INDIANAPOLIS IN
From coast to coast and in between, six Masters athletes converged on Indianapolis with extraordinary fitness and a goal. Each executed perfectly and went home with a pending American Record. Jennifer Harvey NY, NY, 2023 Grand Blue Mile Masters Champion, went after the 55-59 American Record of 5:27. In a thrilling duel with rival, Fiona Bayly NY, NY, Harvey captured the Age Division crown, 4th place overall, and a new record of 5:25! Joyce Hodges-Hite Atlanta, GA was entering unknown territory. There is no current record for her 85-89 division. Undaunted, Hodges-Hite rambled through the Mile in 15:25, establishing a new American Record. Hodges-Hite’s record is a goal that will inspire her peers to train and race harder. Mike Madsen Flagstaff, AZ, who missed the Overall win by a fraction of a second at the 2019 Masters Mile, came back this year and took down the 4:40 American record for 50-54 with a sterling 4:38! Christian Cushing-murray Orange, CA, a sub-4-minute Miler and Olympic Trials finalist in the 1990’s, is rare among talented Open runners in that he has maintained a top-flight training and racing regime well into his 50’s. Now 55, Cushing-murray, had his sights on breaking the current 55-59 record of 4:49. Mission accomplished, with two seconds to spare! Robert Qualls Reno, NV, winner of the 70-74 10 km World Championship at Torun Poland this March, looked to improve on his 2022 second place effort at the 1 Mile Championships. This year Qualls left nothing to chance, going out strong in 2:42 at the halfway point, and holding on for a 5:33, dropping the American Record by ten seconds! However dramatic those record-breaking efforts seem; it is hard to outshine Jeannie Rice Concord Tnshp, OH. The 2019 USATF Masters Athlete of the Year is fresh off a 3:33:15 Boston Marathon. You may think there is a typo there but there is not. That is one incredible time for a 75 year old of either sex. Rice can run an incredibly fast Marathon. She is almost as good at the Mile! Rice ran 6:44 to take down the existing 75-79 American Record by almost two minutes! She won her division, topped the Age Grading contest, and smashed the record. Note: Masters records are based on chip time. All records are pending until ratified.
The hosts, Beyond Monumental, provided the perfect setting, the Monumental Mile, for record attempts and amazing competition from 40’s to 80’s. The course is flat, fast and record eligible. Athletes raved about the convenience of the entire setup, with the host hotel adjacent to Monument Circle, the staging area for the Mile, before and after!
OVERALL gun time WOMEN Katie Sherron left nothing to chance, hitting the halfway point in 2:34. Her closest rivals, Perry Shoemaker and Hidi Gaff were 30 meters back. Sherron accelerated from there, more than doubling her lead, to take the win in a nifty 5:06! Shoemaker outlasted Gaff to take second in 5:20. Gaff, at 5:23, had a 2 second margin over Harvey for the bronze medal. MEN Jaret Herter, 3rd Overall last year, took it out hard and dared everyone to go with him. Only two did. Herter passed the halfway mark in 2:13.4, with Mark Guyer right on his heels at 2:14.1. Bryan Lindsay, the 2022 Masters 5 Km Champion, and a former NCAA I 1500-meter silver medalist, was on Guyer’s shoulder at 2:14.6. When Lindsay kicked, Guyer tried to go with him, but could not. Herter held Lindsay at bay as long as he could. In the end Lindsay had a strong win in 4:25! Herter claimed 2nd in 4:30, with Guyer 3rd in 4:33. Madsen was 4th in 4:38 with Chris Bielsa-Brown 5th at 4:41.
AGE GRADING chip time MEN Dan King pulled off a surprising age grading win. Denied the win in 60-64 by 3 seconds, the 64-year old’s 5:09 graded at 93.62%, nipping Cushing-murray, 55, whose 4:47 earned a 93.41. Qualls, the 70-74 record breaker nabbed third at 93.18. Rick Lee and Madsen closed out the top 5. WOMEN Rice topped them all at 96.21%. Sabra Harvey, 74, enjoyed 2nd place; her 6:52 earned a 92.96. Lisa Veneziano, 58, clocked 5:36 for a 92.29. Harvey and Bayly, battling for the 55-59 win, finished 4th and 5th.
AGE DIVISION gun time. Nineteen National Champions were crowned: WOMEN 40-44 Sherron 45-49 Euleen Josiah-Tanner 5:34 50-54 Shoemaker 5:20 55-59 Harvey 60-64 Suzanne La Burt 5:46 65-69 Carol Poenisch 7:13 70-74 Harvey 6:52 75-79 Rice 6:44 85-89 Hodges-Hite 15:28 MEN-40-44 Lindsay 45-49 David Angell 4:42 50-54 Madsen 55-59 Cushing-Murray 60-64 Rick Lee 5:06 65-69 Fred Torneden 5:20 70-74 Qualls 5:35 75-79 Jim May 6:39 80-84 Doug Goodhue 7:28 85-89 Adrian Craven 11:31. The closest Women’s race was 55-59 where Harvey nipped Bayly for the win by a fraction of a second, and Veneziano was only ten seconds back in 3rd. Two Men’s races were close. Lee edged King for the win in 60-64 by 3 seconds with King holding second place by 5 seconds over three runners, Joe Mora, Tim Mylin, and Dave Bussard, all within three seconds of one another. In 65-69, Torneden edged Roger Sayre 5:20 to 5:21, with Dan Spale only six seconds back.
TEAMS: Team championships are determined by adding up the times of the first three finishers on each team, low score wins. MEN The ‘Home Team’ Indiana Elite Athletic Club A team took the win in 40+ by over a minute in 13:40. The Genesee Valley Harriers took top honors in M50+ at 15:40 and M70+ at 19:27, with the Shore AC out of New Jersey winning M60+ at 16:28 total. The Boulder Road Runners captured M70+ with 19:27. WOMEN The Pursuit of Excellence Track Club won the 50+ division prize in 17:46. The Shore AC totaled 21:03 to take the W60+ win, and Oregon’s Team Red Lizard came in at 21:48 to win the 70+ team championship.
Submitted By
Paul Carlin
Consultant to USATF Masters LDR
www.runningprof.com
