Willie Gault flies (twice) at Oxy: 10.79 and 14.41
Yesterday’s Oxy Invitational at Occidental College in the Los Angeles area saw other fine masters performances besides Pete Magill’s 1500. Ageless (but actually 45) Willie Gault ran the 100 in 10.79 (no wind reading given) — shattering the listed M45 world record of 10.96 by American Neville Hodge in 2001. (But lack of a wind reading may negate mark for record purposes.) Willie also won his heat of the 110 hurdles (5/28 note: 39-inch hurdles) in 14.41 — into a 1.3 mps wind!
Willie is 45, and although no official records are kept for the “international” highs, Pete Mundle’s book lists the M45 age-group record for the highest 110 hurdles as 15.1 by Iceland’s Valjorn Thorlaksson .
Using the newly revised WMA Age-Graded Tables, I find that Willie’s 10.79 is worth 9.95 in the “open” class (20-30). And his 14.41 is worth an open 13.21 (but doesn’t take into account his running hurdles 3 inches higher than the masters 39s.)
And in the 1500, 39-year-old Jim Sorensen of the Nike Farm Team ran 3:44.17 — about 4:02 mile pace. (Jim’s mark age-grades to 3:33.4!)
I found more on Sorensen at letrun.com:
In May, someone named Mark posted:
“Jim is a school teacher and he will 39 in a few days. As of now he is one of the fastest 5 men ever over 35 from the US. Only Steve Scott, Jim Spivey, Doug Padilla, and Steve Plancencia have run as as fast. Not bad company.
Trust me, this guy has a legit crack at sub (four) at 40.
“At this point Jim Spivey is the oldest man ever to run in the USATF 1500m champs when he was 37 in 1997.
“Sorensen was the NCAA II Champ for 1500m his senior year and then finished 2nd in the Oly Trials 1500m in 1996 when he was 29 by .02 of a second to Paul McMullen. If he had another 5 meters he’d have won that race because he was finishing like freight train. Then he ran a 3:38.65 and missed the Oly A standard by .65 so they put Brian Hyde on the Olympic team with his qualifier from the year before….
“The thing about Jim is he’s a really good tactical racer and has made a career out of beating guys with smart races and a great kick.”
Speaking of 39-year-olds (who are officially categorized as M35 masters, of course), Jeff Hartwig vaulted 5.63 (18-5 3/4) yesterday at the same Mexican meet where W30 Marion Jones ran a shocking 11.06. Jeff turns 40 in September 2007. His mark yesterday age-grades to 6.14 — a mere 20-1 3/4.
Hang in there, champ!
One Response
There was a wind reading on Willie Gault’s 100 meter at Oxy in the results it lists a 0.4 wind reading–so if he gets the paperwork handled it should be a new record. Congrats Pete on a fine start to your season–I’d say you should be able to knock off a second and be right down on the World record–stay healthy–and I know you will do it!–Mark Cleary
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