Masters Athlete magazine has posted finalists for GeezerJock of the Year. Click here to see the various age groups and nominees. The overall winner is preordained, however. It is swimmer Dara Torres, the poster girl for masters sports, who won medals and set records as a 41-year-old kicking teen butt in Beijing. I have no inside information that Dara will be the “2008 Euflexxa GeezerJock of the Year.” But Ferring Pharmaceuticals would dearly love to have Dara tied to their franchise arthritis drug, after also sponsoring Sprint Force America. And who would deny Ferring, a major advertiser, the potential gravy train of publicity?

But since subcategory winners also get some notoriety and assorted prizes, you still should vote for the trackster/fieldsters among the nominees.
Here’s the official statement:

The Euflexxa GeezerJock of the Year award recognizes the best 40-and-over athletes in the world. Below you will find links to profiles of each of our nominees. Please review the nominees in each category and cast your votes at the bottom of each page. Remember, our readers’ online voting is but one component in our decision process and we will disregard what we consider to be “ballot-box stuffing.”
The winners of the awards will be unveiled in the December 2008 issue of Masters Athlete.
We will recognize a dozen winners in various categories (male and female in five age groups: 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 and 80+), including an overall winner. Additionally, we will announce a GeezerJock Executive of the Year award, recognizing the association executive who has done the most to advance Masters athletics.

Now who should we stuff the ballot box for?

Here are the nominated trackos:

M40 Men:
John Simpson
Track & Field
Corsicana, Texas
At the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in August, Simpson sped to a first-place finish in the men’s 40-44 200-meter dash with a time of 22.58. He raced in the 100-meter dash and finished second to Aaron Thigpen’s 11.00 by 0.15 seconds. At the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in France in March, Simpson took first place in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes as well as in the 4×100-meter relay.
W50 Women
Kay Glynn
Track & Field
Hastings, Iowa
At the 2008 Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships, Glynn had the highest pole vault of any female competitor at 2.92 meters, the second most points in the pentathlon, and the third longest jump of any competitor at 4.39 meters. She won the women’s 55-59 age group in each of these events in addition to the high jump.
Kathryn Martin
Distance Running
Northport, N.Y.
Martin couldn’t be stopped at the 2008 USATF Masters Outdoor Championships. She won the 800-meter (2:38.56), 1,500-meter (5:13.49), 5,000-meter (19:09.20), and 10,000-meter (41:13.60) races. She also won the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:23.20. She raced in 55-59 age group, but her times in each of the races would have also won gold medals in the women’s 50-54 category.
W60 Women:
Shirley Harper
Track and Field
St. James, Barbados
At the 2007 Huntsman World Senior Games, Harper won the gold medals in four events in the women’s 60-64 age group: the 50-meter dash, the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter run. She also won a bronze medal in the standing long jump.
Kathy Jager
Track & Field
Glendale, Ariz.
At the 2008 Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships, Jager faced tough competition in the women’s 60-64 age group, which included Philippa Raschker. Nonetheless, Jager managed first-place finishes in the 60-meter dash and the shot put. She placed second in the long jump.
Laurie Rugenstein
Track/Distance Running
Boulder, Colo.
With a time of 47:03.29, Laurie Rugenstein placed first in the women’s 60-69 age group at this year’s Bolder Boulder 10k, which was held in May. She also started running track this year and has had great success thus far. At the Rocky Mountain Senior Games held in Greeley, Colo., she set meet records in the 800-meter run, 1,500-meter run and 10k road race.
W80+ Men:
Bob Matteson
Track & Field
Bennington, Vt.
In the past year, Matteson sped to four American M90 records indoors and outdoors in the 200- and 400-meter runs and world records in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs indoors. At the USA Track & Field National Masters Outdoor Championships in Orono, Maine, he was named the Outstanding American T&F Athlete over the age of 60.
Orville Rogers
Track & Field
Dallas
Rogers, 90, broke world records for his age group in both the mile and 800 meters at USA Masters Indoor Track Championships in Boston this spring. His time of 4:19.97 in the 800 was more than half a minute faster than the previous record.
W80+ Women:
Gerry Davidson
Distance Running
Fallbrook, Calif.
Davidson, 87, placed first in her age group in the Carlsbad 5,000, finishing the 5k in 52:42 in April. Earlier in the year, she competed in the USA Track and Field Masters Cross Country Championship. She completed the 8k course in 1:28:15.
Marjorie Fitzgerald
Track & Field
La Habra, Calif.
Fitzgerald broke the USA Track and Field national record for the women’s 80-84 age group in the 100-meter dash at the Huntsman Senior Games in October 2007 and is looking to defend her title this year. She also won first place in the 50-yard dash at the California Senior Olympics in June.
Dottie Gray
Road Running/Track & Field
Shrewsbury, Mo.
At the 2007 Huntsman World Senior Games, Gray took home gold medals in both the 5k and 10k road races in the women’s 80-84 age group. On the track, Gray won four additional medals, taking gold in the 3,000-meter run and silver medals in the 1,500-meter run, the 800-meter run and 400-meter run.
Marie Hill
Distance Running
Arvada, Colo.
Hill, 82, was the fastest woman over 80 years of age in the Bolder Boulder 10k race, which was run in Boulder, Colo., in May. Hill finished the course in 1:29:43.85. Her per mile pace was 14:26.
Helen Schley
Track & Field
Myersville, Md.
Schley was fleet of foot at the 2008 Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships in March, winning the 400-meter dash in 2:22.10. She also won the 800-meter dash in 5:39.49.

It’s highly unlikely that a masters track athlete will win the top award for 2008. We had the top winner last year (Phil Raschker) and three years ago (Bill Collins). We shouldn’t be greedy, right?