11 RECORDS SET ON OPENING DAY – 15 ON DAY TWO OF USATF MASTERS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
NEW YORK CITY — Winners were crowned across more than a dozen age groups in four track events and five field events as well as the pentathlon on the first day of the USATF Masters Indoor Championships at the Armory.
Records were set in 11 events, including a world men’s 85-89 record of 9.63 in the 60m for Robert Whilden (Houston, Texas), who chopped .14 off the global standard set by Japan’s Hiroo Tanaka in 2017. Florence Meiler (Shelburne, Vermont/Sprinticity) tallied 3907 points in the women’s 85-89 pentathlon to beat Irene Obera’s world record by 90 points.
Sue McDonald (Santa Barbara, California/T.H.E. Track Team) got the proceedings started with a convincing win in the women’s 55-59 400m, clocking 1:04.31 to beat her own American record of 1:04.38. In the women’s mile race walk, Maryanne Daniel (Clinton, Connecticut) shattered her own 60-64 American record with an 8:51.24 to slice more than seven seconds off the mark she set three years ago. Karen Stoyanowski (Loomis, California/Sierra Race Walkers) also took a big chunk off the 65-69 record, walking 9:32.00 to cut 14.61 seconds off the previous best.
Not to be outdone, Richard Campbell (Orange, California/So Cal TC) bettered the men’s 75-79 American record by more than 14 seconds with a 10:01.95, and he needed every bit of that as Norman Frable (Ivins, Utah/So Cal TC) also went under the previous record with a 10:07.72 in second.
In the longest-running event to be contested at the Championships, masters superstar Kathryn Martin (Halesite, New York/Northport RC) added one more record to her tally with a 12:49.05 in the women’s 3,000m, knocking more than 17 seconds off the existing record. Tami Graf (Lusby, Maryland/Potomac Valley TC) demolished the women’s 85-89 record with a 26:41.89 that was almost 10 minutes better than the previous record.
Olympic race walker Michelle Rohl (Mansfield, Pennsylvania/Greater Philadelphia TC) claimed one of Martin’s records for herself, taking the 55-59 title in 10:22.74, 13.02 seconds faster than Martin ran in 2007. Rohl was the 1999 Pan American Games bronze medalist in the 20km race walk and competed at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games.
India Bridgette (Marietta, Georgia) broke a 15-year-old American record in the women’s 60-64 60m with her 8.78, .09 better than the existing AR. In the women’s 45-49 pentathlon, Rachel Guest (Surprise, Arizona/Southwest Sprinters TC) added another age group American record to the 35-39 and 40-44 marks she already holds, tallying 4024 points.
Day 2 Recap!