Led by the world records of two Atlanta-area athletes, Americans combined for several dozen medals in the final two days of the 17th World Masters Athletics Championships in Riccione, Italy. The meet ended today with the powerful German and British teams claiming many relay medals, but Team USA collected plenty of hardware and also set at least six American records. Phil Raschker of Marietta, Georgia, ended up with 10 gold medals for the meet –- tying her record haul from 1997 worlds in Durban, South Africa. Her neighbor Jeanne Daprano of Atlanta set a W70 world record by winning the 400 in 1:17.92. That beat the listed WR of 1:18.26 by South Africa’s Veronica Welgemoed in 2002. Jeanne’s husband, Bill, didn’t just cheer her on. Bill ran on two AR relay teams in the M80 age group. (Details below.)

In the W60 final of the 80-meter hurdles, Phil ran 13.35 with a legal 1.2 mps wind to lower her own WR of 13.50 from June as she beat Austria’s Marianne Maier in this event and the long jump to take her eighth and ninth golds of the meet. She won her record-tying 10th the hard way -– dropping down to the W55 age group to join Brenda Matthews, Sharon Warren and Catherine Nicoletti for the 4×100 relay, which won in 56.47.
Carol Finsrud of Texas added her fourth gold medal of the meet by winning the W50 weight pentathlon with 4,742 points, beating Anne Jensen of Denmark by a whopping 869 and falling only 21 points short of her own world age-group record set July 8 at the Spokane masters WP nationals.
Nadine O’Connor, who won pole vault gold, had to settle for a third silver Friday -– this one in the 80 hurdles. Her consolation prize: an American record in the W65 age group of 14.31 into a 1.2 mps wind. The listed AR was 17.07 by Barbara Jordan in 2003. Jordan, now a W70, edged teammate Christel Donley 17.90 to 17.96 in a two-woman final and just missed the AR of 17.80 she set at Charlotte nationals in 2006.
Among Americans in the 110 hurdles, M35 Don Drummond won in 14.74 and M40 world record holder David Ashford went event faster, taking gold in 14.64 at age 44. In M45, Henry Andrade and Jeff Brower went 2-4 in 16.16 and 16.80. In the 100 hurdles, M65 Emil Pawlik took bronze in 16.17. In the 80 hurdles, M70 Bob Paulen took bronze in 14.28 and M80 Mel Larsen took gold in 15.24. Joy Upshaw-Margerum finished .01 second out of silver with her 12.12 in the W45 race over 80 meters.
In the 400s contested Friday, Bob Lida of Kansas won the M70 final with an American record 61.00, smashing the listed age-group best of 62.2 by John Alexander in 1989. M70 teammate Larry Colbert was third in 63.28. Thomas Jones won silver in M50 with a 52.84 behind only James Lofton’s 52.64 on the U.S. seasonal list. Bill Collins won the M55 race with 53.45 to complete another amazing sweep of the 1, 2 and 4. Larry Barnum won M60 gold in 57.62, recovering from an intestinal ailment early in the meet that hampered his 800.
Among American women, Lisa Daley’s 56.76 was good for silver in the 400. Pat Peterson also won bronze, clocking 1:52.93 in the W80 final. And Louise Adams, better known as a distance star, was the lone entrant in W85, running a lap in 3:14.35.
In the 1500s Friday, Italy went a remarkable 1-2-3-5 in the M40 age group, led by Giorgio Gennari Litta in 4:00.24. Britain’s Dave Taylor was fourth in 4:02.54. In the M50 race, American Anselm LeBourne took silver with a 4:06.61 behind behind Spain’s Jesus Borrego, who ran 4:04.74. M50s Steve Gallegos and David Cannon went 3-5 with times of 4:16.60 and 4:22.36. Nolan Shaheed won M55 in 4:25.44 to add gold to his silver in the 800.
In the W55 race, Kathy Martin was edged for gold by Italy’s Waltraud Egger, 5:12.59 to 5:12.62. Kathy had to settle for silver and an American record, beating the listed age-group best of 5:14.2 by Vicki Bigelow in 1992. American Marie-Louise Michelsohn won the W65 race in 6:06.17.
In the relays today, the USA M40 4×1 team of Eric Merriweather, Clinton Aurelien, David Jones and Henry Andrade took silver in 45.13 behind the Italian team that included 100 champion Mario Longo in 42.94. Italy edged Team USA in the M40 4×4 – with JR Ripy, Vaughan Kastor, Jones and Aurelien clocking 3:27.97 behind the Italians’ 3:26.01.
The Italians also won the M45 4×1, edging Team USA 44.24 to 44.48. The American quartet was madeup of Randy Frey, Harold Pierce, James Chinn and Val Barnwell. In the M45 4×4, a British team barely pipped Team USA, 3:33.30 to 3:33.70, with Barnwell and Chinn joined by Eric Dixon and Jeff Lindsay.
The M50 American 4×1 team was third behind Britain and Germany in 46.86, with Greg Pizza, Kenneth Thomas, Mahmoud Nirpumand and Thomas Jones handling the stick. The 4×4 squad of Julio Reyes, William Ward, Eitalo and Thomas also was third, finishing in 3:49.67.
In M55, Team USA took silver, edged by Britain 46.16 to 46.66. The American foursome was Bob Bowen, Mike Radiff, Rick Riddle and Bill Collins.
In M60, another close 4×1 race saw Australia beat Team USA 49.58 to 49.87. Ron Johnson, Larry Barnum, Roger Pierce and Ralph Souppa were the American relayists. But the same American quartet turned the tables in the 4×4, whipping the Aussies 3:56.49 to 4:03.00.
In M70, the American 4×4 team took gold and the American age-group record. Larry Colbert, Harry Brown, Bob Paulen and Bob Lida combined for a 4:31.23 to break the listed AR of 4:35.07 set by a 1989 world meet team that included Payton Jordan.
In M80, the German 4×1 team beat the Americans, 1:04.29 to 1:06.12. But, again, the consolation prize was an American age-group record as Mel Larsen, Bill Daprano, Sam Hirabayashi and Bill Melville broke the listed record of 1:07.37 set way back in 1985. The same team won the 4×4 in 6:41.73 – destroying the listed American record of 7:34.9, also set in 1985. Sam, by the way, took fourth in the 1500 with a time of 7:33.45.
A day after taking the 1500 gold in W65, Marie-Louise Michelsohn won the 2K steeplechase in 9:30.53 — well off her world record at Orono of 9:09.25 but well under the listed WMA age-group record of 10:23.82. In the W60 age group, Mary Trotto won silver in 10:59.39. American men didn’t do much in the steeple, but I noted the presence of Ambrose Burfoot in the M60 2K. He finished in 8:38.30, but out of the medals. (He’s better known as Amby Burfoot, the longtime editor of Runner’s World and 1968 Boston Marathon champ.)
Meanwhile, the WMA Web site listed these world records set at Riccione, as of Friday:
100 M90 FREDERICO FISCHER BRA 17.53
100 M95 FRIEDRICH MAHLO GER 21.44
200 M90 FREDERICO FISCHER BRA 38.57
200 M95 FRIEDRICH MAHLO GER 48.69
200 W50 MARIE MICHEL PUR 25.65
400 W50 MARIE MICHEL PUR 57.66
400 W70 JEANNE DAPRANO USA 1:17.92
800 M95 MANUEL MUNOZ MEX 9:43.12
5000 M50 JOHANN HOPFNER GER 15:33.75
10Km Race Walk W90 MARIA RAMIREZ BAUTISTA MEX 1:38.07
20KM Race Walk M70 ARTHUR THOMSON GBR 1:53:26
300 Hurdles M85 ROMAIN MAYNARD FRA 1:27.09
300 Hurdles W50 JANE HORDER GBR 46.19
5000 Race Walk W90 MARIA RAMIREZ BAUTISTA MEX 49:25.20
80 Hurdles W60 PHIL RASCHKER USA 13.35
80 Hurdles W65 EDITH GRAFF BEL 14.24
80 Hurdles W75 ASTA LARSSON SWE 19.76
Hammer M60 BORIS ZAITCHOUK CAN 61.96
Hammer M80 MANFRED RITTWEGER GER 40.06
High Jump M60 THOMAS ZACHARIAS GER 1.76 (but he’s gone 1.80 in 2007, tho)
High Jump M70 CARL-ERIK SARNDAL SWE 1.56
Javelin M50 LUIS NOGUEIRA ESP 71.01
Long Jump W70 CHRISTIANE SCHMALBRUCH GER 4.16
Shot Put M90 FREDERICO FISCHER BRA 9.54
Shot Put M95 FRIEDRICH MAHLO GER 6.93
Triple Jump W70 CHRISTIANE SCHMALBRUCH GER 8.46
Weight Throw M40 RALF JOSSA GER 20.98
Weight Throw M70 ANDRZEJ RZEPECKI RSA 20.71
Weight Throw W80 JULIA HUAPAYA MARTINEZ PER 9.57