Tallahassee, FL — Under blue skies with temperatures rising from the low 60s to mid-70s at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, 500 Masters athletes contested the 2023 USATF Club Cross Country Championships. The races at the Club Cross Country Championships served as a great preview of what is to come at the World Cross Country Championships at this venue in 2026. Three Masters races were held - the Masters women at 9:00 a.m., men 60 and up at 10:00 a.m., men 40 and up 11:00 a.m. As usual, these championships featured the deepest and most competitive fields of the year in the Masters Grand Prix. Scoring for the first two races is based on the top five declared athletes with the top three finishers scoring for each team, the final race has nine declared, with the top five scoring. The tight race anticipated for the women’s 40+ race between two Oregon-based teams did not disappoint. Carrie Dimoff led her Bowerman Track Club team with a first-place finish, but Renee Metivier, who finished second for Team Red Lizard had a stronger supporting cast. Red Lizard’s Metivier, Heineck, and Shaw totaled 23 points from their 2-7-14 places. Bowerman’s Dimoff, Rhode, and Bloomer totaled 31 points and had to be satisfied with second place. The Cal Coast Track Club’s Camy, Osman, and Shearer moved up from 11th last year to third this year on a solid team effort. In the women’s 50+ race, The Central Park Track Club’s Harvey, Kennedy, and Basile - who did not enter the Club race last year - took the title with a 3-5-8 finish for 16 points. Central Park edged the Garden State Track Club’s Aliaga, Aspholm, and Panepinto by just 4 points. Garden State enjoyed their second consecutive team silver medals. Sirius Athletic Club’s Hopkins, Landers-Potts, and Johnson matched their third-place finish from last year. In the 60+ race, the Shore Athletic Club’s La Burt, Cary, and Capko, who did not compete in San Francisco, took first and third place. The Impala Racing Team’s Cordes, Brennan-Erler, and Keller claimed fourth, sixth, and ninth to apply pressure. Shore needed its third scoring runner to finish 14th or higher for the win and that is precisely what she did - giving Shore the win 18-19. The Liberty Athletic Club’s Cass, King, and Bok earned their second- consecutive set of bronze medals at club cross with 23 points, the 70+ Team Red Lizard’s Groesz, Gerl, and Olsen took their third-consecutive club cross win in this division. Finishing first, second, and fifth, they claimed the division title over the Atlanta Track Club, eight to 17. Atlanta’s ‘A’ team, Hudnall, Ozell, and Allen came in three points ahead of their ‘B’ squad of Lucking, McCarter, and Barnett to take second. Red Lizard enjoyed two team golds in the women’s race. The men’s 60+ Shore Athletic Club’s Zamek, Lee, and Notaro out of the Jersey Shore, finished sixth last year. Zamek, who turned 60 this year, led the way and Shore surged into first with 1-5-10 for 16 points and a solid 13-point win. The Genesee Valley Harriers’ Evans, Mora, and Gardella, from upstate New York, had a similar surge, finishing fifth last year and vaulting into second this year with 29 points. They had to beat back stern challenges from the third-place club, the TC Running Company’s Van Danacker, Billig, and Bohlke, out of the Twin Cities, who were just two points back and fourth-place Atlanta only four points behind TC. In the 70+ race, the Boulder Road Runners’ Kirschner, Ostwald, and Bell claimed all the marbles two years ago, dropped to fifth last year and came roaring back to win again this year with a tight 4-5-6 finish and 15 -points. The Jamul Toads’ Pfeiffer, Wells, and Dunbar, winners last year, put up a good fight, succumbing by just three points. The Syracuse Track Club’s Foster, Wood, and Larison, with 36 points, climbed up to the podium from fourth last year. In the 80+ race, the Atlanta 80’s team continues to show up and inspire. They finished second at Lehigh in 2019, won at Tallahassee in 2021 and finished second in San Francisco last year. This year, they claimed first again, with six points from a 1-2-3, as no other teams entered. In the men’s 40+, the Indiana Elite Athletic Club won in 2021 and 2022 and aimed for a three-peat in 2023. The West Valley Track Club finished second both times, losing by a single point in 2021 but by 27 points in 2022. West Valley caught the bug in 2015 in San Francisco when the Bay Area club finished second. Since that time, they have been on the podium each year at the Club Cross Country 40+ Championship. They came determined to retake the title they had won in 2017 and 2019. West Valley’s Richards, Cisewski, Davey, Boss, and Pool delivered, totaling 36 points from 1-3-9-11-12. Indiana’s Davis, Lindsay, Guyer, Jackson, and Haschell battled them all the way but had to give way with 59 points, 15 ahead of the Tracksmith Boston Hares’ Baker, Smith, Taylor, Reilly, Davis in their first Masters outing at clubs. In the 50+ division, West Valley has been the big dog since 2021. They took first that year in Tallahassee at 29 points with a 33-point margin over Garden State. In 2022 West Valley repeated with a 39-70 win over those same New Jersey rivals. The three-peat was successful, by a thin three-point margin. West Valley’s Rose, Yuen, Callon, Backstrom, and Lieben finished with 3, 6, 11, 16, 20 for 56 points with the Boulder Road Runners’ Zoldak, Crauch, DeSimone, Mays, and Mallon at 59. Boulder drew first blood with first and second place, but their third through fifth runners were more spread out than West Valley’s. That gave West Valley the edge, 56 to 59. The Central Mass Striders’ Putnam, Brightman, Callaghan, Shairs, and Grandfield matched their third-place finish from 2021 with 78 points.
In the women’s 6 km race, Metivier was glued to Dimoff for the first 3 km. Shortly thereafter, Dimoff made a decisive move that Metivier could not answer. Dimoff pulled away gradually from there to win in 21:18 with Metivier second at 21:41. Katie Sherron, who won here two years ago, finished in third at 22:06. In the men’s 8 km race, Nat Larson also pushed from the front, with Mark Zamek right on his heels through the first 3 km loop. Over the next kilometer, Larson opened up a five second lead and added to it over the final 5 km. Larson enjoyed the win at 29:34, with Zamek 19 seconds back. John Van Danacker held off Kevin Ostenberg and Steve Schmidt to claim third in 30:26. The men’s 10 km race was expected to come down to a battle between the top two returning finishers from last year, Malcolm Richards and Jesse Davis. Davis controlled the race from the front when he won here in 2021. This year it was Richards’s turn to do the same. Richards tested his main rivals a couple of times in the first 2 km and then made a decisive move to open up a three-second gap by the bottom of the last hill on the first loop. By the time they began the second loop the lead was up to five seconds. Richards was not threatened the rest of the way, winning in 32:09 with Davis 35 seconds back in second. David Cisewski claimed third in 32:58. Top age graded athletes included Nora Cary, 68, with a 68 26:30 in the women’s 6 km race; her 93.44% eclipsed marathoner, Jeannie Rice, 75, who ran a 29:32 92.71 and Mary Cass, 62, who finished in 25:45 88.87 who finished second and third in age grading. In the 8 km race, it was Rick Becker’s, 69, 31:22 at 89.53% who prevailed over Nat Larson, 61, who finished in 29:34 for an 88.06% and Kevin Ostenberg, 60, who finished in 29:54 for an 87.76% age grade. The 10 km race featured Frank Zoldak, 57, who ran a 34:53 to achieve a 90.52% grade to edge Jaime Heilpern’s, 53, 34:50 which age graded at 87.51% and the overall M40+ winner, Richards’, 41, 32:09 for an 85.88% age grade.
40-44: Carrie Dimoff 21:18 45-49: Jill Braley 22:49 50-54: Karolyn Bowley 24:01 55-59: Rachel Hopkins 24:41 60-64: Suzanne La Burt 25:20 65-69: Nora Cary 26:30 70-74: Jeanette Groesz 30:44 75-79: Jeannie Rice 29:32 80-84: Myrna Barnett 46:45
40-44 Malcolm Richards 32:09 45-49 Neville Davey 34:50 50-54 Jaime Heilpern 34:50 55-59 Frank Zoldak 34:53 60-64 Nat Larson 29:34 65-69 Rick Becker 31:22 70-74 Robert Qualls 34:52 75-79 Gary Ostwald 37:38 80-84 Ed Bligh 49:01 This event kicked off the 2024 USATF Masters National Grand Prix. Next up are the USATF Cross Country Championships in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, January 20. Masters women’s and men’s races will be held along with U20 and open. More details can be found here.