Meet announcer Peter Taylor stole a few hours’ rest after a hectic (and sleep-deprived) weekend and shares his angles on the Boston meet. Pete writes: “As the only announcer for the last two days of the indoor nationals (this year I announced only Saturday and Sunday), I have a unique perspective. Because this was my 17th masters nationals, I also have had a lot of experience that helped me put the meet in an historical context. Here is my story, including my personal observations and then my memories of the meet.”

Peter writes:

“Just get it airborne …….the “praying position” ……finish with dignity.” I wasn’t as well prepared for this meet as I had been for any of the last 10 or so, and yet I felt that I really needed to prove myself. On Friday evening I said, “Just get it airborne.” This refers to the expressed desire by worried golfers (whether pros or amateurs) not to totally humiliate themselves by hitting a “grounder” off the first tee. I figured I could start at a low level and then adjust my game (announcing) upward.
After sleeping poorly on Friday night, I got up at perhaps 4:45 on Saturday. Eventually took a taxi to “the Reggie” and found to my shock that the competitors had been locked out (the rumor was that the person in charge of opening the arena had overslept). In less than a minute, however, the doors opened and I was in (believe this was about 7:50 or so).
Announced pretty well on Saturday and gained some confidence. On Saturday evening I accidentally set my alarm for both midnight and 5:20 a.m., and at midnight I woke up to some ungodly sound. Could not get back to sleep and essentially gave up, although I got “thin sleep” from perhaps 3:45 to 5:00. At various times I assumed the “praying position,” in which you kneel next to the bed and put your head on it. This allows you some of the benefits of sleep without actually sleeping (you do this when you no longer want to go to sleep but crave some rest. The worst thing possible would be to sleep through the meet.)
To steal a line that Rick Riddle (M55 sprinter from Texas) reported on his blog (I think he was speaking of an older woman sprinter at Charlotte) I decided to “finish with dignity.” After two nights of little sleep, and with my voice barely above a whisper, my goal was to simply finish the meet (Sunday) without being terrible.
On the way to the CVS about 6:05 on Sunday, Stacey Price (winner of the M50 60 hurdles) asked me whether I was leaving and I told him I was not. My answer revealed to me that I could actually talk. When I got to the meet I found that my voice was decent and that my mind was in reasonably good shape. I’m not nearly as sharp as I used to be, but I figured I still had enough. In truth, my performance at the meet was quite satisfactory, actually very good at times. I was quite quick at picking up the runners, and I even did some field event work, which wasn’t too bad . Now for my memories of the meet itself.
I think Roger Pierce (narrow winner of the M60 400 over Ron Johnson) took credit for the practice of falling at the finish line, as his dive at the line allowed him to win by .01 second. We also had Ben James (M50 winner) hit the deck in a photo finish (Ben also won by .01 second), and I think there was a third. The 400s were probably the most exciting track event on Saturday. Bob Lida (M70) is an absolute hoss, and I told him so with some descriptive term. He ran 61.35 for an American record.
Robert Thomas (M40) told me that he runs better in the 400 if he has run earlier in the day (I had remarked to him a few minutes before his race that he already had two races under his belt – 60 trials and 60 finals). Robert went through the 200 in a hand-timed 23.8, slightly slower than he wanted to, and failed to break his pending mark of 49.60 (time was 49.96). Even so, this guy is a terrific competitor and wonderful to watch. His win over Aaron Thigpen (another one of my “collegiate-level sprinters”) in the 200 was sensational (Aaron destroyed everyone in the 60).
Karla DelGrande (world champion sprinter from Canada, age 53) gives you thrills every time she runs; Karla is preternaturally fast. Bill Collins (M55) I had to call “The Man” in his last race (the 200). He calmly won a tactical 400, and of course no one could go with him in the 60. I also called him “The King of All Sprinters.”
Renee “The Jet” Henderson was dominant in the W40 sprints – these were my two new nicknames of the meet. I used “announcer’s license” to say they are known by these titles; in fact I am conferring these titles in the hope that some will stick. In the women’s 4 x 400 I was very impressed by relative newcomer Terri Rath of Athena TC (Athena’s 40+ team ran a record 4:19.21). To borrow from noted sportswriter Bill Conlin, “She ran the two laps like a scalded dog.” Lisa Daley (W35) seems to win all the time, and I recognized her world championship status.
One great memory was of Joy Upshaw-Margerum about two-thirds of the way through the 60 hurdles – she gave the impression of complete control as the top hurdlers always do. The great ones seem to be sitting in place over each hurdle before they snap down with authority. Joy was magnificent in the 200 as well. Earl Fee (sometimes I simply call him “The Great Earl” as he runs) is beyond magnificent; he is 78 and looks better than ever.
Bruce McBarnette (M45 high jump winner) is a gamer as well as a showman, as he seemed to be hurt in one of his legs but sucked things up for one tremendous leap near the end of the competition. Kimiko Nakatake (Fukuoka University, Kansas University) is fun to watch in the high jump (W35).
It was an honor to speak with high jumper Trish Porter (1988 Olympian, W40) before the competition. If I had to do it over again I would have featured her more in my announcing. Gary Hunter (M50 pole vault) was very impressive (his listed record going in was an ungodly 15-3). I love Bob Matteson (M90) and everybody’s favorite uncle, Billy Benson (M85), and they are big crowd favorites in all of their races.
Louise Clark was terrific singing “God Bless America” on both Saturday and Sunday.
The W40 800 was remarkable on two counts: (1) There were enough women to justify a race that was restricted to 40-44; no combining here. (2) The entire field was in contention until the last lap; something rarely seen among women or men in masters competition.