CLEVELAND, OHIO – Day three of the 2011 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships saw five more American records fall. Carol Young of Marietta, Ga. continues her crusade of the American record book as she set her second record in three days.
Competition resumes tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. at the George Finnie Stadium at Baldwin Wallace College. Admission is free.
Young sets another record Just as she did during day one of the USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Young, competing for the Throw1deep Club, needed only one throw to improve her own W70 American record of 12.53m/41-1 in the weight throw. Young heaved a 12.73m/41-9 bomb on her first attempt to surpass the record she set in 2008. She also holds the W65 American weight throw record of 13.04m/42-9, which has stood for the last six years.
Former Texas Longhorn sets American record in M75 100m Robert Whilden of Houston, Texas has set multiple records at both the international level and at his alma mater, the University of Texas. Whilden, who competes for the Houston Elite Track and Field Club, can now add another American record to that list. He crossed the line in the M75 100m in a blistering 13.67 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 13.72 seconds set in 1992 by Payton Jordan.
Whilden, who already has the distinction of holding the world record in the M70 100m at 12.77 seconds, was .13 seconds from matching the world mark in the M75 division. Aside from being an elite Masters athlete, Whilden was once a world class sprinter at UT; earning three All-American honors, running on three world record setting 440-yard relay teams, and he also was a finalist in the 200m at the 1956 Olympic Trials.
Midwest Masters T&F Club’s Welding sets American record Ruth Welding of Elk Grove Village, Ill. set the W55 American weight throw record when she launched the weight 13.60m/44-7 - furthering the previous mark of 13.50m/44-5 thrown by Myrle Mensey in 2002. All of Welding’s six throws measured more than 12m, with two sailing past the 13m barrier. Her recording setting throw came on her fifth attempt of the day and each measured throw would have been long enough to earn her gold in the W55 age division.
Stephens improves own W35 American mark All but one of Jennifer Stephens’ weight throws surpassed her previous American record of 10.60m/34-9, which she set in 2009. Stephens, of Fairfax, Va. heaved a throw of 11.75m/38-6 to improve her American record by more than a meter. She will continue to compete for the Potomac Valley Track Club on day four in the high jump.
Notable Performances:
Magdalena Kuehne, of Tujunga, Calif. duplicated her own pending W80 American record when she tripled jumped 5.68m/18-7.75. Kuehne, who competes for the SC Striders Track Club also jumped 5.68m/18-7.75 earlier this month.
Ohio athletes who won national championships on day three of competition:
M40 – John Wirtz, Avon Lake, Ohio, discus, 52.20m/171-3 M45 – Landen Summay, Cincinnati, Ohio, 800m, 2:03.04 M65 – Stephen Robbins, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 100m, 12.51 M65 – Ronald Legg, Beach City, Ohio, 10,000m, 40:52.96 M80 – Jack Greenwald, Seville, Ohio, 100m 16.42 M85 – George Roudebush, Chardon, Ohio, weight throw, 7.03m/23-0 M85 – Denver Smith, Louisville, Ohio, triple jump, 6.03m/19-9.5 M85 – George Riser, Lyndhurst, Ohio, 100m 17.97 M90 – John Means, Richmond Heights, Ohio, 100m, 18.13
3,000m splits enough to set American records It has been confirmed that Mark Green of Reno, Nev. and Chris Schmid of Wooster, Ohio both set American records yesterday in the 3,000m race walk en route to winning their 5,000m race walk events. Green, who competed in the M55 division, split 15:03.03 for 3,000m, bettering the previous record of 15:35.73 set by James Carmines in 2000. He finished the race in 25:33.88, running a near perfect race as evident by his seed time of 25:30.00.
Schmid, one of the many local Ohioans to earn national championships so far at this meet, competes for World Class Racewalking in the M60 division. He demolished the previous American record of 15:51.80 set by Norm Frable in 2007, splitting 15:06.29 for 3,000m. As was the case with Green, Schmid emerged victorious in his age group, winning gold with a time of 26:05.80.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.
