Sullivan, Lofton impressive in 400 debuts
Former Arizona State University sprinter Michael Sullivan and NFL Hall of Famer James Lofton recently turned 45 and 50, respectively, and at the Trojan Masters Track Meet today at USC, they turned in great marks in the 400. Official results haven’t been posted yet, but Sullivan ran about 52.0 and Lofton 53.5 in separate races. Sullivan outgutted 2005 national champ Kettrell Berry and 2005 world champ James Chinn in the process. In the 1500, Pete Magill –running without a younger friend to serve as rabbit — clocked a 4:00.9x to miss the American record by half a second. He says he’ll now focus on the American M45 road records for 5K and 10K. More meet details to come.
5 Responses
Acutally, my training partner did lead for the first two laps before falling back. We’d planned on him taking 3 laps, but he spent the first part of last week down with the flu – and I was lucky he showed up to the meet at all! Seriously, some days we masters guys just don’t have it, and this was just one of those days for me.
Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time on a glorious summer So Cal day, smoozing with the other masters and watching great performances by everybody from Sullivan-Berry-Lofton to one Ken Stone.
Oh, and I still think there should be a rule against giving someone as big and fast as Kettrell the inside lane in the 400!
Pete
I enjoy every meet, regardless of my perfomance or lane. My hat goes off to Mr. Sullivan, he ran a great race.
Just to be able to participate and hangout with Great Athletes such yourself Pete is an honor.
Stay Healthy everyone and see you all at the next Track and Field Social Event.
Ken, I would have run around the hurdle!
Kettrell
Nice photos of the meet. It is always nice to put names to faces that are seen in the blog and rankings. Mike Sullivan if you read this, are you the same Mike Sullivan that ran for Brockton High back in the late 70’s? You were quite the 440 man and i remember that powerful brockton team that held the 4×400 record (National?) way back then. Your still an amazing runner.
Mike Needham
Thank you Ken for your time and effort in providing some great shots (and your comments about a 76 year old participant). My 16 year old grandson from Texas was amazed at the physical fitness, comradery and uplifting spirit that exist among Masters athletes—he saw us as a real inspiration to youth in general and himself specifically.Having put 36 years in our Masters fellowship and competition it’s a satisfying feeling to see that special giving/ sharing quality being nourished and passed down.And I like what Kettrell said about the enjoyment—whether you win or lose–but I do want a good lane. Don Cheek
Great photos of the USC Masters meet Ken!
Thanks for the kind words Mr Berry – I don’t think you would have let up if you knew I was coming. It’s always a pleasure to run with some one of your caliber.
By the way Pete I did run for Brockton High in the late 70’s and thanks for the complement. Hopefully I will be able to continue running into my later years like the awesome masters runner, Don Cheek!
Mike Sullivan
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