In my book, the toughest field event is the triple jump. Murder on the knees. So when I read about a 69-year-old setting the goal of taking down the M70 triple jump record, I snapped to attention. Such is the ambition of Frank Struna, who won M65 bronze at Kamloops. His local Montana paper interviewed him. It’s a treat. Sample: “I want to get that world championship and a world record. I’ll think about retiring then, but as long as I can still fog up the mirror, I’ll still go for it.” BTW, the listed M70 world record is 10.61 (34-9 3/4) by Japan’s Shoji Ito. Frank did 9.98 (32-9) at worlds.

Frank's medals date back a quarter-century. (Photo by Charles Pulliam )

Here’s the story, in case the link goes south:

Struna wants to jump into record books

By CHARLES PULLIAM of the Missoulian
Posted: Saturday, April 17, 2010 3:18 pm

It’s been nearly 25 years since Frank Struna first hopped, skipped and leaped his way into the, “Wow, he can do that now!” category.

The Montana native was born in Deer Lodge, grew up in Drummond and now resides in St. Ignatius with his wife, Melody. He tried the triple jump for the first time during a local track meet at the ripe age of 45.

“I was interested in the triple jump, but I had never done it before,” Struna said. “When I tried it, I was 45 and jumping as far as the college kids then, going 45 or 46 feet. It just came really natural to me and now it’s my specialty.”

Struna, now 69, claimed a bronze medal in March at the World Masters Indoor Championships in Kamloops, B.C. The two top jumpers in his age group, both just a shade over 65, were former Olympians and World Champions.

Q. Did you participate in track and field in high school?

A. I was active. I played on the 1957 state basketball team as a sophomore – the only time Drummond has ever won a state title. I also set a long jump record; it wasn’t that long, just 21-10.5, in 1959 when I was a senior. I never thought it would last, but it’s been there for 50 years now. I got to tell you a story about that, too.

Q. The school record in the long jump then?

A. Yeah. We didn’t have a track team really, there were only two of us that went out for track and we didn’t have a coach. The guy that took us was a social studies teacher, but the story is my family couldn’t afford to buy me track shoes, so I actually set the record in those old heavy Converse high tops. Those things weigh a ton.

Q. Has anyone gotten close to that record then?

A. The guy that’s been the closest to breaking it was Chase Reynolds. He jumped 21-9.75 in 2004, I think. He didn’t take his last jump, though, but he came pretty close. We had a good time talking about it. I went there and watched with his folks. I was pulling for him to break it, but he had several other events and kind of cut me some slack, I think.

Q. Now, tell me a little bit about this first time trying the triple jump. You didn’t ever try it until you were 45?

A. Well, I didn’t get interested in masters track until I was almost 45. I had a real drinking problem for a lot of those years after high school and I finally quit when I was about 35. I haven’t drank since, but I didn’t have anything to do, so I did some martial arts stuff. I heard about the masters program later on and figured I’d try it out. When I started jumping, I was hitting 45, 46 feet. I’ve never really gone out of the West, but I’ve won 11 national championships now – nine in the triple jump and two in the long jump.

Q. I don’t even know what to say. Are you sure you weren’t some amazing triple jumper in college and just gave it up for awhile? That is really impressive.

A. I never went to college until I turned 48. I went back to school at the (University of Montana) and that’s when I got involved with track and field there in all different aspects. I was a volunteer coach, official at the meets and just someone who worked with the kids. I used to work out there all the time. I have to say, they never did have a decent facility and had some sort of long jump, track and field pit we’d set up in the stadium. It was makeshift to say the least. We didn’t have a lot of room there, so when I trained with those UM triple jumpers, there was that ramp where the football players come out and we used to run down that ramp, that’s how we built up our speed. It was so much fun.

Q. Do you train year-round then?

A. Basically what I do is a lot of speed work. When I’m getting ready for a meet, I usually spend three days a week at Sentinel, doing interval work and runway work. I do the “M” twice a week also and when I’m getting serious, I run every other switchback. When I train, it’s the same way every time.

Q. What about technique and jumping? How often do you actually jump?

A. Brian Schweyen, the UM track coach, is my coach. He says my technique is pretty good. So, I do a lot of visualization work instead of jumping all the time because you can get hurt easily. My technique comes naturally now, so I don’t jump much. The visualization is just as good for me. It helps because I got my degree in 1992 in sports psychology. I visualize myself going through the phases. I can actually see myself going through them.

Q. This is pretty awesome stuff. I’m curious what’s your goal in competition? What are you focused on the most?

A. I want to get that world championship and a world record. I’ll think about retiring then, but as long as I can still fog up the mirror, I’ll still go for it.

Q. So when is your next competition?

A. July 22-25 in Sacramento is the next outdoor nationals meet. I’ll be there to try and win another national championship, but I’m going most of all to get familiar with the facility so I can be ready for the 2011 world championships, which are also there.

Q. I know the masters was huge for you, but do you have any other competitions that really stand out?

A. There have been so many wonderful ones, but it would have to be the one in Oregon in 2003. I won the national championship and my good friend Vic Chaney, took second. Right after that he got pancreatic cancer and later passed away. He had wrote me a letter and said what it meant to be there. I had known Vic for about five years because we had went to a lot of the same meets. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it was just a touching time, our last meet together. You know, I was kind of hesitant about going up to Kamloops, but I kept hearing Vic in the background, “get on up there and show em what you got Frank.” So I did.