American record in W55 4×4 fills USATF gap, but others remain
At Jax nationals, the top three finishers in the W55 400-meter run were Daphne Sluys (68.15), Vicki Fox (70.36) and Susan Loyd (72.88). Someone noticed that USATF has no listed record for the W55 4-by-400. So the trio joined with veteran relayist Cheryl Bellaire and clocked a 5:03.58 (average time 75.9 in the muggy weather Sunday). Instant nonclub American record! Cheryl, the W55 winner of the 2000 steeple in 9:11.21, was on the Athena TC team that set a W50 club American record in the same event at the 2013 Penn Relays. Give them credit for seizing the moment and filling in the vacant space between W50 and W60. Now all we need are records in the age groups W75 and up.
Susan, Vicki, Cheryl and Daphne finished brutal meet with 4Г—4 record.
6 Responses
Ken, I love all four of these women and thus don’t want to take anything away from them, but the reason we have no W55 4 x 400 American records listed is that historically we have used 10-year age groups for American marks and 5-year age groups for world.
Speaking specifically of W55, just think of all the times recorded at the WMA champs over the years by our W55 teams; not a single one is listed in the records. Similarly, the times achieved at worlds by our W45, W65, and W75 teams have not been listed as American records, again because we have gone by 10-year groupings.
At the USATF website we now see American records in the 4 x 400 for women in W40-44, W50-54, W60-64, and W70-74. I submit that historically these marks would have been listed as W40-49, W50-59, W60-69, and W70-79.
Ken, to push my point by using men, the American records for men 45-49 in the 4 x 100 are 47.24 for club and 47.26 for the USA mark. Obviously these cannot be the true American records.
Just look, for example, at the results for 2011 worlds in Sacramento. There, an American squad of Aaron Thigpen (46), Johnny Speed (47), Francois Boda (47), and Felton Turnage (45) blazed to a time of 44.73 in the 4 x 100.
Why was the time not considered for a record? Clearly, the answer is that we did not have American marks for M45, as for decades we did not have 5-year relay records for Americans, only 10-year categories.
Going back to my point above about the 5:03.58 time recorded by my friends Susan, Vicki, Cheryl, and Daphne, at a minimum one would have to review the times made by our W55 teams in the 4 x 400 at all the worlds going back to the original one. That being said, it is possible that the 5:03.58 would come out on top.
Thanks to Susan, Vicki and Cheryl for making us a team.
Peter you make an excellent point; the validity of our record books is crucial. Not sure who will do the mountain of detailed work required?
Yes to all for noting the 10-year age group situation. (Even my wife reminded me about that!) Mastershistory.org has bulk of results.
In fact it is strange to have 10-year records in a sport with everywhere 5-year classes.
Daphne (post no. 3): First, it was wonderful to see you sprint so well at the meet — you were fantastic, to say the least.
Second, it would be essentially impossible to prove that no one in the last 47 years of masters track ran faster than your team did at Jacksonville. Just one instance at a fairly obscure meet would be enough.
By the way, last night I spent 2 minutes reviewing previous data for the W45-49 “pending American record” in the 4 x 100 set by you and three others at last year’s Winston-Salem outdoors. Your time was 57.25. I looked at just one worlds, the 2011 version held in Sacramento.
At that meet our W45 squad of Marjorie Milligan-Jackson (46), Sarah Lawson (48), Shemayne Williams (48), and Kathleen Radke (45) blazed to a 52.23. In other words, it took just 2 minutes to find a time that was superior to your pending mark.
This is not meant to be unkind, especially as I like you a great deal, but it shows how dangerous it is to list as American records some marks that have been made in the last two years in the age groups beginning with “5” (45, 55, etc.) when the convention over decades has been to go by 10-year groups.
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