Relay ARs easy pickings at Penn if teams are formed properly

WMA and USATF both list relay records in 5-year increments (with America adding a “Club Relay” wrinkle), but some records are missing from the American record list. Since Penn is this weekend, teams should be aware of the “vacant” records, especially the 4-by-400. For men, no U.S. records are listed in 45-49, 55-59, 65-69 and 85-89. For women, no U.S. records are listed for 45-49, 55-59, 65-69 and everything over 75. Of course, this doesn’t mean such teams have never been fielded. Proof is in the WMA lists, which include Americans holding world records in M45 and M55. So why aren’t they American records as well? Beats me. Also check out these WMA records:

German WR from 2002 supplanted American WR from 2008 in 4-by-400. Say what?

German WR of 2002 replaced American WR of 2008 in 4-by-400. Say what?

Is that chart crazy or what?

In April 2008, I reported a W40 4-by-400 world mark of 3:56.27 set at Penn by Charmaine Roberts, Renee Henderson (now Shepherd), Jane Brooker and Jearl Miles-Clark.  But that’s not what WMA reports as a world record. On April 1 (appropriately?), a German team’s time of 3:56.02 from a 2002 Potsdam meet supplanted it. 

In other words, a 13-year-old mark shows up out of the blue — despite what WMA records chair Sandy Pashkin told me at the Anaheim convention. She said would-be world records have to be submitted to WMA (via their national affiliates) within 30 days of the performance.

I have no doubt the German mark is legit. It was set at a Eurovets meet. But why so long to get into the books? Beats me.

Here's how Germany's WR in the 4-by-400 for W40 appears in Eurovets site.

Here’s how Germany’s WR in the 4-by-400 for W40 appears in Eurovets site.

Here are listed relay WRs by American teams:

Men Outdoor 4Ă—100
M35 41.89 Ho,Dussett,Pittman,Snaer USA 17.07.11 Sacramento, USA
M40 42.20 Strong; Stephenson; Berry; Gault USA 02.05.04 Irvine, USA
M50 44.77 Frey,James,Fulton,Barnwell USA 24.04.09 Philadelphia, USA
M60 47.93 Peterson, Wilson,Allie,Sanders USA 17.07.11 Sacramento, USA
M70 51.96 Sims,Bennett,Colbert,Lida USA 25.04.08 Philadelphia, USA
M90 2:22.37 Ross,Rogers,Englert,Goldy USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA

Men Outdoor 4Ă—400
M35 3:19.45 Bullard,DeSio,Winslow,Dussett USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA
M40 3:20.83 Allah,Morning,Gonera,Blackwell USA 28.04.01 Philadelphia, USA
M45 3:24.84 Mulazim,Gosa,Lawson,Shute USA 17.07.11 Sacramento, USA
M50 3:31.76 Sullivan,Moody,Gatling,Blackwell USA 17.07.11 Sacramento, USA
M55 3:40.62 Allie,Haywood,Collins,Grant USA 23.04.10 Philadelphia, USA
M60 3:51.33 Collins,Grant,Haywood,Allie USA 26.04.13 Philadelphia, USA
M75 4:54.64 Sims,Stewart,Rose,Lida USA 15.07.13 Olathe, USA
M90 12:41.69 Ross,Rogers,Englert,Boyle USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA

Men Outdoor 4Ă—800
M35 7:55.67 Smith,Schroer,Rhodes,Anderson USA 03.04.10 Williamsburg, USA
M40-49 7:54.17 Hinton, Pope, Paulk, Young USA 27.06.04 Eugene, USA
M70-79 11:09.87 Selby,Escobson,Linde,Bryant USA 02.08.98 Orono, USA
M90-99 28:17.10 Ross,Rogers,Englert,Boyle USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA

Women Outdoor 4Ă—100
W75 70.19 Obera,Jordan,Donley,Meiler USA 17.07.11 Sacramento, USA
W85 1:50.31 Styles,Peterson,Valien,Stewart USA 26.07.13 Berea, USA

Women Outdoor 4Ă—800
(Last update: 01 April 2015)
W35-39 9:25.27 Rizzo, Metz, Reifer, McGrath USA 09.07.11 New York, USA
W40-49 9:18.33 Padilla,Ryan,Burke,Friend-Uhl USA 14.07.13 Olathe, USA
W50-59 10:24.21 Shisler, Allers, Groenendaal, Jasper USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA
W60-69 11:06.02 Harvey,Richards,Steinbach,Martin USA 20.07.14 Winston-Salem, USA

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April 21, 2015

8 Responses

  1. Peter L. Taylor - April 21, 2015

    It gets pretty wild, Ken. For example, look at the M45 American records in the 4 x 100, which are only 47.26 for the “USA” mark and a slightly faster 47.24 for the “club” mark. If you know the recent history of our sprinters you know that these are nowhere near the best American times for M45.

    Just go back to 2011 worlds (Sacramento), where an M45 squad composed of the redoubtable Aaron Thigpen, Johnny Speed, Francois Boda, and Felton Turnage ran the 4 x 100 in 44.73. Even in 2013, when the USA M45 team was not nearly as loaded, it ran 45.46.

    I don’t have time to look up all the M45 4 x 100 results for our American teams at worlds, but you see the implications for our American records. As you indicate, this has particular importance in light of the upcoming Penn Relays.

  2. Tucker Taft - April 22, 2015

    With records ripe for breaking, we are looking for an M60 4×100 runner for this Friday at Penn, because we just had an injury on our M60+ 4×100 Penn team. Please send a message to “Tucker Taft” on Facebook if you are M60+ and have any interest in this. Thanks! -Tucker Taft (Mass Velocity)

  3. saladin allah - April 23, 2015

    To all,

    Good luck…No injuries….run hard..Win!

    Sal

  4. Diane Pomeroy - April 23, 2015

    Good luck to those competing at Penn. Our Mass Velocity Women’s Team won the W45 4×400 at Outdoor Nationals in 4:35.1 so it should have been listed as a record. None of us on the team knew about it. I thought that it was an automatic record that was picked up by USATF, but I guess not. The same thing happened indoor except for the fact that I realized that we broke the American club record by 5 seconds and had to tell race organizers about it a few days later. The entire records process is still a joke. It is very frustrating for those who train so hard to break a record just to be completely ignored by those who process them. The first AR that I was a part of was a one-year nightmare for me. It took all year from January to December to get a piece of paper signed and approved. And in the end, when I look at that record, the W40 4×200, it is listed as USA with none of our individual names listed.

  5. Ken Stone - April 23, 2015

    Write to Jeff Brower, Diane. He’s the new sheriff in town.

  6. Jeff Davison - April 25, 2015

    First Penn Relay Masters Shuttle Hurdle Relay:
    April 24, 2015 the first Penn Relay Masters Shuttle Hurdle Relay was a success. The Masters have competed in this particular relay elsewhere, but this is the first time at the Penn. The Penn Relay is the home of the first open shuttle hurdle relay held in the USA in the 1920s (it started in England). Hopefully – Penn will host many future Masters Shuttle Hurdle Relays.

    Three M50-59 Masters Shuttle Hurdle Relay teams successfully completed their relay at the 2015 Penn Relay. 1st place barely missed the current pending Masters American Record. 1st in 1:02.04; 2nd in 1:03.10; and 3rd in 1:16.44 for the 4 x 100 meter hurdle race. Penn also passed out very cool medals and plaques for the relay teams.
    Great job by Keith McQuitter for organizing these shuttle hurdle relay teams.
    http://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/results.aspx?en=349

    1st: Kerry Sloan, Keith McQuitter, Darnell Gatling, and Damon Blakemore Sr.
    2nd: Robert Stanley, Dexter McCloud, Eugene Anton, and Malcolm Hairston.
    3rd: Michael Jones Sr., Robert McDaniels, Lloyd Jeremiah, and Tim McMahon.

    Note: Keith McQuitter will need to confirm these teams are correct.

  7. Peter L. Taylor - April 25, 2015

    Diane (no. 4): As noted elsewhere, for decades in the relays we went with 10-year age groups for American marks and 5-year age groups for world marks. I really think this needs to be cleared up (the issue of whether we are going to have 5-year American marks in the relays).

    If we decide to go that way we will have to examine about four decades of American relay marks at the worlds to see how many would qualify as American records in the 45, 55, 65, and 75 groups, both women and men.

    Note: I just reviewed the American outdoor records for the 4 x 400. There are no marks at all for W45, M45, W55, M55, W65, M65, W75, or M75. If we are going to go in this direction, I think some sort of announcement needs to be made.

    Second note: Jeff Davison refers above to the pending M50 4 x 100 shuttle hurdle record. That is a 10-year age group record, as are ALL of the shuttle hurdle records. This is consistent with our history in American masters T&F.

  8. Peter L. Taylor - April 25, 2015

    I should have said all of the shuttle hurdle records for age 40 or above. We do have 35-39 records, which is dictated by our minimum age of 35.

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