AMES, Iowa — Florence Meiler (Sprinticity/Shelburne, Vt.), 87, set two age-group world masters records to highlight the first day of competition at the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships Thursday on the campus of Iowa State University.
Masters athletes set three age-group world records and three American records during the first day of competition.
Meiler established a world age group record in the women’s 86-89 women’s pentathlon scoring 4,467 points. Meiler started off the grueling five events by setting a world age group record in the 80 hurdles in 26.69 seconds. Meiler is scheduled to run in the women’s 2,000 steeplechase Saturday.
Sixty-one-year-old Oneithea Lewis (Shore Athletic Club/Oakland Gardens, N.Y.) set a new age-group world record in the women’s 60-64 hammer throw at 153 feet 8 inches/46.84 meters. Three hours later she came back and set an American record in the women’s 60-64 weight throw at 58-4.25/17.79.
Tami Graf (Potomac Valley Track Club/Lusby, Md.) set an American record in the women’s 85-89 5,000-meter run of 46:00.64, toppling the previous mark of 49:08.73 set in 2006.
Rick Becker (Club Northwest/Selah Wash.), 66 achieved an American mark for the men’s 65-69 3,000-meter run of 10:43.05 during the 5,000 race, which he won in 18:11.02.
Neringa Jakstiene (unattached/Memphis Tenn.), 57, defended her title in the women’s 55-59 age group pentathlon with 4,474 points. Jakstiene, who set five age-group world records and won six medals (four gold) at the 2019 World Masters Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, dominated the competition Friday winning all five events – 80m hurdles (13.31), high jump (1.47m/4-9.75), shot put (8.75m/28-8.5), long jump (4.82m/15-9.75) and 800m (3:05.48).
Gunnar Linde (So Cal Track Club/Venice, Calif.), who holds American records in nine age group running events, defended his title in the men’s 90-94 5,000 posting a time of 45:32.17. Linde is the world record holder in the men’s 90 2,000 steeplechase which he will run on Friday.
After being canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meet returned to Ames, which had also hosted the 2019 USATF Masters Championships. Anxious to compete after the long delay, 1,051 of the world and country’s top Masters track and field athletes converged on the Bill and Karen Bergan Track at the Cyclone Sports Complex. It marks the largest participant turnout for the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships since 2014, and 160 more than even the 2019 Ames meet.
Dr. Richard Watson (Yuma, Ariz.), 68, competed in his 38th consecutive USATF Masters Outdoor Championship pentathlon. He finished seventh in the men’s 65-69 age group with 1,328 points.
Full results can be found at www.live.finishtiming.com
The meet continues through Sunday and is open to the public, while also available live on USATF.TV+.
Contributed by Mike Mahon
