Helen Beauchamp of Memphis, Tennessee, the W85 USATF Female Field Athlete of the Year in 2005, still has game. At the National Senior Olympics yesterday in Louisville, Kentucky, she set a W85 age-group world record in the long jump, going 2.31 meters (7-7) with no wind. It was one of at least four WRs set on Day 2 of the meet. Helen is 87, and her mark would have won the W80 age group as well! (Helen also won the shot with a throw of 5.67/18-07.25. What a stud!)

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Jim Sorensen ran a fabulous 4:05.27 mile tonight in Bloomington, Indiana, according to a post on T&FN and the dyestat prep site — taking fifth in a race won by Dan Wilson’s 4:01.00 and finishing behind prep star Matt Centrowitz’s 4:03.47. Jim became the fastest American 40-year-old in history, beating the listed M40 national record of 4:09.61 by Tony Young five years ago as well as an unratified 4:07.27 in 2005. (Tony also ran 4:05.51 indoors.)

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The track portion of the biennial National Senior Olympics began yesterday in Louisville, Kentucky, and Wichita’s Bob Lida, 70, may be the meet’s Tyson Gay. Running into a 1 mps wind, Bob clocked a terrific 13.49 in the 100 heats. The next-fastest M70 mark was Maryland’s Larry Colbert’s 14.13 in a different heat. In the 400 prelims, Bob beat the NSGA championship record by half a second, burning a lap in 64.49 . Results from Day 1 have been posted in PDF format. The oldest entrant today was Fred Winter of Holland, Michigan — age 92 — who won the hammer with a mark of 5.80 (19-0). The oldest lady competing Tuesday (a day for 65-and-over groups) was Colorado’s Molly Mackown, 89, who won the triple jump at 12-8 (3 .86).

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Jim Sorensen’s Bloomington mile today and an 800 on Saturday will likely be his last races of the season, he writes. His Indy experience was still fresh (and wet) in mind, though, and he tells a story about apparently being misttaken for a coach. In reply to a question about how meet management treated him, Jim wrote: “Everything was fine, though I was told politely that the athlete tent area was for coaches only. Do I look that old?”
(Jim Sorensen (left) splashes around track at Indy mile. Photo by Kirby Lee)

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It’s a Dream Mile for a new generation. Tomorrow in Bloomington, Indiana, our 40-year-old mile star Jim Sorensen will seek an M40 world record (and perhaps the first sub-4 outdoors) at an American Milers Club High Performance Series race. And a wonderful story is developing, since the Status of Entries page shows high school star Matt Centrowitz as an entrant. (Click on “Men’s Mile“) This young vs. old duel was fantasized on the Track & Field News Message Board back before the Prefontaine Classic. Neither was invited. But they’re both in shape, and should the pace be adequate, history could be in the making!

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Jeff Hartwig made it. Allen Johnson didn’t. Tim Seaman and Teresa Vaill hope to make. John Godina didn’t. It was a mixed bag for the dozen or so 35-and-over athletes at the USATF open nationals over the weekend in Indianapolis. “Made it” means punching their ticket for the IAAF world meet in Osaka a few weeks after the Riccione world masters championships. Hartwig’s second-place vault may help persuade him to hang on another year and go for Beijing (which would be his second Games, after Atlanta). He’ll be 40 in 2008.

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Val Barnwell, 49, may be the oldest in his age group when he lines up for the M45 finals in Riccione this September, but he’s a good shot to return to the winner’s podium at worlds. Saturday in New York, he won the 100 at the Metropolitan USATF Association masters championships in 11.14 (unsure of the wind reading). The top M45 sprinter in the world, of course, is Willie Gault (who has a 10.88 this year). But Willie isn’t on Yeam USA’s Riccione entry list. Sigh.

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Merlene Ottey, refusing to retire from elite track, ran a 11.74 for 100 meters Saturday at a Europe Cup “B” meet in Milan, Italy. The mark was wind-aided, but just slightly over the allowable. She also anchored Slovenia’s 4×100 team to fourth in the meet. Merlene ran a legal 11.83 earlier this month. Her tribute site adds: “Merlene . . . announced today that she will contest the 100 metres at the IAAF Grand Prix in Ostrava on Wednesday 27 June. It will be Ottey’s second appearance at the Golden Spike meeting as she also ran here in 2003 — finishing fifth in 11.41 sec.”

A video of Jim Sorensen’s masters mile win at the Indy nationals is posted here, thanks to the folks at Flocast. Yup, it was wet. But Jim ran his own race — even if it meant leading from the gun. He also kicked a last lap in 57.9 seconds (according to the meet announcer) or 57.6 (according to my watch). Stunning. He ran his first half in 2:10 and last in 2:03. Obviously, he has some life in those 40-year-old legs. Unfortunately, Flocast doesn’t list video of the women’s masters mile. That race was tighter, more competitive. A video of 39-year-old Jeff Hartwig’s 5.70 vault also is shown — except Flocast calls him “Jeff Hartley.”

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What a revelation! Posted on our Forum is a link to an online decathlon/heptathlon scoring form — plug in your marks, and the scores pop up, age-graded! Incredible. I haven’t seen age-graded points given before online. (The site even has a calculator for the double decathlon!) Some webgeek at the Cheshire County Athletic Association put this together. Cheshire County is up in the Manchester area of England. But a caution: I haven’t checked point totals on this site against any printed tables. So accuracy is not assured. But what a cool tool! My thanks to M55 hurdler Thad Wilson for bringing this to our attention. You Forum folks are the BEST!