Paaso, Berra claim masters exhibition titles at USA open nationals
Kris Paaso won the 3000 and Nick Berra took the 1500 at masters exhibitions at USA open nationals today. Kris ran Joy Upshaw sent along some shots from the stands at the USATF open nationals at Hayward Field in Eugene. Top is the finish of the masters men’s 1500 and the bottom is near the start of the women’s 3000. Here’s the men’s race:
And here’s the video of the masters women’s 3000 (where the announcer calls Kris’ time an American record, but it isn’t, since the listed W40 best is 9:27.45 by Carmen Troncoso.)
Results from masters exhibitions at open nationals:
1 Nicholas Berra Greater Philadelphia TC 4:02.63
2 Lance Elliott unattached 4:02.72
3 Mike Blackmore Bowerman Athletic Club 4:03.52
4 Sean Messiter Club Northwest 4:07.92
5 Francis Burdett Greater Springfield Harriers, 4:13.72
6 Ray Knerr Compex Racing 4:14.79
7 Christian Cushing-Murray Compex Racing 4:22.83
DQ Mark Gomes Eliot Track Club
DNF Thomas Cawley Shore Athletic Club
DNS Charlie Kern unattached
Early snaps from masters exhibition races at Eugene by Joy Upshaw.
1 Kris Paaso New Balance Silicon Valley / A 9:47.84
2 Grace Padilla Nike Team Run LA 9:48.13
3 Aeron Arlin Genet unattached 9:54.64
4 Tania Fischer The Janes Elite Racing 9:59.87
5 Lisa Valle unattached 10:16.58
6 Jenny Newton Mountain West Track Club 10:39.30
7 Christine Olen Boise River Running Club 10:50.62
8 Katherine MacTavish unattached 10:57.59
9 Jennifer Hegarty New Balance Boston 11:32.73
10 Lisa Davis unattached 12:17.07
DNS Kirsten Leetch The Janes Elite Racing
DNS Susan Pearsall Central Park Track Club (CPTC)
DNS Lesley Chaplin Atlanta Track Club
16 Responses
That appears to be Mark Gomes in front. He was eventually disqualified; does anyone know why? Did he finish first and then get taken down, or did he finish somewhere other than first before the DQ?
http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=50809-Mens-Masters-1500-USA-Outdoor-Track-and-Field-Championships-2011
Pete, this is the link for the race video. Nick led for most of the race, Gomes went for the lead on the final turn. Unfortunately, the video cuts away to the HJ but when it returns, there is contact between Gomes and Nick. Whether that was the DQ or something happened before that, not sure. But since most of the race was uneventful with no lead changes, it had to be what happened on the final turn.
Agree, Chuck, thanks. It had to be at or near that point. People will be talking about this for quite a long time.
Mark Cleary should make a report eventually. Stay tuned.
Contact apparently happened after Gomes passed Berra. Gomes was in lane 2 and moved back in to 1, and must have bumped Nick or cut him off. I didn’t see it, even though I was right behind them. Great race to be a part of.
I was in the stands and here is the story on the AR call by the announcer.
At the start it was announced that two women were going for the W45 record of 9:57. Three women finished under 9:57 and the announcer mistakenly assumed that one of them must have been 45.
If only Pete Taylor had been there.
You da man Blackmore! 4:03!! Was cheering hard for you but you were focused. Can’t wait to see the 50-54 WR in the 1500 go down next year.
-Your buddy from Bend
That is a great race by Blackmore. Not so fast on the WR however, I think there are about 3 others in that age group that have a very good chance as well.
No doubt, next season will be very exciting in this age group.
I can see 3:59 as an outside possibility.
The mile WR will certainly fall if they are running these sort of times in the 1500.
Blackmore’s time is a world age 49(48+)record, no?
And worth maybe a few ticks behind Ken Sparks’ age 49 mile record (4:22.38 at’94 Penn R.)? Kudos.
I was in the awards area at the top of the first turn, so I just have to go by what I heard.Rex Harvey cited the rule that was applied in this case and it had to do with once the athlete comes off the final curve he or she must run a straight path to the finish line.An athlete that comes off a little wide cannot then ease back over to effectively keep the runner from going by on the inside. Personally I think they were a little too tight on the officiating and I hated to see the disqualification it was a great race and none of the athletes had an issue–I don’t think this call would have been made at a Masters Nationals–but these officials had already had several days of intense races to call with World Championships on the line and I think they stayed in that mode for our races as well.There was a protest by Mark Gomes after the race and I did not hear anything more after that–It was such a great race and all the competitors raced their hearts out-it’s too bad this happened–Kudos to all the Men and women who took part you put on a great show and impressed the fans!
Thanks for the explanation Mark.
It does look like Nick was bumped and cut off. No reason to come back inside on a runner coming off the final turn. I actually would hope they would call this at a Master’s nationals. I could imagine a runner leading like that most of the race and thinking ‘these guys are coming up on me and may try to make move on me coming off the turn into the final straight’; perhaps Nick was going to regroup and put in one last final surge, or wait another 20 meters to give the leader a false sense of security and then try and scoot past on the inside rail. Kudos to the officials. I doubt Gomes protest will be acceptable. I know if it happened to me I wouldn’t be all that happy about it, I mean I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but it did hinder the runner.
The fact that Gomes won by over a second, seems like the contact was not a factor in this race. I would like to know what the response to Gomes’ appeal was.
It was a great race although I missed the bump ’cause I was down near the HJ pit watchin the man Jesse hit a new PR of 7′ 9 1/4″. Dang!!
Wow! Another great race between Gomes & Berra! As for the DQ, I did not see anything to indicate that rule cited was applicable. It appears that the contact occurred closer to the middle of the final turn and that Mark may have cut in too soon -impeding Nick’s progress- or that Nick tried to pass on the inside without enough space.
Also, I have seen numerouse races where runners come off of the final curve and move out into lane 2 in an attempt to force those about to pass them to run wide. Christin Wurth’s 1500m finish appears to be a good example of this -she made contact with the 2nd & 3rd runners as they passed her.
http://www.usatf.org/events/2011/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/video.asp
That is also a fine line bordering on impedance.
Coming off the turn, run straight and run hard, there is no advantage to running otherwise; unless your are trying to impede someone. Going wide and making contact or cutting back in on the runner into lane one should be called every time.
It may have not been intentional but that is not the point. People can get hurt out there, twist ankles, lose their balance, step on the rail etc. Fair is fair.
If it happened to me- I would personally protest that the runner responsible be DQ’d, as I would hope they would do likewise if it were my fault.
We will see what happens at World’s. I suspect J.S. will be the one whipping around and by everyone in the final straight.
Just watched the video. Unless something happened when the video cut to the high jumper, I didnt see anything that warranted a DQ. Perhaps MG cut in too early and cut off NB as he passed him with ~200 to go. As the video picks up again w/ about ~150 to go, it actually looks like NB ran up into MG, perhaps he was trying to pass on the inside and MG cuthim off. But unless I’m just not seeing it correctly, I think Berra created the contact. And then from that point on I do not see MG swinging wide at all. He stays in lane 1 the entire time, and stay parallel to the lane 1/2 line.
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