Nolan Shaheed tunes up for Landover nationals with AR

Nolan Shaheed has miles of smiles.
Poor Tucker Bass. He’s a freshman cross country kid at San Diego Mesa College — a local junior college. Yesterday he entered the 800 at the Occidental Distance Carnival south of Los Angeles and took 33rd. But that’s not the embarrassing part. Finishing in front of him were two SoCal Track Club masters runners — David Kunselman in his early 40s and a guy almost old enough to be his grandfather — 59-year-old Nolan Shaheed. Well, don’t feel too bad, Tucker. Nolan had to break the listed M55 American record to beat you! Nolan clocked 2:06.54 to better Horace Grant’s 2:06.80 American record of 2008. Of course, Nolan has run faster than this at least three times since he turned 55 (a long story I’ll delve into later). But for now, Nolan is the M55 favorite at Landover nationals. (And Mark Cleary, his SoCal TC coach, promises to doublecheck the paperwork before submitting Nolan’s latest record to Sandy Pashkin.)

Results from Occidental:


Men 800 Meter Run
=========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Seed     Finals
=========================================================================
  1 Pettigrew, James             Alaska Anchorage     1:50.30    1:53.23 
  2 Cook, Roosevelt              Cal Coast Track      1:51.00    1:53.46 
  3 Boyle, Mick                  Alaska Anchorage     1:53.15    1:53.77 
  4 May, Stephan                 Riverside            1:53.58    1:53.81 
  5 Anderson, Adrian             Glendale             1:56.20    1:55.59 
  6 Sutton, Levi                 Alaska Anchorage     1:58.00    1:56.72 
  7 Hoadley, Clay                Occidental           1:55.90    1:57.13 
  8 DeVault, Nathan              Fresno Pacific       1:58.10    1:57.77 
  9 Kelly, Christopher           Unattached           1:58.10    1:58.13 
 10 Moseley, Will                Occidental           1:59.00    1:58.37 
 11 Hodges, Josh                 Fresno Pacific       1:58.20    1:58.52 
 12 Loucel, David                LA Trade Tech        1:59.44    1:58.71 
 13 Perez, David                 LA Trade Tech        2:01.00    1:59.73 
 14 Ross, Jeff                   Occidental           1:59.00    1:59.85 
 15 Fuentes, Damian              Glendale             1:58.80    2:00.18 
 16 Wheeler, Jon                 Occidental           1:58.90    2:00.20 
 17 Fortugno, Marcus             La Verne             1:56.50    2:00.21 
 18 Coronado, Alfredo            La Reconquista R     2:02.00    2:00.26 
 19 Lara, Armondo                Mt. San Antonio      2:02.30    2:00.31 
 20 Sugg, Malachi                Hdelitetc            1:59.00    2:01.09 
 21 Minsk, Aaron                 Redlands             2:01.00    2:01.12 
 22 Wada, Masa                   Unattached           1:57.70    2:01.94 
 23 Carson, Noah                 Occidental           2:01.00    2:02.15 
 24 Galvez, Miguel               Unattached           2:04.08    2:03.77 
 25 Nayer, Jonathan              Rio Hondo            2:12.00    2:04.88 
 26 Armas, Aaron                 Mt. San Antonio      2:03.84    2:05.14 
 27 Capeau, Michael              SD Mesa              2:05.37    2:05.20 
 28 Oregel, Alan                 LA Trade Tech        1:59.30    2:05.26 
 29 Evans, Casey                 Cal St. San Marc     2:00.00    2:05.99 
 30 Ramirez, Rudy                Mt. San Antonio      2:03.21    2:06.48 
 31 Shaheed, Nolan               SoCal Fleet Feet     2:05.03    2:06.54 
 32 kunselman, david             SoCal Track Club     2:05.00    2:06.91 
 33 Bass, Tucker                 SD Mesa              2:07.88    2:08.36 
 34 Carcano, Adolfo              LA Trade Tech        2:05.05    2:09.17 
 35 Perez, Alain                 Glendale             2:06.60    2:09.36 
 36 Domi
nguez, Leonardo          Unattached           2:20.00    2:09.61 
 37 Santos, Daniel               Rio Hondo            2:09.00    2:10.47 
 38 Maldonado, Rigoberto         Glendale             2:09.90    2:11.43 
 39 Ibarra, Jose                 Rio Hondo                       2:11.51 
 40 Espinoza, Rene               Ventura              2:21.97    2:11.85 
 41 Avanesi, Sevak               Glendale             2:06.35    2:12.63 
 42 Chan, Alex                   Mt. San Antonio      2:10.80    2:12.99 
 43 Vega, Andy                   Mt. San Antonio      2:15.50    2:13.98 
 44 Wong, Matthew                Unattached           2:02.31    2:14.21 
 45 Cave, Robert                 Mt. San Antonio      2:10.50    2:19.50 
 46 Canchola, Eliezar            Rio Hondo                       2:22.78 
 47 Cesare, Tarek                Glendale             2:25.30    2:29.64 

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March 14, 2009

11 Responses

  1. saladin allah - March 14, 2009

    Shaheed,
    You are truly a warrior, and you always send loads of incentive my way. Keep up the great running as always, and I look forward to seeing you soon….Outdoors !
    Saladin (Sal)

  2. Tom Hartshorne - March 14, 2009

    Nolan, You are supposed to give us young 800 meter runners incentive to get older so we can follow in your footsteps. . .but this one you kicked into the stratosphere. I think the only place I will have a chance to chase this record is outside with wind and solar assist – please help me Toyota! Tom

  3. tyoung - March 14, 2009

    Keep putting them out there Nolan!! Udaman

  4. Horace Grant - March 14, 2009

    Great run Nolan! You are a true inspiration to all middle distance runners!
    -Horace-

  5. tony plaster - March 15, 2009

    M55 front line…. Shaheed , Grant ,Burno, Salazar,Hartshorne,Robinson This belongs on TV.
    you wont see a better 800m race this year.

  6. Ken Stone - March 15, 2009

    Just learned that M45 Pete Magill, tuning up for Landover, ran a sub-15 5000 at this meet:
    Men 5000 Meter Run
    =========================================================================
    Name Year School Seed Finals
    =========================================================================
    1 Cheseto, Marko Alaska Anchorage 14:10.00 14:07.48
    2 Chaves, Kevin Run With US 14:37.00 14:47.81
    3 Edwards, David Cal St. San Marc 14:50.00 14:48.65
    4 Perez, Carlos San Bernardino 14:58.94 14:51.70
    5 Magill, Peter Fluffy Bunny TC 14:49.00 14:54.35

  7. kevin f forde - March 16, 2009

    For those wondering where Dorian Grey,s portrait is these days……………it,s in Nolan,s attic!
    Great job Nolan you,re an inspiration to us all.

  8. Tom Hartshorne - March 16, 2009

    Kevin, You need to at least get your metaphors grounded on the right continent. . .don’t you mean the portrait of Courtland Gray, world champion sprinter and hurdler? Tom

  9. Doug Thompson - March 16, 2009

    Nolan,
    Congratulations! It couldn’t have been done by a nicer guy. Good fortune and Nationals and we’ll see you in the desert May 2.
    Doug

  10. kevin f forde - March 17, 2009

    Tom, prehaps we,ve overlooked the obvious, US Olympic 800m Johnny Grey!!!

  11. Tom Hartshorne - March 17, 2009

    No Kevin, I thought of Johnny Gray right away. Duane Green and I sat in the same section at the Millrose Games for about six years straight cheering him on to victory in the late 90’s. Duane’s style actually emulated that of Johnny Gray – fluid and loose to the finish line; which is why Duane more often than not outkicked me in the 800 meters.
    But, The Picture of Dorian Grey is a book that focuses on a guy who manages to look like his 30 year old portrait even though he has become quite elderly. Now elderly to me is defined by someone who is older than me, perhaps 4 years older than me, like Nolan, or 12 years older than me, like Courtland Gray. Johnny Gray is only 48 years old. And yes, he looks like his 30 year old portrait. But, Courtland Gray is more like 67 years old and looks like he is 30 years old. At least he did last time I saw him. So, I am sticking with Courtland Gray.
    Now if you are talking running and racing and leave the portrait thing aside I’m with you. Nolan when he is racing well is long in the stride and loose at the end of the race, a gazelle like Johnny Gray. I remember Courtland to be more of a power runner even over the hurdles. As a middle distance runner, who wouldn’t want to be compared to Johnny Gray. In his last great year, age 39, he beat the youngsters from the back at the Millrose. After they complained that Gray surprised them; he ran away from them beating them from the front two weeks later at the Virginia Mobile in another 1:48.? victory.

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