Oshkosh Day 4: More records for Meiler, McPhie and Harvey
Flo Meiler, Leland McPhie and Sabra Harvey set more records today at Oshkosh — along with several others notching new age-group bests for a second or third time in this meet (Becky Sisley and Karen Steen among them). Jill Geer’s summary of the day is posted here. So the only question now is: Who will USATF choose as its Athlete of the Week? It’s traditional for Indy HQ to pick the top performer at masters nationals as its AoW the Monday or Tuesday after nationals. But how can you select a single star at this meet? I won’t even try. But I’d like to single out the most impressive new stars in the masters universe: W50 Cheryl Bellaire and M50 Michael Waller, who didn’t set records but left me awestruck. Cheryl won the 400 less than 2 hours after running (and winning) the 2K steeple for the first time in her life. Cheryl also took national titles in the 800 and 1500. She’s just a pixie of a lady, but she was a giant at these nationals. Michael was merely a giant-slayer, beating world champs Val Barnwell, Jim Chinn and Marty Krulee in the sprints. Michael swept the 1, 2 and 4. Who do you think deserves top honors from Oshkosh? Here are complete results.
31 Responses
I was the track announcer for all 4 days and announced every race. Jerry Howard was the field events announcer, and thus I will comment only on track.
I must be evenhanded and not show favoritism, and thus I must say that this was like going to the Penn Relays on a Saturday; the meet was too good. There were simply too many stars, impossible to remember everything. The four I will remember most were Michael Waller in M50 sprints, Antwon Dussett in M30 sprints, Sabra Harvey running wild in the W60 races,and Karen Steen (W45) looking simply unbelievable in the steeplechase. At least 100 other track athletes were absolutely on fire.
I have no vote but, if I did, Mike Waller would be my choice for Male Athlete of the Year. He has had an incredible season–highlighted by knocking off superstars like Val, James, and Marty this weekend. Mike’s success this year couldn’t happen to a nicer guy! Way to go, Mike!
Sabra was amazing running alone in the wind. Cheryl was also one second off the American record in the steeple
Correction to the accompanying post from USATF about Karen Steen. Karen did not break the W45 1500 American record, which is listed at USATF.org as 4:43.21. Karen ran 4:48.08. Had she broken the record, I would have noted it at the time. Actually, as I recall, I said during the race that Karen had a shot at the record, but she ultimately fell 4 to 5 seconds short.
Still, Karen Steen is one of my athletes of the meet for her fabulous performance in the steeplechase. I should also commend Nadine O’Connor, Lonnie Hooker, Charles Allie, Renee Henderson, and at least 75 others for their outstanding efforts on the track (I am not sure which athletes would be selected by the field announcer).
Waller, Hooker
This is my first time commenting on the blog.I thought the meet was spectacular. It was one of the best run meets I have been to in a long time. The Venue,Officials and of course MR PETE TAYLOR made this one special. I hope we get a chance to return there again.
Mike Waller was fantastic! He has been working so hard for such a long time to achieve these results. I am truly impressed and reminded why we all do this Masters thing.
Lonnie Hooker is another excellent example of why I enjoy going to the Championships. His 10.93 displays that getting old doesn’t mean acting that way.
Peter is right. There were so many positive things at the meet it is impossible to pick one or two.
Conrgatulations to all and thank you for a wonderful meet.
The meet was very well-run. The officials were professional and courteous and we were even ahead of schedule on several occasions. And it was great to have a practice track for warm-ups! Great venue, and Pete T. did his usual bang-up job.
Michael Waller looked fantastic…so did many many others. It would be difficult to pick the outstanding athlete of this meet with all of the outstanding performances from which to choose.
So good to see my friends there. And get well wishes for the injuries as well!
Cheryl Belaire talents shows what happens when you believe in yourself and also happens to “love the run”. Bravo, Cheryl and Congratulations on your National Championships.
First, I (Kyle) would like to congratulate everyone on his or her performance, especially MY TNT Family in their first full track season as a club. Second, I thought the officials were very friendly and professional a combination that is rare in sports today. Third, I did have a problem with the extra fees. Gina and I bring our kids to the masters nationals, not only to see our friends but to let our kids see the history of masters track unfold before their eyes. With the extra fees, it killed the family’s spirits, because this was an unexpected expense. Hopefully in the future this will be avoided because it is very important for our children to not only see great athletes but great masters athletes that the Lanier Family continue to strive to be. Finally, I felt like I was back in the Maine Championships again. How can you have a scheduled event for months, then win a gold medal, then have to sign up to have it delivered to your mailing address later?!! I will NEVER understand that?!!! It takes away from the countless hours, miles, massage rubs and intervals one has to do to get that one gold medal. For example, I received too many medals in Boston (indoors) 2008 so I simply email the meet director and told him that if that athlete doesn’t sign off on the medal it will be retained. Oh yes, I sent back the medal immediately. It’s NOT a hard process and if it is a relay, chose one member of the relay to be responsible to avoid a log jam with the line for the medals. Again and always I wish everyone well, great job and God Bless.
Kyle Lanier
President of TNT Intl Racing Club
As always at the Nationals there were many standout athletes, but one whom I feel deserves special mention is James Robinson from NY. Jim won gold in the M50-54 3000m Steeple, the 800m and the 1500m. A trifecta showing unusual versatility.
Ditto on Toms post! To see Jim blow by me in the last few meters of the 1500m, after already winning the steeple and the 800m, is a testament to his incredible grit and determination. He’s a great competitor and a gracious guy. Way to go, Jim!
It’s hard to look through all the results and find the outstanding of the outstanding. W50 thrower Carol Finsrud deserves consideration with four firsts (SP, DT, HT, WT) and a fourth in the Jav!
Ken asked who USAT&F should select as athlete of the week (Masters athlete of the year has a separate list of criteria based on performance, ranking, records set, etc.) As usual, there were many excellent performances in Oshkosh across age-groups and across track and field events.
Who deserves top honors at Oshkosh? One way to “score” the Masters National Meet would be using the NCAA T&F scoring system: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, per event (1/4 of points for relays). The national masters track meet male and female athletes with the highest “score” from the meet could then be recognized as athlete of the meet. For example, in the 2008 National Meet (Spokane) my score would have been 50 (1-1st, 5-2nds). Anyone at Oshkosh exceed 50?
Perspiring minds want to know.
Using Dave’s point scoring system here are the top 10*:
1 Charles Ross 82
2 Leland McPhie 70
3 Audrey Lary 60
3 Becky Sisley 60
5 Johnnye Valien 58
6 Denver Smith 56
6 Max Springer 56
8 Raoul Rodriques 54
9 Barbara Jordan 52
9 Dorothy Vander Cruyssen 52
* no relays or racewalk events included
The point system does not take into account the competition. If you win when no one else in your age group is it different than if you beat ten others in your race? Also the quality of your performance should be taken into account ie running in the 2:30’s at W60 is pretty impressive.
How about just the highest age-graded performances?
Regarding athlete of the meet at Oshkosh, according to Dave’s point system Nadine O’Connor scored 76 points and should be second on John Seto’s list.
Bud Held
And Nadine even didn’t do the pole vault… (By the way, can you tell me her birthdate?)
Oops, sorry (maybe I should give up while I was behind but…) here is a second points score using Dave’s scoring:
1 Florence Meiler, W75 Total 102
2 Charles Ross, M86 Total 82
3 Nadine O’Connor, W67 Total 76
4 Mary Trotto, W62 Total 73
5 Leland McPhie, M95 Total 70
6 Jane Simpson, W68 Total 66
7 Audrey Lary, W75 Total 60
7 Becky Sisley, W70 Total 60
9 Chris Pittman, M37 Total 58
9 Johnnye Valien, W83 Total 58
(does not include RW or Relays)
Speaking of point system, has anyone seen the point scores for clubs ? I know they were posted on the wall but do not see them on USATF website as was done for Landover.
Pete Magill has some of the age-grading on his blog: http://petemagill.blogspot.com/
There seemed to be many more older athletes (75 years of age and above) competing than in previous years. Very inspiring performances, and such a range of events! Some of the younger age groups seemed a little sparse but many may have opted for Finland instead.
Canadian championships are this weekend (July 18 and 19) in Kamloops B.C. – good chance to check out the site for the WMA Indoor Championships in March 2010.
This was a very friendly, well-organized meet, with terrific facilities. Loved the practice track and athletes’ tent, near lots of porta-potties, within hearing of the excellent announcing of Peter and Brian (have I got the field announcer’s name correct?). Met many old and new friends. Does it get any better for a track meet?
In response to Weia Reinboud’s question about Nadine O’Connor, Nadine was born March 5, 1942. Her pentathlon performance in Oshkosh was really quite outstanding. At age 67 she scored 4949 on the age 65 scoring chart, breaking the previous record by 1,338 points. Her score was just 4 points under the all time all age group record, and she had leg cramps during the last two events.
Bud Held
Thank you, Marty, Liz, and Karla, for your nice comments about my announcing. I had a pretty good but not great meet, grading out at 83.
I had said that this (Oshkosh) would be my last nationals, and that was for two reasons: (1) I didn’t like the way masters T&F was going in the U.S., as I found it far too punitive. How, for example, can you throw out FAT marks in major meets or steel-taped jumps in a USATF association championship (for records, I mean)? And yet, masters T&F has had no problem with discarding these absolutely legitimate marks. There have been many other things with which I have disagreed.
(2) I also felt that I might be too old for this sort of thing, that my memory was failing. For Oshkosh, however, it turned out that my memory was pretty good. I even remembered, for example, that Susan Wiemer is out of Massachusetts College of Art, Liz Palmer out of Univ of Northern Colorado, and a few hundred others. Thus, I do not think I have reached senility just yet.
All things considered, I think it is better for me to try to continue to announce these meets. Thus, if I am invited, I will announce at Boston (2010). I have already been invited to announce at Sacramento (2010). I hope my memory holds up.
Thank you Bud, Nadine now is new in http://home.xmsnet.nl/weiatletiek/RecPyrEng.html
Only a few Oshkosh jumps…
Peter, even if half your memory is tied behind your back, just to make it fair, you will always be the one and only.
Great job, once again.
Pete – great to hear that you will be annoucing the meet in Boston (they better invite you !) and Sacramento. And good to hear so many good things about the meet at Oshkosh. I was really sorry to have missed it – but I had to choose – Oshkosh or Lahti – could not do both and still be able to walk never mind compete.
If you cannot think of someone’s name or whatever -just mumble into the mike. Many of us are pretty deaf anyway – and we will blame our hearing or the sound system and not you!
Thanks, Pete! You’re one of a kind!
PT-
You just made my day with that news. Can’t wait to hear you announce in Sacto next summer-
MJ
And the answer is: None of the above. USATF named its Athlete of the Week as Brian Crouser from the IAAF World Youth Championships.
Peter, I’m used to you being on the field. You were in “the tower” so I’m sending along my personal “thank you”. Hey, your mind isn’t slipping. You have remembered my exploits to the fans from my younger days in 1956 and 1958. Someday, you will be sorely missed. Do whatever it takes to delay that moment.
Jerry Smartt
1956 Olympic Team
1st alternate, 10,000
1958 US vs USSR,Moscow
Crouser was a good choice. I have no problem with that. Great performance in Italy and, well, he’s a fellow Oregonian.
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