first race.) But Collins' biggest thrill may have been the presence of Dave Rider, his coach at New York's Mount Vernon High School. Rider (who won the M75 pole vault) said he had never before seen his state champion sprinter compete in Masters track.
Masters Hall of Famer Raschker, of Marietta, Ga., twice lowered the W60 world record in the 80-meter hurdles (first in her record-setting pentathlon and then in the individual event) and also took down the 300-meter hurdles U.S. record on the final day. Discus winner Finsrud of Lockhart, Texas, warmed up for September's world Masters track championships in Riccione, Italy, with her U.S. record of 140 feet, 11 inches. She also won the hammer throw and shot put.
Brian Pope, 44, of Oxford, Miss., came from behind to win the M40 1,500 meters after easily winning the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters earlier in the week.
Some athletes didn't need to age up to post dominating performances. Canadian Earl Fee, 78, won gold medals in the 400 meters, 800 meters and long hurdles.
Some gold medals were savored more than others. Rick Easley of Greenville, Texas, won the M50 400-meter hurdles after three rivals crashed into the final barrier and lay sprawled on the track. Twice in recent years, Easley had led this event before tangling with a hurdle himself and watching in agony as his competition charged ahead. Jai Black, 45, of San Diego, who once topped 190 pounds, swept the 100, 200 and 400 meters. Now thin and muscular, she ran the 400 meters in 57.83, missing the U.S. record by 1 second.
Olympian Jan Merrill-Morin of Waterford, Conn., made her USATF Masters debut a golden one by winning the W50 5,000 meters. In 1976, she was a finalist at 1,500 in the Montreal Games. But it wasn't just nostalgia that returned her to the track. "My father is 90 years old," Merrill-Morin, now a Rutgers track coach, told Steve Nearman of the Washington Times. "He still competes in Masters swimming. Last year, he set five American records in one day. I wanted to show him I can win one medal."
Off the track, the Orono meet made Masters history by being webcast all four days -- the first time the meet could be watched live on the Internet.
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