Straddler Sauers ties American indoor record in M60 high jump
Not everything righteous and good happens in Southern California. The Southeast has its masters moments, too. Our friend Bill Daprano writes from Atlanta about some recent record-setting. “James Sauers, who had been recruited by the meet’s namesake, University of Florida track coach Jimmy Carnes, tied the (American) masters indoor record in the (M60) high jump with a leap of 1.66 meters (5-5¼). (David Montieth first cleared that height in 2006.) ‘I knew I could jump it, and probably should have beaten it,’ Sauers said, noting the ‘fantastic surface’ of the O’Connell Center track. The layout of the event, however, kept him from taking his usual run-up. ‘My usual approach would put me behind that wall about 16 feet,’ he said. “I had to sort of zigzag my way up there, but I got it out of my head and went for it.’ â€
Jim is a picture-perfect straddler in this outdoor photo by Ozzie Binion.
Here’s a screen shot of the high jump results at the end of January, showing Jim clean through the record leap.
Always nice to clear a height on the third try. Good workout.
Bill also shared a photo of a W50 indoor record-setting 4×200 relay team of Atlanta Track Club members Linda Lowery, Loretta Woodward, Lesley Chaplin-Swann and LaVonda DeWitt. They clocked 2:08.78 for an indoor record during the USATF Southeastern Regional Championships at the Carl Maddox Field House at LSU in Baton Rouge.
Record-setting Atlanta TC ladies were photographed by Pat Binion.
Finally, says Bill: “Mary Richards, the newly elected captain of the Atlanta Track Club’s competitive team, held the team’s first meeting of the year on Sunday, January 23, 2011. Since Richards (second from right, front row) has taken over the helm, she has more than doubled the team’s roster. Aside from her recruiting efforts, she has attracted several benefactors to sponsor the team. Richards was a member of the W55-59 American record setting relay team last year.â€
Photo by Ozzie and Pat Binion shows the awesome Atlanta Track Club.
22 Responses
What a great shot!! Congrats!
An M70 jumping 6-1 1/2?! That’s pretty amazing, too.
What about Isiah Robinson, age not indicated, but listed in M70+ High Jump? 1.87 m seems pretty good.
GREAT JUMPING !
Way to go Jim and girls! I’m proud to be a “slower” and “lower” teammate!
Bravo, Jim! Hope to see you continue your winning ways at Worlds in Sacramento
Jim great job on your record ,usa american record high jump m6o,all so known as big jumper congrats its really cool . dave ashford
You da man! Way to go Jim! See you in Sacramento!
Tremendous jumping by Jim Sauers. Guess he will be the favorite in M60 at Albuquerque, although one can never count out Milan Jamrich, the M55 indoor recordholder who has now moved up a bracket.
Am also looking forward to seeing Stacey Nieder (W40) and Olympian Trish Porter (W45) jump in New Mexico. Last year in our Boston nationals, Stacey broke Trish’s W40 mark by going 1.67 meters on her first attempt at that height, but that record was not accepted, and thus I hope she can do it again in Albuquerque.
I am also looking forward to seeing Kathy Bergen jump in W70, Bruce McBarnette in M50, and a host of others. Which leads to my question: How much will the altitude help the jumpers at this year’s nationals? My source says that the Albuquerque airport is at 1631 meters/5351 feet, but I believe the arena is not quite so high. But still, shouldn’t the altitude make a difference?
nice going…!
To answer Pete’s question about altitude affecting jumping…yes, a little but not a lot. Maybe an increase of a half inch or so.
At least that was my experience when I competed in the Soviet Union growing up. I always did a little better in competitions in the mountains.
I did the calculation in an earlier topic, about 2mm as I remember well… Nearly nothing.
Thank you, Weia. I remember you had done something earlier, but with so many good high jumpers entered in Albuquerque and the meet getting so close I wanted to bring it up again. The meet starts 2 weeks from today.
I tried 167cm the same day, but no luck. Ended up with 162cm.
Congratulation Jim!
The schedule for Albuquerque is now up (www.usatf.org). In the high jump, I found 6 flights of men (M65 gets its own group) and 3 flights of women. Excellent, as certain past meets (which shall not be named here) were more in favor of “stuffing the flights.”
Yes, Peter, the high jump flights for Sacto Nationals were so “stuffed” that I think I jumped against my son and my father.
Yes, Karl, that was a wild one out in Sacramento. I think you were off your form that day, by the way. Looks like you had a flight of 24, of whom 20 actually jumped. The women 35-59 had a flight of 24 as well, of whom 23 actually jumped. Wow.
Peter, I was recovering from an injury in Sacto so I didn’t expect to do very well, but waiting for long periods between jumps didn’t help either. I felt sorry for the officials who had a hard time keeping track of who was jumping when because the flight was so stuffed.
There’s a rhythm to jumping and long lag times between jumps don’t create a very good “beat”.
I closely studied the photo of Jim jumping and I have concluded that not only is he a great jumper but considering that he only has one leg, he is fantastic. I think he is left handed and the photo clearly shows that he is missing his left leg. What a phenomenal feat (err foot)
Yes, Jim is missing a leg, but he learned to use the bar as a support 😉
Way to go Jim…from your Florida State teammate!Seeing your name on the internet was what got me involved in masters track and field six years ago! Keep on jumpin and “GO NOLES”!
Hi everyone! I’m a newbie to Masters T&F this year (M40 high jump). Having fun and happy with my performance thus far – tied with Karl at the moment in the #2 slot at 1.78, although I’m sure that won’t last long with Albuquerque looming. Anyway, just wanted to say I love watching the old straddle technique. I had the privilege to witness Tom Langenfeld use it to set a new M75 American Indoor record (1.38) earlier this month in Kenosha, WI. What a treat to watch! When done well, I think it is such an elegant jumping style, and Tom definitely rocked it!!! I tried a few straddle jumps for fun at the gym this week but could not get the hang of it (and it’s a bit harsh on the groin – ouch!)
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