Springtime may be track season for high schoolers, but it’s only the first third of the long masters track season — which extends late into October. In Houston, masters have the option of competing six Fridays in a row starting June 1, reports our M55 high jump friend Milan Jamrich. He writes: “Beginning the Friday after next, June 1, the annual Puma/Rice University Friday Night All Comers Track Meets will once again kick off at Rice University’s Track Stadium. The meets, which have been a staple of the Houston track and field scene for more than 20 years, will continue for six Friday nights through July 6.”

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Results are now posted from Saturday’s Southern California Striders Meet of Champions. Nadine O’Connor’s legal long jump was 4.26 meters — just a tad under 14 feet. It surpassed the listed W65 American record of 3.94 (12-11¼) by Leonore McDaniels in 1994. The WR is 4.64 (15-2 3/4) by a German in 2002. Nadine’s wind-aided 200 was 29.87 (not 29.83 as I reported earlier). The meet was primarily for masters, but kids as young as 15 competed. Oldest entrant was 86-year-old Gerry Davidson, proud wife of sprinter Bob Davidson, 84. Willie Banks’ triple jump was 12.74 (41-9 3/4). But Willie wasn’t the only Olympian in Saturday’s triple jump, I later learned. Derek Boosey, 64, also jumped. His mark was 9.84 (32-3 1/2). Derek’s all-time best 16.22 (53-2 3/4) in 1968, when he competed for Britain in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. (He missed the final by 3 1/2 inches.)

Three-time Olympian Willie Banks is 51. Tom Patsalis turned 85 in December. What do they have in common? They’re both terrific at the triple jump. Neither nailed any records in their latest competition, the Southern California Striders Meet of Champions on Saturday, but they’re featured in my latest photo gallery. Tom jumped (and sprinted) in running flats (with his name printed on them). Also check out the form of M55 sprinter Raymond Yeck. But my latest shots of ironman runner Jim Selby may be among my last of him.

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American record holder Jeff Hartwig, who turns 40 in four months, improved his M39 world cialis online record in the vault to 5.85 (19-2 1/4) at a meet Saturday in his hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas. One observer reported: “What a show! I was excited that all of my AVC kids got to witness Jeff Hartwig make 19’02.25″ on his first attempt.” Former M40 world record holder Roger Ruth of Canada chimed in: “This increases Hartwig’s seasonal best by two centimeters and is bettered only by Brad Walker (5.95), Paul Burgess (5.91) and Steve Hooker (5.91). Of these three, Burgess is the oldest, at 27. Jeff will be 40 in September!” Jeff’s previous season best was 5.83 in Mexico.

Jim Sorensen is a single gent with a girlfriend and a busy job teaching middle-school P.E. in the East Bay town of San Leandro. And, oh yeah, a new M40 American record for 800 meters. A thoughtful man with a story to tell, Jim consented to an email interview. The first part is below. It’s a humdinger. He tells of running into Johnny Gray at the meet where he beat Johnny’s M40 AR. He also chronicles his return to racing, “Part B” of his athletic career. Among several revelations: Jim said he ran a half-marathon less than a week before setting the 800 AR (shown at left) at Oxy! Incredible.

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Roald Bradstock, 45, is closing in on an Olympic Trials qualifier in the javelin. A world record helps. On Saturday, at the Florida Athletic Club Classic in Clermont, he threw 71.75 (235-5) (not 71.80 as first reported) on his first attempt to surpass his own M45 American record of 68.80 (225-9) set two weeks earlier. The latest throw is now a YouTube video. Roald’s latest throw beats the listed M45 world record of 70.96 (232-10) by Finland’s Jorma Markus in 2002.

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Joan Benoit-Samuelson, who made herself a legend by winning the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon in 1984, turned 50 this past week and is still very active as a road runner. She lives in Freeport, Maine, just down I-95 from Orono — where the masters nationals are being held this August. So the big question is: Will she journey up the freeway for some 5K or 10K action? She replied today with a definitive: We’ll see.

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Running her first 200 since March, 65-year-old Nadine O’Connor of Del Mar, California, ran the 200 in 29.83 yesterday at the Southern California Striders Meet of Champions at Long Beach State. I saw that race, which had an illegal wind, and also heard she set a long jump record for her age group. Results will be posted soon on the Striders Web site. The listed W65 world record for the deuce is 30.46 by Irene Obera in August 1999. As far as I can tell, no woman older than 63 had ever run 200 in under 30 seconds under any circumstances. Nadine, of course, telegraphed her potential here by running a WR 14.11 for 100 at Mt. SAC. I took lots of photos, including shots of Willie Banks triple-jumping. No M50 record, but great efforts.

I don’t know who Alex Ray is. But he’s trying damn hard to get noticed. He’s the owner/publisher/webmaster of an “amateur Web site” devoted to sprints. Calls it sprintic.com. It’s pretty slick for an amateur site. But he’s a little too brazen about reprinting articles, such as one lifted from Scientific American. Anyhoo, I wrote him a note, asking if he’d include stuff on masters. Haven’t heard back yet. Stay tuned.

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Dave Clingan, new chairman of the USATF Masters Awards Committee, asks the intriguing question: “Who are the top American masters track and field athletes of all time? Those who have won the most championships? Set the most records? Perhaps, but one might argue, that the greatest of all are those who have most often been chosen as Masters Athlete of the Year. This idea lead me to pose a question when I assumed duties of Masters T&F Awards Chair this year: Where is the list of all the athletes who have won these awards?” (This includes the age-group award winners, such as M50 field eventer and W70 track eventer. Here’s an example.)

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