Masters Track News and Muse

Woe is WMA. Another week, another world masters record it won't recognize. Last week it was sprint legend Merlene Ottey of Slovenia, 42, competing in a meet in Vienna, Austria, and clocking 7.30 in the 60 and 23.93 in the 200 -- finishing third in both. This week it's Regina Jacobs, 39, becoming the first woman of any age to run under 4 minutes for the 1500 indoors. Expect both marks to be ignored in WMA Land.

Records. Don't get me started. When it comes to world masters records, I seem to have no end to gripes. Well, let's look at the record. Tonight I updated my records page. Then I compared official World Masters Athletics records in the same age groups (mainly M40 and W35 and W40). The results: We agree on a meager 57 percent of the records we both list in said age groups. What's up with that? I'm trying to find out.

Track & Field News once told me that masters track was of no interest to its readers -- since it's a "participant sport" and not a "spectator sport." Well, tell that to the crowd at Madison Square Garden, where the Outstanding Athlete at Friday night's Millrose Games is 36, its 400 winner is 36 and its women's shot winner is 42. Gail Devers led the geezer showcase with an American indoor record in the 60-meter hurdles. Jearl-Miles Clark and Oneithea Lewis broke listed American indoor masters records as well.

Tony Young's incredible M40 indoor season continues. Yesterday he bettered the listed American indoor M40 record for 3,000 meters with a sensational 8:22.99 in Heat 2 of the Washington Invitational. The M40 world record is 8:09.13 by Marcus O'Sullivan (Ireland), in January 2002. Also, M40 Steve Plasencia (USA) has an 8:24.16 from January 1997 on the books, reports Alan Sigmon. The listed American record is 8:32.52 by Craig Fram. The mark, however, came on the University of Washington's oversize 307-meter track, which disallows record consideration.

Merlene Ottey, the Jamaican-born sprint great, runs for Slovenia these days. But she might as well compete for Jupiter as far as the WMA world indoor rankings are concerned. At an indoor meet February 9, 2003, in Ghent, Belgium, only world champion Zhanna Block could beat Ottey in the 60-meter dash. Ottey clocked 7.18 to Block's 7.09. Ottey is 42. Block is 30. And Ross Dunton, who maintains the seasonal masters rankings for WMA, is a lost cause.

Let's review the sorry situation. Ross Dunton has agreed to produce world seasonal rankings -- a.k.a performance lists -- for World Masters Athletics. The idea is to recognize the best performances in various age groups. Credible sources include national championships and meets sanctioned by national governing bodies. Might I suggest another source? The IAAF Top Lists. We already know about Merlene Ottey's 60. Let's look at some other events.