Ross Dunton is an ex-Californian now coaching and webmastering from his home in Sevier County, Tennessee. Among other things, Coach Ross produces a highly flawed set of performance lists for World Masters Athletics. But his Web site also offers something he calls “Masters Track & Field News.” I often look in vain for actual masters news; it’s often just a cobbling together of Olympic, elite track and drug news. But the “Monday, March 28th Edition” gave me pause. He posted a calendar of “upcoming USATF Masters Meets.”

Ross lists these six meets:
Carolina Masters Track & Field Invitational Saturday, April 9, 2005, Johnson C. Smith University, 500 Summit Ave, Charlotte, NC 28216
Reilly McDonald Invitational Saturday, April 9, 2005, Surprise, AZ
USATF New Mexico Assn. Open/Masters Weight Pentathlon, Sunday, April 10, 2005, Albuquerque, NM
USATF Georgia Assn. Masters Track Field Championships, Friday/Saturday, April 15/16, 2005, Savannah, GA
The PENN Relays, Thur/Fri/Sat April 28/29/30, 2005, Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Southern California Striders Meet of Champions, Saturday, May 7, 2005, Long Beach, CA
I might quibble over inclusion of Penn, since it’s a bit restrictive on which masters run there, especially in the open-100 events. The masters relay teams that compete at Penn are among the best in the world every season. Plodders need not apply.
Also, according to the USATF meet calendar, the Striders meet in Long Beach does not have a USATF sanction.
But if you’re wondering whether his list is comprehensive for the April 9-May 7 time frame, forget it. He left out a few meets.
For example:
4/10/05 John Ward Masters Games Santa Ana CA
4/16/05 Viking Last Chance Twilight Invitational Diablo Valley CA
4/17/05 Mt. SAC Relays Walnut CA
4/23/05 Arizona Flames Invitational Glendale CC AZ
4/24/05 HMTC Weight Pentathlon Honolulu HI
4/9/05 Oregon TC Masters Mini Meet, Eugene OR
4/13/05 Connell Sunday Hammer Series Connell WA
4/20/05 Connell Sunday Hammer Series Connell WA
4/27/05 Connell Sunday Hammer Series Connell WA
5/8/05 Connell Sunday Hammer Series Connell WA
4/23/05 Kansas Relays Lawrence KS
4/30/05 Drake Relays Des Moines IA
4/9/05 WW Samuell Invitational Adison TX
4/9/05 Jackrabbit Relays Odessa TX
4/23/05 El Paso Senior Games El Paso TX
4/9/05 Spring Fling #2 Clermont FL
4/18/05 USATF Florida Weight Pent. Championships Venice FL
4/23/05 Spring Fling #3 Clermont FL
4/23/05 Florida AC Track & Field Meets Lauderdale
5/6/05 -5/8 Southeastern Masters T&F Meet Durham NC
(The above events come from the masterstrack.com meet calendar, BTW.)
So what if Coach Ross missed 20 meets? Who’s he hurting?
Well, besides his own credibility (which isn’t high after mangling WMA rankings for years), he gives people a myopic vision of the masters circuit. He also stands to anger organizers of the unlisted meets.
Why, for example, does he list Penn but not Mt. SAC, Kansas and Drake — all with a long history of featuring masters in exhibition races?
Why does he deign to list the Striders meet in California but not the Southeastern Masters T&F Meet in North Carolina?
The Southeastern meet is one of the biggest in the country and goes back 35 years! And this year it’s offering its first ever “Special Recognition Cash Awards.” Two $500 prizes will be given — one to the best age-graded track performance and one to the best age-graded field performance.
Now that’s what I call Masters Track & Field News.
If Coach Ross wants his site to be a legitimate source of meet information, he should pool his efforts with Dave Clingan, our meet calendar guy. Instead, he posts a few hand-picked events to the exclusion of other meets of merit.
If you wanna run with the Big Dogs, you better be prepared to show your pedigree, Coach.