A track meet is like a circus, they say. Several events vie for your attention at the same time. But in masters meets, especially everyone entered at Boise, but the following events caught my eye in the men’s competition. (I’ll cover women’s events later.)

These are the most intriguing men’s events at indoor nationals this week in Idaho — many with American record potential:
M40 800 and mile: It’s masters phenom Tony Young against the record book. He’s not gonna challenge Johnny Gray’s M40 world best in the 800 (1:48.8), but he’s primed to go low 1:50s. In the mile, he can beat the listed American Record of 4:11 by Bill Stewart, set back in 1983 — the oldest indoor M40 record on the books. Tony ran a 4:08.6 indoor mile two years ago, but on an “oversized” track.
M40 high jump: This will be a showdown of three of the best masters jumpers in the world: Ron Lee, Igor Agaev and Tom VanZandt , who all went at least 1.92 (6-3 1/2) outdoors last year. Lee is the favorite, having gone 1.97 (6-5 1/2).
M40 long jump: World masters outdoor record holder Aaron Sampson, who talked about making the Athens Olympic team two years ago, could be shooting for the indoor record of 7.52 (24-8 1/4). (His entry distance is 23-3.) But he jumped only 6.79 (22-3 1/2 outdoors last year — after going that amazing 25-2 1/2 in 2002. Aaron’s main competition is Gregory Foster (not the Olympic hurdler), who jumped 6.87 (22-6 1/2) last year.
M45 sprints: Can James Chinn pull off a 60-200-400 triple to match his 100-200-400 trifecta of last summer at Decatur? He has plenty of competition, including comebacking Marty Krulee, a former world-class open sprinter; Todd Christensen, a former Oakland Raiders star receiver; Eric Dixon, Jim Bonilla and –especially in the 400 — Ben James, who won the M45 national oudtoor 400 title in 2002 (in 51.67) but took third last year.
M50 sprints: World age-group record holder Bill Collins also is entered in the 60, 200 and 400. He’s likely to sweep the events if he doesn’t pull a hammie, which happens to him too frequently. Bill will be most vulnerable in the 400, where his speed can be overtaken by the strength of Archie Glaspy, the M45 national indoor champion two years ago in Boston.
M55 middle distances: If he’s well, jazz musician Nolan Shaheed has no chance at singing the blues. We’ll probably be tooting his horn after he sets M55 world records in the 800, mile and 3000. Here’s what he’ll have to better: 2:08.15, 4:49.33 and 8:58.7. Last year, he ran 2:01 and 4:18 (for 1500) outdoors.
M60 200 and 400: These matchups are speed vs. strength with perennial sprint champs Paul Edens and Roger Pierce being the speed guys against Donald Neidig and Larry Barnum, the endurance sprinters. Barnum also is the favorite in the 800. He was part of the world record 4×800 relay team at Decatur.
M70 distances: Road-running legend Paul Heitzman of Kansas is entered in the 800, mile and 3000. Canadian Earl Fee has a lock on some of the M70 world indoor records, but Paul has the chops to cut down the American indoor records of 2:34.10, 5:32.4 and 11:27.6.
Other men to watch:
In M75, Bill Melville and Harry Brown will be the class of the sprints, and Jim Stookey will collect gold (and probably records) in the hurdles and jumps.