Hot 400s highlight Day 2 of WMA regional championships
Yesterday’s finals at the WMA regionals in Clermont, Florida, included the 400, 800, steeple, short hurdles and some jumps and throws. This very tight M45 finish in the 4 caught my eye: Paul Brown (51.95), Marcus Shute (51.99) and Courtney Muhammad (52.07). At Spokane nationals, the top three were: Muhammad (51.41), Saladin Allah (51.61) and Shute (52.20). Phil Raschker (who didn’t compete in Spokane) and Jeanne Daprano are winning a bunch of events. M55 Horace Grant won a very tough double: the 400 in 55.65 and the 800 in 2:08.45. Antwon Dussett, 32, one of the few M30s in the country to take submasters seriously, won the 400 in 48.16. He won the Spokane 4 in 48.75. Click here for Friday’s results.
13 Responses
This petition is being started to attempt to move the site for next years nationals away from Clermont please read and sign.http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/noclermont2009
[url]www.ipetitions.com/petition/noclermont2009[/url]
Thanks Allan. I will sign and send the link to a…oh, about eleventy-seven people.
NOTE to WMA competitors on Sunday:
our hotel just posted a sign saying the meet “may” start 30 minutes early. May? How do we know? How do others know that aren’t at our hotel?
I signed the petition. But, I think the real problem is that no one else bid for the 2009 Nationals, did they?
I didn’t enjoy the Charlotte meet (mainly because I was ill) but the meets at LSU and Disneyland were okay. I think we should give the people at Clermont a chance. It would be nice to hear some comments from people who competed at the WMA regionals
I’ve been here in Clermont. Funny, I have not seen the piles of dead bodies that seem to have been predicted from the heat. Yes, there have been delays and rescheduling from rain and especially thunderstorms. But of course, lightning and thunder only occur in the Southeast … never in other parts of the country. At least I have been lead to believe by others that everwhere in the country other than the Southeast, the weather is perpetually in the 70’s, with clear blue skies. Or something like that.
From my standpoint, things here in Clermont have been run well. The meet management should be commended for trying to come up with work-arounds for the weather.
In a nutshell … grow up and stop complaining. It is always easy for those who are not doing the work to complain the loudest.
You obviously haven’t experienced the walk up and down the hill from the parking area, the “warm up” area, lack of shade, using a port o’ potty to change clothes in etc. as aforementioned….
also, asking someone to grow up, assuming we aren’t working ‘as athletes’, is about as sophmoric as it comes, especially when you leave a Generic Post Name.
This meet is for the athletes…no, neither you nor anyone else cannot change the weather (please show me an average mid-summer Orlando high temp in the 70’s with clear skys)…
finally: read the complaints again, if you would, from an athlete’s point of view who’s considering bringing a family to Clermont next July.
I found that charging $ 5.00 to park was taking advantage of us. This is the first meet or road race that I was ever charged to pay for parking. On Friday they had to delay the meet by over 30 minutes as they forgot to fill the steeplechase water pit earlier. I guess they were too busy at the top of the hill taking parking fees.
Engineer obviously you are not a competitor, because if you were, you would have found the same shortcomings with the facilities the rest of encountered. We are trying to avoid having our national championships from being a huge disaster, The officials have done a great job under trying circumstances
Great 400, Congrats Mr. Brown, Mr. Shute and Mr. Muhammad….wish I had a chance to see that finish…..Mike Sullivan
Yes; the meet management tried as best they could. The officiating was tough; but the same for everyone. However; running 16 man flights fo the pentathlon was ridiculous; especially when four runways were available. After the LJ; we proceeded to the Jav area; and were given a total of 3 javelins for everyone to warm up with. Because we only have 30 minutes between events; some guys did not get any full warm up throws. We were allowed a handful of 10 meter tosses; 3 guy at a time. Discus wasn’t much better. I can’t blame the genlteman who clerked the pen. He had to wear mutiple hats. I blame meet management for telling us implements would be provided; yet not having enough for an adequate warm up.
Our LJ was scheduled to start at 9 am. We weren’t allowed on the track until 15 minutes prior to the event. Again; an inadequate warm up; and no warm up track available. The grassy area was lined off for the cross country race.
Clermont may have had good intentions; but it surely isn’t athlete friendly. If this doesn’t sound a wake up call; I won’t waste my time attending next year.
A competitor in the women’s 8k x-c race collapsed just short of the finish line. She was seriously ill – laid in the sun for some time before EMTs arrived to care for her. She spent at least one night in the hospital. While this is not your dead body Mr. Engineer this was much closer to death than you want to be. – the race was scheduled to start at 7 am – and actually started later, the course was entirely without shade. Other competitors were staggering at the finish. Not everyone is acclimated to the heat – and not everyone handles heat well.
When a meet is held in a place known for intense heat and humidity – the meet directors need to be careful in preparation. I do not know your age Engineer – but not everyone is 30 years old and as we age our ability to deal with heat and humidity declines. I give the meet director credit for starting the distance events early – but it is very hot by 8 am. And at the x-c – there was not an ambulance on standby – and one was badly needed quickly. The woman was on the ground in the full sun for well over 30 minutes – I did not time this – before the EMTs took her away in an ambulance. It took considerable shouting from spectators to get the officials to take notice and call for assistance.
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