ToruĊ, Poland — Team USATF capped off an incredible week of competition with their most successful day of the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, racking up forty medals to take the team total to 151 and finish third overall behind host Poland and Germany. Sue McDonald (Santa Barbara, California) highlighted a spectacular seventh day with her second age group world record in the 1500. Once again, running in the W55 division with her 60th birthday coming during competition, McDonald’s time of 5:08.88 was good for bronze in the division, and a world record in the W60 category. In the same race, three-time Olympian Michelle Rohl (Mansfield, Pennsylvania) stunned the field as she dipped well under five minutes, winning gold 14 seconds ahead of Spain’s Antonia Alvarez Ruiz in 4:53.07, breaking the existing American record at the distance. Gary Patton (Rock Rapids, Iowa) battled it out with Hans Smeets from the Netherlands, fighting for a title through the finish line. Patton was just shy, crossing in 5:44.71 to Smeets’ 5:44.20 to take home silver and a M75 American record at 1500m. Two more golds were collected in the 1500m in the M35 and M55 divisions. Mark Husted (Golden, Colorado) sped away from the pack to win gold in the M35 division in 4:02:00 over three 4:05 performances. Charles Novak (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) was in a tight race against Margus Kirt of Estonia, ultimately coming out on top in 4:22.67 to Kirt’s 4:23.15. A championship record fell in the W65 half marathon as Christine Kennedy (Burlingame, California) raced to a season best time of 1:31:38. Teammate April Lund (Bismarck, North Dakota) was through the finish line in 1:17:54, winning gold in the W40 division. The two also contributed to team gold medals in the W40 and W65 half marathon. A lone field event gold came in the W65 pole vault. Rita Hanscom (San Diego, California) cleared 2.00m and 2.10m on her first attempt, ultimately clearing 2.20m on her third try to earn gold in her division. Two more American records fell as the highly-anticipated relays wrapped up competition. Team USATF’s W55 4x200 quartet of Roxanne Brockner, Andrea Collier, India Bridgette, and Colleen Barney ran a blazing 1:56.37 over Germany’s 2:00.94 and Ireland’s 2:02.56. The W65 team of Susan Loyd, Rita Hanscom, Tracey Bernett, and Leandra Funk took silver behind Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2:19.15 for another age group American record. The W35 4x200 team of Sophia Downey, Christina Elder, Christy Borders, and Easter Grant ran 1:49.78 for gold over the Czech Republic in 1:51.13. Emmanuelle McGowan, Rachel Guest, Lisa Edwards, and Inga McIntyre ran a blistering 1:48.40 to take the W40 gold over Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland in 1:49.94 and 1:50.65. On the men’s side, the M40 4x200 of Antoine Echols, Durran Dunn, Brandon Biodrowski, and Sean Burnett ran 1:33.31 for gold ahead of host-country Poland in 1:3.48. Three age divisions - 55, 60, and 75 - collected mixed 4x200 relay golds to cap off the competition. In the 55 division, Roxanne Brockner, Clinton Aurelie, Andrea Collier, and David Gibbon won by three seconds with their 1:47.15 over Ireland’s 1:50.62. Robert Foster, Shemayne Williams, India Bridgette, and William Yelverton earned a decisive gold in the 60 division with a 1:53.30 over Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s 2:00.62. Kathleen Fable, Charles Allie, Barbara O’Hensley, and Gary Patton sped to a 2:53.00 finish for gold in the 75 division.
Total: 151 Gold: 56 Silver: 57 Bronze: 38