Masters News and Muse

Here's Peter's report:

On Wednesday, August 1, I left home (Fairfax, VA) about 5:50 AM and set sail for Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport. Unlike the competitors, I had done some studying for the meet, but I was in a different situation. The athletes would know by their performances whether they did well, but how would I know?

If I announced 80% of the track races well and messed up 20%, would that be OK? Not for me; I think that 99% would be acceptable. As for the field events, no problem; we would have an announcer who would go from event to event covering the throws and jumps. A third announcer would handle the awards.

I took the short shuttle from the parking lot to BWI then immediately found I had left my watch in the car. Rats. I even thought of buying a watch in the terminal (would not have a stopwatch feature, of course), but then I got a whole lot smarter. I simply stayed on the shuttle bus and rode back to the lot, had the driver stop at my car, then retrieved my watch. I must have been too excited, already making a rookie mistake.

Flew to New York City and then on to Bangor. My biggest concern for weeks had been my speaking; about 2 months ago I had developed a habit of hesitating in my speech. It went away but then returned, and I still had it. On the flight up to Bangor I beat the ear of my seatmate (William Gramley of North Carolina, a thrower). He did not know that in addition to enjoying his company I was testing whether I could speak without hesitation, without stumbling in the middle of sentences. At the airport we met up with PR chief Bob Weiner and his scientist wife (Pat Berg). Rode in Bob’s rental car to the campus. Found out at some point that there would be no field event announcer; it was up to me to do everything but the awards.

Other big concern was breakfast. The student union opened at 7:00 for breakfast, and the first event on all four days was 7:30. Could I make it? Because of our complaining we got a 6:45 intended opening on Friday that was actually even before 6:40. Then I think things went back to 7:00. Another concern turned out to be the heat in the dorms (no air conditioning). Highs for Thursday and Friday were 90, but the heat was not overwhelming.

On Thursday morning I got up about 3:59 or so, on Friday it was about 3:55. Saturday I may have languished until about 4:30. Meal on Thursday (in union) was no problem, but on Friday evening a friend told me he would pick me up for dinner in Bangor. He’s still my friend, but he did not show. Gordon Reiter (M60) lent me his car, but I couldn’t figure out the feature that would allow me to turn the key, and thus I returned to my dorm.

For dinner I had two orange sodas, a small bag of chips, and a bag of candy, and that was it. As I hadn’t eaten lunch on Friday, that was a bit limited but not too bad.

In terms of announcing I was somewhat careless on Thursday and actually suffered very mild heat illness from being out in the sun too much. . Friday I was more careful, and even though there was more humidity I did not suffer as much. Saturday and Sunday were less stressful in terms of heat. I announced every track event on all four days, and I did a bit of the high jump and a trace of the pole vault and long jump.

Did not touch the throws except for Carol Finsrud (discus), but without the field event announcer it was hard to do, for the two obvious reasons: (1) Throws were farther away than the jumps and quite far from where I was standing (I could not distinguish by sight a single thrower on all four days). (2) Had I walked all the way over to the throws I would have been too far away to announce the track events.

Overall it was a good meet with many exciting performances. One is struck by the great differences in motivation, attitude, reactions, etc. one sees at the meet, and it occurs to me that describing the various competitors is one way of showing how much they differ even though we are all in on the same great adventure.

I will start with a popular event, the 200 dash, and simply discuss in the briefest fashion the athletes who were first across the line. I am sure this will illustrate the variety of performers we have (will present what I know off the top of my head):

W80. Pat Peterson. Should get the award every year for most courageous athlete (lymphoma grabbed her years ago but never beat her). Always affable, loves to be at the meets. Has a bit of a rocking style.

W75. Edythe Leek. Straightforward style that proves effective. Has done a variety of things, including climbing Mount Wilson (California).

W70. Barbara Jordan. Went out with Dave Sime (remember him?) in high school. Always friendly. Versatile performer with a useful but not spectacular style.

W65. Nadine O’Connor. “All World No. 2” is a thriller in every event. Beautiful to watch from the side, but I think she carries her arms a bit high. Former distance runner who can now do sprints, hurdles, jumps (including pole vault).

W60. Phil Raschker. “All World No. 1” is without peer. I no longer call her the leader 1 second after the gun before looking up to see who is actually the leader (a bit dangerous; she could stumble), but I doubt that Las Vegas would take any bets on her races.

W55. Rhona Trott. Versatile Canadian performer who reminded me that Canada has provinces (after that I mentioned the province rather than just saying “Canada”). Finished 1/100 of a second in front of Ms. Nicoletti; I called it wrong because Nicoletti was ahead by probably a foot with 5 meters to go. Oh, well.

W50. Karla Del Grande. Canadian sensation has close to a perfect style even though I do not find it a beautiful style. I believe she is undefeated in races I have called.

W45. Jai Black. Californian has an excellent style even though again I do not find it a beautiful style. In terms of leg action she is similar to Jeremy Wariner of Olympic fame (400).

W40. Renee “The Jet” Henderson. Has an exuberant, exciting style that is not completely smooth but is fun to watch. “The Jet” is always a treat.

W35. Dionne Bruff. Very authoritative style. Still not completely used to her, but she seems very effective.

W30. Rachel Guest. Gives appearance of a 200/400 runner, not 100 and 200. Very nice style, runs with authority.

M90. Reverend Champion Goldy. Runs with a pronounced forward lean. Would have a major accident if anyone crossed the track in front of him. The affable Champ (his son is “young Champ”) was thrilled to beat the hard-hitting Bob Matteson of Vermont.

M85. John Means. Very underrated, very good indeed. Has a nice style.

M80. Bill Melville. The “Big Train” is back, and he was a site to behold. He is like a cannonball going downhill. If there had been any bumping, pity the other runner, as the “Big Train” was far larger than anyone else in the field.

M75. Joe Summerlin. Good style, very effective. Friendly Texan (I hope he is from Texas!).

M70. Bob Lida. Lock him up; he’s too good. Gives the impression of a lot of power, runs with great authority.

M65. Alby Williams. The former Australian is very quick, excellent turnover. Does not give impression of power but is extremely effective.

M60. Steve Robbins. I find his style a bit mechanical, but it is very effective. Runs with high knees, keeps head straight, does everything right.

M55. Bill Collins. Give the man a PhD in the sprints. When he goes to the Penn Relays (predominantly a college, high school, and open meet) the announcer knows who he is – enough said.

M50. Oscar Peyton. Often a bit uncertain early, seems sometimes to have a tough time getting going. His “top end” speed is extremely good, as once he drops the hammer he can really fly. Still a relative newcomer.

M45. Michael Sullivan. I heard he was pumped the night before (at the banquet), and his intensity level did seem very high. Once he set it down at the top of the straightaway he looked very good. Example of a big-time college sprinter who will help strengthen our program as he proceeds through masters.

M40. Robert Thomas. Could identify him from a 1000 meters away, as no one else runs like RT. Not completely smooth but excellent turnover and extremely effective. Seems to have quite a bit of movement, a bit of a rocking chair perhaps.

M35. Marek Wensel. Extremely versatile performer who also won the 800 at Orono (!!). Technically a very good style, hard to find fault with him.

M30. Antwon Dussett. Basically a college sprinter “pretending” to be in M30. As I noted at the meet, only one man in the last 12 years at the nationals had broken 48.00 in the 400; Antwon ran 46.98 last year. Very muscular style.

Yes, as these summaries indicate, we have a great variety of performers, and all our winners have much to recommend them. I will cover some other events later.