Hundreds of Masters track and field athletes made their way to the Alchua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Point in Gainesville, Florida for the USATF Masters Indoor Championships presented by Prevagen February 20-23. Four-time Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs was one of the standout competitors while dozens of world and American age-division records were broken.
Day 1 - February 20
The men’s 80-84 3000 kicked off a five-record day for the first day of competition in Gainesville. Lynn Rathjen (Unattached) crossed the finish line in 12:48.44 to shatter the existing 80-84 American record of 13:30.77. He took the title in his age division by more than nine minutes. Daniel King (Athletics Boulder) followed suit shortly after as he cut five seconds off of the men’s 65-69 American record with a 10:22.51. George Matthews (Seattle Masters AC) had a stellar series of throws in the men’s 80-84 super weight throw and popped out a 9.24m heave that tacked on four centimeters to the existing American record.
In the women’s 70-74 pentathlon, Rita Hanscom (SC Striders Track Club) tallied 3682 points for a new age-division American record - 50 points higher than the previous record. Hanscom cleared 1.23m in the high jump and ran a 12.71 in the 60H to propel her to the win. Ronald Humphrey (Unattached) became the first American man to tally more than 4000 points in the men’s 65-69 pentathlon with his 4124 American record. His 9.98 in the 60H and 4.97m long jump launched him into a medal position and he didn’t look back.
Day 2 - February 21
Kenton Brown (Unattached) was the first to set a world record during the Championships. Brown clocked an 8.88 in the men’s 80-84 60 to match the existing world record, set by Melvin Larsen in Ames, Iowa in 2005. Minutes later, in the 55-59 division, Norris Hanes III (Potomac Valley Track Club) cut .02 off of the existing world record of 7.34 with his 7.32 sprint. The previous mark was run by William Collins in Linz, Austria in 2006. An Atlanta Track Club women’s 75 team of Andrea McCarter, Norma Hudnall, Kathleen Allen, and Joanie McMullen ran a world record time of 20:07.68, nearly two minutes faster than the existing world record set last year at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Chicago. In the women’s 80 division, a non-club team of Myrna Barnett, Angela Staab, Joyce Rasberry, and Joyce Hodges-Hite clocked a 25:48.82 to establish a world record.
Another world record fell as Emily Adams (Chicagoland Masters Athletics) landed a 17.96m throw in the women’s 35-39 weight throw. Her mark added nearly half a meter onto the existing American record and bettered a 15-year-old world record. She went on to better another record in the super weight as she launched an 11.60m throw to add nearly a meter onto the existing American record.
Carolyn Kealty (Unattached) won the women’s 60-64 race walk by more than a minute as she slashed nearly six seconds off of the existing American record to clock a 17:06.35.
In the women’s 70 4x800, Atlanta Track Club’s 71-year-old quartet of Terry Ozell, Trenice Mullins Dubow, Cynthia Lucking, and Francois Levinson, clocked a 16:07.70 to shave two minutes off of the existing American record. A men’s 45 non-club team of Mark Walchinsky, Jason Abbott, Scott Wallace, and James Coates III, clocked an American record 8:33.50. In the men’s 70 division, Atlanta Track Club’s team of Neil Feather, Mark Flynn, Scott Lucking, and Jerry Learned clocked an American record time of 13:05.91 - a minute faster than the existing mark. Shore Athletic Club’s men’s 80 team of Przemyslaw Nowicki, Roland Cormier, John Kuhi, and Robert O'Rourke also bettered the existing American record with an 18:07.52 clocking.
Day 3 - February 22
2024 USATF Masters Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Neringa Jakstiene (Unattached), jumped 10.35m to take down the existing women’s 60-64 triple jump world record of 10.27m set in Barcelona in 2021.
Breanna Sanner (Unattached) broke the women’s 35-39 triple jump American record with a 12.14m leap on her fifth attempt. Her mark was nearly a meter further than the existing record. In the women’s 50-54 super weight, Angela Herzner (AZ Desert Throwers) launched an 11.83m throw 11 centimeters past the existing American record on her third attempt. Her fourth attempt was also good enough to have bettered the previous record at 11.79m.
90-year-old Christel Donley (Unattached) jumped an impressive 3.91m to better the existing American record of 3.75m in the women’s 90-94 triple jump. Her winning leap came in the third round.
In the men’s 80-84 1500, Lynn Rathjen (Unattached), clocked an impressive 5:47.29 to chop nearly a minute off of the existing American record. Inocencio Cantu (Potomac Valley Track Club) clocked a 9:41.15 to become the first American man in the 90-94 division to run under 10 minutes in the 1500 as he bettered the American record. Daniel King (Athletics Boulder) clocked his second record of the meet in the men’s 65-69 1500 as he crossed the finish line in 4:52.84.
Greater Philadelphia TC’s women’s 65 quartet of Debbie Hammond, Cheryl Bellaire, Julie Hayden, and Claudia Simpson clocked a 2:26.17 in the 4x200 to better the American record by two seconds. In the women’s 60 division of the 4x200, Atlanta Track Club’s Mireille Silva, Robin Tanner, Michelle Allen, and Lesley Hinz clocked a 2:31.20 to better the existing American record. An SC Striders Track Club quartet of Kathy Bergen, Joy Flynn, Jane Barnes, and Rita Hanscom clocked a 2:45.33 to better the previous 4x200 American record in the women’s 70 division - more than a minute faster than the previous mark. In the women’s 75 division, the American record was shattered by Atlanta Track Club’s Norma Hudnall, Andrea McCarter, Kathleen Allen, and Susan Aderhold as they clocked a 3:24.33 - 30 seconds faster than the previous 4x200 record. Atlanta Track Club also fielded a women’s 80 team of Catherine Radle, Susan Hartman, Joyce Hodges-Hite, and Myrna Barnett, which established an American record of 5:48.02.
Day 4 - February 23
The final day of competition kicked off with an American record in the men’s 35-39 triple jump. Tomarris Bell Sr. (Unattached) jumped 15.22m to better the existing record of 15.05m. In the women’s 85-89 high jump, Kathy Bergen (SC Striders Track Club) cleared 1.01m to better the American and world record. The previous world record was 0.92m, set by Florence Meiler in 2022. Christel Donley (Unattached) also bettered a world record in the high jump with a 0.86m clearance - .09m higher than the previous mark.
An Atlanta Track Club men’s 75 team set another world record in the 4x400. Susan Aderhold, Andrea McCarter, Kathleen Allen, and Norma Hudnall, ran 8:02.78 to chop 40 seconds off of the existing world record set three years ago at the USATF Indoor Championships in New York. In the women’s 65 division, a non-club team of Cheryl Bellaire, Julie Hayden, Susan Lloyd, and Elizabeth Deak clocked a world record 5:15.97 to slice nearly five seconds off of the existing record.
Angela Herzner (AZ Desert Throwers) snagged the American record in the women’s 50-54 shot put with her third round 13.66m put. Her mark bettered the previous record by .16m and won her age division by two meters. Carol Finsrud (Texas Throwers Club) landed a 9.52m shot put in the women’s 65-69 division for an age group American record. Her mark tacked on .07 to the existing record and bested the field by more than half a meter.
Two women in the 80-84 800 ran under the previous American record. Myrna Barnett (Atlanta Track Club) clocked a 4:57.29 to set an American record and Cora Hill (TNT International Racing Club) ran faster than the previous time of 6:14.93 with her 5:41.14. In the men’s 80-84 race, Lynn Rathjen (Unattached) continued his excellent meet with another American record of 2:52.11 - becoming the first man in his age division to go sub-3 along the way.
In one of the most spectacular and competitive races of the Championships, three women ran under the existing American record in the 60-64 division of the 200. Four time Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs (Unattached) clocked a speedy 28.62 to better the previous record of 28.88. Sue McDonald (Unattached) clocked a 28.78 for silver and Joy Upshaw (Joy’s Jackrabbits Track Club) was just behind in 28.78 for the bronze.
TEAM SCORES
Combined 1. Atlanta Track Club - 939.5 2. Greater Philadelphia TC - 402 3. So Cal Track Club 359.5
Women’s 1. Atlanta Track Club - 481 2. Greater Philadelphia TC - 207 3. TNT International Racing Club - 181
Men’s 1. Atlanta Track Club - 458.5 2. So Cal Track Club - 332.5 3. Potomac Valley Track Club - 227
A full list of results can be found here.