Gosa, Arlin Genet claim masters exhibitions at USA nationals
Duane Gosa upset world champ Robert Thomas today to win the men’s masters exhibition 400 at the USA open championships in Eugene, Oregon. Duane, about 44, went 49.92 in windy conditions on a sunny day in the low 70s. Robert, with the best seed time of 49.76, was inexplicably assigned to lane 1. Minutes earlier, Aeron Arlin Genet, who turned 42 today, wasn’t pushed and cruised to a slow-for-her 4:40.76 in the 1500 masters event, a race that included surprise entrant Joan Benoit Samuleson, 52, who took fourth in 5:02.34 — about 10 seconds off Kathy Martin’s W50 American record of 4:52.55. Here are the women’s splits. Joanie, whose name isn’t listed in the Status of Entries, somehow made the field without going through the usual channels. Of course, she’s an Olympic marathon legend. But if she missed the entry deadline, WTF? Guess the celebs are more equal than others.
Aeron led from the start as only part of the race was webcast on Flotrack.org.
Aeron gave herself a birthday gift, but was 15 seconds off her recent bests.
Aeron congratulates runner-up Christine Olen seconds after the race.
Results were displayed immediately after race on Hayward Field’s scoreboard.
The men’s 400 field, fighting a headwind, reaches the 200 mark in Eugene.
Khalid Mulazim (in blue at left) had the lead off the turn, but couldn’t hold it.
With a fantastic kick, Duane wins with the first sub-50 mark in M40 this season.
Duane Gosa, BTW, is a longtime coach and founder of the Team Ohio Track Club. But while Robert and Khalid are entered in Oshkosh nationals, Duane is not. So this race will have to suffice as the national championship.
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Race videos will probably be posted soon on either flotrack or runnerspace.com.
Here are the official results:
Flash Results, Inc.
 2009 USA Track & Field Championships – 6/25/2009 to 6/28/2009
               Hayward Field – Eugene, Oregon               Â
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Event 41Â Women 1500 Meter Run Masters
===============================================================
   Name                   Year Team                   Finals
===============================================================
Finals                                                       Â
 1 Aeron Arlin Genet           unattached            4:40.76
 2 Christine Olen              Boise River Run       4:44.51
 3 Karen Steen                 Club Northwest        4:54.53
 4 Joan Benoit-Samuelson       unattached            5:02.34
 5 Alyssa Tower                Club Northwest        5:05.43
 6 Jennifer Hegarty            New Balance Boston    5:08.45
 7 Carla Kehoe                 Golden West AC        5:09.43
 8 Brenda Carter               Eastside Runners      5:09.98
 9 Rebecca Connolly            unattached            5:12.10
 10 Sarah Smith                 Eastside Runners      5:13.52Event 42 Men 400 Meter Dash Masters
===============================================================
   Name                   Year Team                   Finals
===============================================================
Finals                                                       Â
 1 Duane Gosa                  Team Ohio T C           49.92
 2 Robert Thomas               Southwest Spr           50.06
 3 Khalid Mulazim              Southwest Spr           50.48
 4 Matt Devine                 unattached              50.65
 5 Johnny Speed                Oxnard Stars            51.95
 6 Neil Fitzgerald             Nike Central Pk         51.97
 7 Corey Moody                 Sprint Force            52.62
 8 Marcus Shute                unattached              53.02
31 Responses
No Surprise that Mark Cleary would assign the two fastest guys to the 2 worst lanes possible. I will never compete in any exhibition put on by Mark. That is totally ridiculous. Too many politics with Mark and his events.
B4 you start given excuses. It was an exhibition race, so no lanes should have been drawn. You assign according to the times entered.
Great race Mr. Gosa and the rest of the field.
In other masters highlights at nationals:
Stacy Dragila made the Berlin worlds team at age 38, clearing 4.55 (14-11) for third place. Her W35 vault best is 4.70 (15-5).
Derek Miles, age 36, made the men’s vault team by going 5.75 (18-10 1/2).
And two geezer walkers went 1-2 in the 20K:
Teresa is 46 and Joanne is 45!
Finals
1 Teresa Vaill Walk USA 1:37:12.84
2 Joanne Dow unattached 1:39:59.32
3 Maria Michta Walk USA 1:41:16.24
4 Miranda Melville Wisconsin-Parkside 1:45:38.87
5 Erin Taylor South Texas Walk 1:50:12.22
6 Susan Randall unattached 1:50:46.41
7 Le’erin Voss Parkside A C 1:51:21.51
This meet does not serve as our National Championships. If Duane cant make it to Nationals then I guess he loses out on a chance to become the National Champion. I set up my season based on the dates of Nationals and Worlds to make sure that I peak at the appropriate time of the season. Also that’s not the fastest time of the year. I ran 49.87 last weekend in Indianapolis, I just didn’t post the time because I wanted to see what I ran this weekend. Nationals is Nationals and exhibition is exhibition. Great run Duane. I may have to come back over to Columbus to get a rematch.
Sorry. Don’t get the WTF on Benoit. What would be the usual channels and why would we care. She ran and that’s what counts. It was an exhibition race not a championship event.
Hey Don , before you go off on me for something I have nothing to do with– check your rule book. In cases when no preliminary round is run–lanes are always done by random draw–so I know you would like to make this my fault–It was just USATf following the rules–Mark Cleary
Ken, in regard to Joan Benoit she talked to someone high up in USATF and got herself put in the race–I didn’t know until the day before the race. I talked with her when she checked in for the race and explained that there is a standard procedure for entering Masters Invitational races. She had contacted USATF National two weeks ago-but they never communicated with me–so again something not within my control–Mark
Joan got, by far, the most attention and hugest applause from the crowd. It was a good call for USATF to put her in, most people in the crowd did not know the other runners.
But yes, USATF certainly should have given Mark a heads up about it. But it was the 1500, it’s not like she displaced anyone else who signed up earlier.
More on Teresa “I’m not retiring” Vaill here:
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/trackandfield/16256762-41/story.csp
More on Teresa “I’m not retiring” Vaill here:
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/trackandfield/16256762-41/story.csp
More on Teresa “I’m not retiring” Vaill here:
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/trackandfield/16256762-41/story.csp
Rule Book! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!
If rules were such a factor then how did Joan Benoit get in? Like I said it is all politics and Rules only come into play when convenient. I can see if this was the 1st time, but everytime I read or hear about an event with Mark Clearly it is always something negative. I do not know you personally, so I will not make judgement.
All I am saying is that I will chose to stay away from something that seems to put a negative spin with Masters Track athletes. I cannot understand why athletes would just make up these things?
Good Luck with your future exhibitions !!!!!!!
The lanes are not assigned by Mark Cleary, contrary to the assumptions made by Mr. Drummond.I had the fastest seed time coming in to the women’s masters exhibition race indoors ( 400 meters,Boston, 2009),and ended up in lane 2. These are the usatf rules, for better or worse. Remember the old adage about assumptions and know of what you speak before you make such personal attacks.
Just took another look at the schedule for the open nationals just completed in Eugene. I did notice that there were only 2 races that were marked as “exhibition” — one was the masters 1500 for women and the other was the masters 400 for men.
I would say this (the masters 400) could have gone either way in terms of assigning lanes. Because it was an exhibition and not a championship, I think the person who assigned the lanes could have been told that “we want our top person to go in lane 4, the next person to go in lane 5, the third seed to go in 3,” etc. Or, the USATF rules could have been followed but, again, this was not a masters championship.
Agree with Terry Ballou and Mark Cleary that random assignment is the rule when preliminaries have not been run. Also agree with Don Drummond that it was an exhibition (as the schedule shows), and thus one might be able to go with “best, next best,” etc. I would probably have gone with Don Drummond if that was possible.
I have been heavily involved over the years in a USATF-sanctioned meet that is far larger than the open nationals, an international meet called the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Relays. Every year except this year (when he opted not to do the sprint because of a stress fracture), Bill Collins has been seeded no. 1 in the 100.
This year, Oscar Peyton was seeded no. 1, Charles Allie was seeded no. 1 in his race, Val Barnwell was no. 1, Lonnie Hooker was no. 1, John Simpson was no. 1, etc. All are well-known sprinters.
Theoretically, because no preliminary races are run, the sprinters at Penn should be listed in random order and thus given lanes in a random fashion. Phil Felton (masters coordinator) does not do this, however, and I did not do it when I was the masters coordinator. In effect, this is an exhibition at Penn of how good the masters sprinters are — do we want Bill Collins to draw a 10?
Thus, the key question for me about the open nationals is what the word “exhibition” means. I tend to think it allows for a bit of latitude.
Let me amend my comment above so as not to speak for Phil Felton. Phil does rely on the times submitted, but certain people always come out no. 1. But the point here would be that the races run before Penn are not, strictly speaking, preliminaries for the Penn Relays. They are simply races of widely varying quality, ranging from small club meets to nationals.
Penn…I believe top seeds all had lane 1.
Eugene…sad they didn’t get seeded lanes, not sure it was in Mark’s hands..congrats to all that tried their best no matter what lane they had or didn’t have…I admire quarter-milers
…Last second additions? Depends on who you know?
Nationals: though not many entered this year, there will certainly be some good battles in sprints and middle distance races in many age groups..
Simpdog (now Simpson):
The top seed in the first three races (M40, M45, and M50) at Penn got lane 1, as you indicate. This was due to some confusion among the clerks. Beginning with M55 (Oscar Peyton), they corrected the error and put the top seed in the middle. In previous years they always put the top seed in the middle (lane 5 for a 9-lane track). One thing they do not do at Penn is randomly assign the lanes.
Agree that Oshkosh will have some great battles even with the modest turnout (about 1000).
I haven’t seen the video of the men’s 400m race posted so here it is:
http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235247/190505
The line I’ve used several times when coaching high school kids who complained about lane draw, etc.: “the cream always rises to the top.” The best competitors find a way to overcome every obstacle and avoid excuses. Last I checked, while there are “preferred” lanes, the distance from the specific start line for different races in each lane to the finish is still the same.
I wonder if Joan would have been allowed to run if she represented Club Northwest or Eastside Runners, since both already had 2 runners in the field?! The more I read, the more I understand, that rules are rules…sometimes!
Pete, Penn Relays are not the Nationals–believe me I have made the pitch to USATF that our events are exhibition events and I would like our events to be seeded on time. I got no where with that arguement( when we are at their open Nationals we follow the rules they follow) I will admit that they let former Olympian people in on occasion and I have absolutely no say in that decision so that part is political–but I am getting real tired of people saying that these events have negative aspects and also being blamed by people who don’t understand that most of what they complain about has nothing to do with me.
Hey Peter…
in Orono I had the fastest seeded entry time submitted and got lane 8…what was that all about?…however I do believe in any race the lane shouldn’t matter….make ’em run your race if out front…if in lane 1 run hard and turn left, carefully…LOL
honestly my favorite lane for a race with a turn or two is lane 1 or 2…but who cares which lane is preferred…right?
I ran a masters exhibition mile at USATF in 2007. I entered like everyone else, ran the race, and had a good time. Plus, since I was a part of the meet, I had credentials for the entire meet. I witnessed some outstanding races and saw a lot of friends throughout. There were no problems whatsoever, except the weather wasn’t great during my race…Wet track, cool, some wind. Cleary, not Mr. Cleary’s fault that the skies were not clear. Ha-Ha. Nothing is ever perfect. Constructive criticism or voicing concerns is fine, but I thought the whole experience I had in 2007 was a great opportunity. I am sure the positives outweigh the negatives, even when the lanes are not drawn logically or when a late entrant is allowed to bypass the entrance procedures.
“I wonder if Joan would have been allowed to run if she represented Club Northwest or Eastside Runners, since both already had 2 runners in the field?! The more I read, the more I understand, that rules are rules…sometimes!”
If she was part of a club she would have known how to enter so it’s a moot point. I don’t see why people are getting bent out of shape about it. She didn’t displace anyone else from the meet and she got the attention of the crowd, something the masters men did not have the star power to do.
Alyssa Tower, who finished just behind Joanie, describes her experience in this YLFOR blog:
http://petemagill.blogspot.com/2000/06/june-29-2009-race-report-from-usa.html
So Joan entered the race “on her own” – good for her for showing up and bringing attention to masters runners. She is an Olympic Gold medalist – the first female to win a gold medal in the marathon. Just how many Olympic Gold Medalists turn up to run in masters events?
She spent the time and energy to get herself to Eugene (I do not think she used a transporter beam) – I doubt that USATF sent a private jet for her – and probably they paid her way – and maybe a stipend – do not know – do not care.
She is a great ambassador for masters and especially for women masters athletes.
Those of you who are bitching and whining – get over yourselves please.
Congratulations to those who qualified, paid their own way and ran.
Mark, I appreciate the fact that Penn Relays are not the nationals. I’m glad you clarified that things were out of your hands as far as lane assignments at the just-concluded US nationals (Eugene).
I think you have been wronged, Mark. If you made the pitch to USATF that these are exhibition events they should have accepted it– after all, they are exhibitions, everyone knows that. Shame on USATF.
Simpdog (now Simpson): I guarantee you that things have been done inconsistently at national masters. Sometimes they use the times to seed, and sometimes they “go random.” Thus, in some years you would have gotten lane 4, but at Orono you got lane 8.
I must admit to not feeling an ounce of guilt about what I used to do at Penn when I was masters coordinator. Bill Collins? Top seed. Charles Allie? Top seed. Someone with no credentials or suspicious times, bottom seed.
And yet, someone could make the argument that because Penn is a USATF-sanctioned meet I did the wrong thing. But even Penn Relays meet management would think I was crazy if I didn’t give Bill Collins (or, next year, either Bill Collins or Oscar Peyton) top seed in his age group.
Hey Johnny
I marked off steps at a couple of tracks in my area including a University track ( Won’t say the name)and found that spacing in the 200 and the 400 lane stagger were not the same for their perspective events. One lane at one of the tracks was a whole step extra advantage from the inside lanes in the 200. Strange also the same track is used for the High School District Track meets.
Hey Michael-
If true, that’s crazy. As a matter of clarification only, did you walk the tracks from the middle of the lane (as that’s where the measurements are taken)? And also, seems that over the course of half a lap or a whole one, just stepping it off could lead to the difference.
Not saying you aren’t correct as they could certainly be wrong but my guess is the University track in particular is certified.
Regarding Joanie and the rules:
So, let me see if I’ve got this straight. We are having a hard time promoting Masters Track and Field. Most masters runners would rather run an uncertified and inaccurately measured road race than run on the track. A living Track and Field/Road Running legend, not to mention a 50 year old woman who is freakishly fast enough to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials, asks to break the rules a little and get into a Masters Track and Field exhibition race in which she garners some well needed publicity for Masters Track and Field. And there are some who have a problem with this. I ran the Western Regional Track and Field Championships in which there was one runner, me, entered in my age group in the 10,000 meters (3 total). Good thing I entered early and didn’t miss the deadline. Is there any wonder that we don’t just put real bullets in our starter’s pistol and shoot our sport in the head with it? If Joanie shows up at Oshkosh, I hope they have enough sense to let her in regardless of whether she entered properly. And we should lay off poor Mark. If anybody thinks they can do better with this under funded, under participated, and under appreciated sport, I’m sure Mark could tell them where to sign up.
No I did not measure the distances, but in both cases there was a visible difference. The High School track is the one I train on I will measure it tomorrow your way and mine. If the result is true I plan to let the school know about it.
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