Wolfgang Ritte becomes oldest man to clear 14 feet
Remember Seagren vs. Nordwig? Kingstad vs. Ritte is the latest U.S-German vault rivalry. After opening at 4.10 (13-5 1/4), Germany’s Wolfgang Ritte went straight to an M55 world indoor vault record of 4.30 (14-1 1/4) Saturday and made it on the first try, according to the Koops’ Web site. A video shows the clearance. The jump came in the North Rhine Championships. (Results are here.) He also took three shots a 4.40 (14-5 1/4), but he still becomes the oldest man to clear 14 feet, beating American Jeff Kingstad to the mark after beating Jeff’s 4.21 record. The M55 outdoor record is lower: 4.26 (13-11 3/4) by Sweden’s Hans Lagerqvist. “I hope the world record continues to improve,” Wolfgang is quoted as saying. Your turn, Jeff.
Allen Johnson still stud as 36-year-old geezerhurdler
Allen Johnson, who turns 37 in March, won the 55-meter hurdles yesterday at the elite “Run for the Dream” meet at Fresno State. Results are here. Allen’s time of 7.14 is off his all-time best of 7.03. But that was back in 1994, two years before winning 110 gold at the Atlanta Olympics. His 7.14 is among the top 65 performances of all time. No bad for a geezer. WMA keeps records for 60-meter hurdles only (with an M35 best of 7.40 by Britain’s Colin Jackson). So we’ll see what Al does later this season. Also, over the weekend, 36-year-old Stacy Dragila opened her season with a modest jump of 3.96 (12-11 3/4) at Idaho State University, reportedly off a short run. She’s entered at Millrose in February. Watch out, world! She’s coming back!
Diane Sherrer delivers Hartshorne drama, as usual
Diane Shrerrer, a central New York running columnist, covered the Cornell races over the weekend and adds to the record. She shares a great story on John Hinton: “The Hartshorne elite races had the potential of producing up to five American or world age-group records — it would get two. But Hinton was never part of that equation because before the race, officials thought he was age 44, not 45. ‘It was better that way — no pressure,’ Hinton said. ‘I needed motivation. I walked into Barton Hall, looked at my bib number and saw the words Hartshorne Mile. I said to myself, ‘This may be the day.’ ” Back home in Colorado, M50 miler David Albo wrote an homage to Hartshorne on his blog.
Jett hopes he’ll race Roger Kingdom at Modesto Relays
Rod Jett doesn’t claim God on his side, but local Jesuits are cheering for him. He’s a teacher and sprint/hurdles coach at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, which has a powerful track program (One star alum is Michael Stember). Rod is hot after M40 hurdle records, even if David Ashford asserts to be the real recordman in the 60-meter highs. (See David’s comments here.) I wrote Rod, a Sacramento resident, a few days ago, and he graciously responded, confirming plans to run a masters 110 hurdles exhibition at the Modesto Relays that might include two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom.
Study still seeks a few good postmenopausal women
Back in early November, Amanda Mittleman of Long Beach State University south of Los Angeles shared news of her thesis study on postmenopausal elite athletes. Today she sent an update, and another invitation to masters. She wrote: “I’ve had several AMAZING women, who received word about my study from your websites, participate in my study so far. . . . I still need 12-15 more elite athletes (I need 30 or 32 athletes).” Here’s her info flier again (in PDF format). You also can write Amanda. Thanks for supporting Amanda; she promises to share her thesis with us.
Peter Taylor’s journal: ‘My Second Trip to the Hartshorne’
A year ago, Peter Taylor wrote about his Ithaca mile announcing experiences in a report titled “How I Spent My Winter Vacation (Or: My Trip to Cornell for the Hartshorne).” He did it again this year (on his birthday weekend), and the result is another gem. He’s a professional, and true to his craft. He writes of entrant Zofia Wieciorkowska: “I insist on saying her full last name every time rather than cheating with ‘Zofia.’ ” Whatta guy, and whatta story. Thanks, Peter, for sharing your time and talents with the masters before, during and after the races.
Hartwig pushes own M40 record even higher, vaults 18-1
In 1970, a Greek named Christos Papanicolaou became the first man to clear 18 feet in the vault. I vividly recall the cover of Track & Field News documenting the milestone — showing Chris flying over the bar, seemingly in the dark. Track nuts went ape-shit. The mark made headlines around the world. Yesterday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, Jeff Hartwig raised his own M40 world indoor record to 5.51 (18-1). The world hardly noticed. On the Age-Graded Tables, Jeff’s 5.51 is equivalent to an open mark of 6.08 (19-11 1/2). Jeff’s all-time best is the American outdoor record: 19-9 1/4. Nice jump, Jeff. Keep ’em coming — all the way to Beijing.
Kingstad reclaims crown, ups M55 pole vault world record
Sorry, Wolfgang Ritte. Your reign atop the M55 vault world was short-lived. A week after Wolfie raised the indoor age-group best to 4.20, Jeff Kingstad took back the indoor WR by clearing a bar set at 4.21 meters (13-9 3/4). Blame this blog for Jeff’s latest record. Yesterday he wrote me: “Hi Ken: Thanx to your blog, I realized Wolfgang immediately raised my new WRs of 4.11m & then 4.12m, to 4.20m.” Jeff says he hadn’t planned to vault until January 26 at a University of Wisconsin Madison invitational, but instead he found a meet three hours away Friday at UW Eau Claire, “and stopped there on my way to my son’s varsity hockey game, only another 100 miles from there!”
Rod Jett rockets to M40 American record for 60 hurdles
Rod Jett, a national-class hurdler from Cal, has an all-time best in the 110 hurdles of 13.43. He competed in the 1996 Olympic Trials, and last appeared in the IAAF world lists in 2000, when he ran the highs in 13.88. Last year, when he turned 40, he ran the masters 110s in 14.10. Yesterday in Seattle, he ran against some high school boys in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking 8.19 — an American indoor record. He beat the listed AR of 8.22 by Glen Patterson in 2003. The listed WR is 7.85 by France’s Vincent Clarico in 2006. Results of the meet also show several masters stars, including M50 world champ Marty Krulee, who ran the 60 flat in 7.36 seconds (the world age-group record is 7.20 by Bill Collins). Nice run, Rod. Best of luck the rest of ’08.
Hinton, Condon claim world, American mile records
John Hinton of North Carolina improved the M45 world indoor record in the mile today at the Hartshorne Masters Miles in Ithaca, New York. Frank Condon of California added an M65 American record in another race at the annual event at Cornell University. John, 45, clocked 4:20.18 to beat the listed world age-group record of 4:21.90 by fellow American Albin Swenson in 1993. Frank, 65, ran a 5:22.02 to nip the listed USATF age-group record of 5:23.05 by Sid Howard in 2004. Alisa Harvey, 42, of Virginia was the only women to run sub-5. Nolan Shaheed, 58, of California ran a 4:45.6, less than 3 seconds off his own M55 world record.
