Kathy Bergen leads record parade on Day 3 at Sacramento
Kathy Bergen raised the W70 world record in the high jump twice Saturday at Sacramento nationals. She cleared 1.28 (4-2 1/4) and then 1.30 (4-3 1/4) before three misses, some close, at 1.32 (4-4). Tom Surber of USATF’s press office chatted with her for his daily highlights report, which listed other American and world records set on Day 3. But Tom didn’t mention how Kathy won the 100-meter dash — in tennis shoes. She neglected to bring her spikes to the starting line. Kathy says she decided against sprinting to the opposite side of the field (where she had high jumped) to collect her spikes. It was hot early, and she didn’t want to waste energy, so her 15.88 winning time is a second off what she would have run. (But it’s a W70 world record for sneakers.)
Results of the meet rarely tell its story. For example, Bill Collins declared for his 200 prelims in the morning but wasn’t shown in the heat sheets in the afternoon. So the two sections of the M55 event waited an extra 10 minutes (in triple-digit heat) for the computer crew to reseed the races before the gun went off.
The cool part: I was put in Lane 5 with Bill in Lane 4 of the second heat. I told him afterward: “I held you off as long as I could.” He made up the stagger in, oh, 3 seconds.
Saturday night’s Athletes Banquet at the DoubleTree Hotel was a great schmoozefest. It featured Mary Trotto’s awards ceremony for the 2009 season athletes of the year, including Rita Hanscom (as top woman). Bill Murray didn’t attend the meet, so his plaque will be mailed to him. Among the honorees was Johnnye Valien of Los Angeles, dressed to the nines in an elegant red outfit.
Turns out that Saturday was Johnnye’s 85th birthday, so on Mary’s cue several hundred athletes sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
Rex Harvey, the superduper official who lost the WMA presidential election last summer by one vote, got his consolation prize at the banquet. Jim Flanik of the Games Commitee recognized Rex as winner of the David Pain Award for Distinguished Service — and told of how really dedicated Rex is.
On a trip to Barbados once to help that country prepare for a track meet, Jim noticed that Rex’s suitcase was very heavy. Rex wasn’t carrying rocks. He was carrying dry concrete to help patch a substandard throwing ring. Now that’s service.
Comic relief was provided by masters chairman Gary Snyder, who told of how he thought the annual President’s Awards at the annual convention were such a good idea he wanted to give one himself. He called it the “Crash and Burn Award” and said it would go to an athlete who hurt himself in the high jump in his first event at last year’s Oshkosh nationals.
Oh my gosh! He’s talking about me, I thought.
He called me up the podium and gave me a pinkish-purple crash helmet (something to help me avoid another head-clunking collision with a high jump standard).
It doesn’t match my relay bronze at Lahti, but the award was pretty cool. Thanks for thinkng of me, Gary.
Also, check out USATF’s photo galleries from Sacramento State. Hundreds of shots are online now. But our photos will knock your socks off. They should be online this coming week.
I’ll be traveling today after the meet and busy training for my new job Monday and Tuesday, so my blogging may be constrained. But rest assured I’ll catch up with a vengeance later in the week.
Congrats to all the athletes who survived Sacramento’s crazy heat, and thanks to all the officials who made it possible while hydrating themselves like lunatics.
25 Responses
Nice jumps Kathy!!
Leland McPhie was the oldest ever high jumping! A month older than Everett Hosack in 1998, both jumping the same height: 0.76m.
Nationals is officially in the books for this year. Great job to everyone who competed.
Only 367 days till the next Masters Outdoor Nats 🙂
I’m curious how much Worlds will affect the turnout for Berea. Sacto ended up with a great turnout. I’m guessing several Californians will go to Worlds and opt out of Nats. Thoughts?
The minimum opening height fiasco in the vertical jumps has left me making plans for Berea. The Worlds in Sacramento are run by the same people who created this last minute obscene made-up rule. I left the HJ venue after 2 hours and the bar going up 1 cm at a time. I’ll spend my money on a nice trip to Ohio.
1 cm??? That is even not allowed. Tell me more.
Hello Weia,
As Ken posted July 11th, the powers that be created starting heights for the age groups for high jump and pole vault.
http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAMastersOutdoorTFChampionships/athleteInfo/competition.asp
My start time was 1 pm, along with 4 other age groups (20+ ladies). All this was run at once with different people eligible to jump at certain heights.
My group (W50) had heights .95m, 1.00m, 1.05m, 1.10m, 1.15m, 1.18m (down to 3 competitors), 1.21m.,…[Note that this doesn’t match the table].
But another age group jumped at .95m, 1.00m, 1.05m, 1.10m, 1.15m, 1.19m, 1.23m.,…
A third group jumped .95m, 1.00m, 1.05m, 1.10m, 1.15m, 1.20m, 1.25m.,…
That’s all I could try to keep track of.
Although I didn’t make 1.18m, I stuck around to witness the bar get set at 1.19, 1.20, 1.23, 1.24, 1.25 with the ladies jumping their appointed heights.
I think the head official was trying to make a bad situation work, but it was just crazy.
As an athlete, you could not plan, you could not pace, and you could not enjoy the event. Gee you didn’t even know what height you could jump next!
Now add to the mix that the older ladies (W60-84)competed at 8 am (Congrats Kathy!), but ran over onto the older guy’s time. In turn my group started late. I was out there from 1 pm until 4pm, and the event was not over. The bar was only at 1.25m when I left. (Alison Wood finished at 1.65m)
I had a wonderful time seeing old friends and making new friends, but this fiasco at the high jump took the cake. My sights are on Berea.
Not a very well planned meet… So many age groups at the same time and all with different heights, why not 1.00 1.03 1.06 etcetera?
At the European Chamionships this month we (W60) had another problem: the weather. The competition had just started when an enormous shower with many lightnings arrived. We had to wait under the roofs for one and a half hour and after that my jumping was not that good anymore, although I did a complete new warming up.
Actually, having helped at the meet all day for three days I can attest that the meet was QUITE well planned overall. The running events went off on time, results were posted immediately, and the officials were excellent. Clearly, there were some problems, too. However, I am certain that feedback from the athletes (such as Karen’s) and the USATF officials will result in changes and improvements for the World meet.
I agree with Karen that the some of the high jump competitions were poorly run in Sacramento.
I also had 4 age groups and 24 competitors slammed into my event with similar confusion about opening heights and the progression of the bar and long, long delays. There is a science to preparation for jumping and when the event is poorly organized it can throw even experienced jumpers off.
I was first in the world at Lahti last year and seventh at Sacramento. Big difference. I take responsibility for my performance, but I hope that meet organizers, despite their good intentions under trying conditions, can also understand that it is bad planning to throw together so many age groups.
Karen, don’t give up, World Games are a great event AND I would promise – now don’t prove me wrong-
that the HJ “problem” will be solved. There will be more jumpers in ONE age group ( so more can complain together, just kidding) and the progression will be
different, at least the way it is announced?
NO idea, where the 1 cm progession came from. That only happens when you are all alone in your age group, have won the event and want to go on, for a record or not.
2 cm was already different, but it was in the instructions.
Since we were in the 60 – 84 age group – also over 20 jumpers, we were lucky, the older ones started first, went out first… I tried to hang in a bit longer!
The officials were great, but it took a lot of concentration to figure out, who’s up, who’s passing, etc. Most of us had different starting hts.
Your group really got the “bum” deal, as far as time and progession is concerned. (And I never got to meet your sister, so you need to come back to SAC.)
One little anecdote… in Riccione, we were about 15 HJ jumpers in various age groups, we were called
by our COMPETITOR NUMBER, only IN Italian!!!
gO FIGURE THAT ONE, it was a total Chaos. Also, different progessions, none of us, at least I think so,knew Italian, and when they tried in English, it sounded like Greek to us….
.
I got so frustrated (read my Heptathlon story from the 2 days before) that I simply took over, matching
bib numbers with names, trying to get the right
jumpers to move… luckily, the official did not mind, otherwise we would still be there.
It took about 3 hrs, to get the whole thing done and
I am not quite sure, that some of the older athletes even got there 3 attempts..
I was in the competition and used that “moving things along ” as a warm-up, not too condusive,,,,
Karen, if all else fails, come to the Pasadena Senior Games beforehand…
You wanted 1.18 m and I wanted 1.10 – can’t find my
“sad face” on the computer.,
Karen, it will get better, and before WMA, there is
still the Pasadena Senior Games.
Mary Woo (commenter above) worked behind the scenes (under a tent) to help me with this meet. Thank you, Mary. In general, it seemed to be a very nice event. The high jump fields were too large, however, as were the fields for the distance races (I think the women’s 10,000 had 36 competitors before scratches).
Someone will have to figure out this high jump thing. An Olympic official at the meet told me it was “all messed up” (a rough translation) because of the miniscule progressions. That will have to be addressed, and I think it will be.
Well, Karen, I will either see you in Berea or if the HJ issue is resolved, best of luck to you next year at Worlds.
Speaking only from my own experience as a competitor on the track, I thought the meet was very well run and the officials did a great job. The highlight as always was the announcer :).
The only confusing part of the whole weekend (and it’s minor) was the parking issue. Seemed that at least 2/3rds of the cars I walked by going into the stadium had “guest passes” on their dashboards from Sac State. I’m sure officials got those but seemed like far too many to not have athletes in the mix. Would have been nice to save $12 if we’d known that was an option. But perhaps most athletes took a shuttle meaning most parking lot folks were in fact officials.
Bring on Berea!
Someone told me about the parking pass and I bought one, that’s how I knew. I found out later that it was mentioned on the local organizers website which I should have read, my bad. It would have been helpful to have a sign or something directing us to this option when we registered because I had to ask if I could buy one. I thought the officials and volunterrs were friendly, just great and OF COURSE the announcer was fantastic. There are always tweaks and improvements –please, more shade tents!! but everyone was so polite and helpful that I had a very nice experience and I will be back for the world meet!
I think that this is primarily a high jump posting (started with Kathy Bergen), but I think the related comments about the meet are appropriate. Back to the high jump, however.
I see that the high jump for women 35-59 scratched DOWN to 23 competitors. Yikes. I didn’t get an official timing on the duration, but I think this one high jump lasted about 3 hours and 8 minutes. Wow, is that long.
We (announcing staff) were asked to give the height of the bar, and we did that at times (thank you, Mary Woo). However, having a display board would have made things much easier. Next year ….
In terms of announcing staff, the plan for months had been to have 3 announcers — (a) track + general information, (b) jumps, and (c) throws — as well as an announcer’s assistant.
From everything I could tell, however, we had just 1 announcer plus 1 assistant for most or even essentially all of the meet (assistant was Mary Woo for 3 days and “Barbara” for 1). This was undesirable and will have to be corrected for next year.
The primary announcer did the track events, general announcements, some of the high jump, and a bit of the long and triple jump plus a tiny bit of pole vault. This will have to be changed for 2011, as the throwers and jumpers deserve much more attention.
Hi Pete,
since you couldn’t be everywhere (on the 4 day weekend) you send a “substitute”, at least during our shotput event on Friday am, he was great and we all were pleasently surprised to be announced throw by throw.
I am sure he stayed for more sessions, but we were
the first ones.
So thanks to the ” person,” like to know his name.
Thank you, Christel. I will have to adjust my comment (no. 13) as a result of your comment. Apparently we had no designated JUMPS announcer on any of the 4 days, had a TRACK and general information announcer for all 4 days, and had a THROWS announcer for quite a few more hours than I had been led to believe.
I had based my comments on the reporting of a member of the Executive Committee, but apparently the number of hours of this “throws announcer” exceeded what I had thought. So, my apologies. I will now say we had some degree of throws coverage, but I do not know how much. I never made it down to the throws area at all, but I think it was about 350 meters from the start of the 100 dash. No? Yes?
Sounds like this person was indeed our dedicated throws announcer, but I must say that I don’t know how many hours he was on the job. I will thank him, regardless (his last name is in the first half of the alphabet, as is his first name).
Pete, this is cute, I thought the throwing area was
well, in another city, it felt like it – but probably just to me – and then I went to the wrong discus ring, at 7 am…….
OK, this is not HJ – so forgive me for changing the
subject. Also, after reading my own comments I noticed the spelling errors, ok. I’ll resign.
Sounds like people had more issues with the Sacramento meet than just HJ progressions. Perhaps Ken should start a blog thread soliciting feedback from participants on all issues.
The officials did a great job, but there is always room for logistical improvement.
With Sacramento hosting the world next summer, it would seem that any and all feedback would be welcomed by organizers.
Rob- you are spot on. Feedback is KEY as there can be no improvements without it. I believe it’s equally important to discuss what went well at the meet, which was quite a lot. Peter, it was my pleasure to assist you- your job is grueling and more difficult than I realized. Thank you for your fantastic work!
The head high jump official was not allowed to exercise sound judgment concerning the situation (as the rule book allows) and run the event as he thought necessary. I commend him and his team for keeping a positive attitude, while being stuck for hours on the 130 degree tarmac.
Is this another case of existing rules and common sense versus meet management?
Well, have fun folks.
How about some bleachers for spectators at the throwing venues? If you have a large group some couldn’t see as the throwers were standing around the ring waiting to throw and spectators couldn’t see through them. Oshkosh had it setup pretty much perfectly but had a slight step backwards in terms of the throwing areas this year. Let’s bring back the bleachers for Berea. Also, have the same equipment and routine for each throwing event. If you want to announce over a PA system for one group do it for all of them. Try and be equal for each age group no matter the numbers or level of performances in the group. We all do it for the enjoyment and all deserve the same treatment. Other than that, great job from the officials as I saw many from last year again this year and they did just as good if not better a job this year then last year despite the sweltering heat. Thanks ladies and gentlemen for a great meet.
This is GREAT stuff! Andrew- super suggestion! Keep it coming and I’ll make sure it gets heard in my circle of contacts.
Thank you, Mary, and thank you, Andrew A. Now I am guessing what might have happened (to cause me to get different reports about the throwing). I am guessing that the throws announcer announced some groups more or less completely and did not announce some other groups at all.
In terms of getting the throws announcing onto the MAIN PA system, that was the original intent, but when we got to the stadium we found it could not be done.
15 competitors in the high jump is the very maximum, 12 is better. Give all the same progression, even when there are age groups combined, would be my suggestion. I once jumped in a combined competition with different pre-designed progressions, but a difference of 1 or 2 centimetres is nothing, so when you combine, make the progression the same.
And when going abroad for a high jump competition: learn the numbers! That is more important than saying hello in another language. Italian was not that difficult, Hungarian was, but it paid out.
A 3 hour high jump competition…, I happily have not yet experienced a thing like that… Although my problem is not in the time between jumps but the waiting before I can start.
I’m sure with the running of nationals at Sacramento and the feedback of the athletes this year, next year the World Championship Meet will be a great success. This year’s meet really was conducted well with minor flaws. Organization was great, officials performed at the highest levels as always, and the competition was friendly and fierce. I can only imagine the work the group put in to run these national championships (Thank You) so well this year and like I said they will surely correct anything they can that they hear from us. Next year the world will see a great meet being run out there. I’m too young for Sacramento next year but good luck to those of you training towards that meet. Train Hard And Train Safe. I’ll be thinking of you in Berea.
By the way Ken, I think I saw you in the airport food court Sunday and wanted to come thank you in person for this great website to get information from and to share informastion with other masters track athlete BUT I know how I felt in the airport Sunday just wanting to get back to Ohio and relax after four days of competition so I didn’t bother you. But thank you and maybe next time I’ll get to thank you in person. Oh also congratulations to everyone who competed at nationals and hope to see some of you next year in my my neck of the woods in Cleveland.
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