Masters records rewritten
Marks bested on final day of Championships
Ralph Maxwell and Stephen Robbins set world records Sunday at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Spokane Falls Community College.
Maxwell, an 88-year-old from Alamo, Texas, won the men’s 85 age division 300-meter hurdles. He turned in a time of 1 minute, 21.44 seconds, shattering France’s Henri Maynard’s previous world record of 1:27.09 set on Sept. 9, 2007.
Robbins, an 11-time world masters sprint champion who lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, as of a week ago when he moved from Seattle, won the men’s 65 200-meter race. He covered the distance in 25.36 seconds to beat the old record of 25.46 seconds set by German Guido Muller in 2005.
Earlier this year, Robbins posted a pending world record time of 25.20 seconds. He set the listed men’s 65 100-meter world record (12.37 seconds) earlier this month in Eugene, Ore.
Audrey Lary of Frederick, Md., posted an American record in the women’s 70-74 age group when she won the triple jump with a length of 27 feet.
Shirley Dockstader of Mill Valley, Calif., set the women’s 75 American record in winning the 10-kilometer race walk in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 17 seconds, and Caryl Senn Griffiths of Massapequa, N.Y. posted an American women’s 45 record with her 400-meter hurdles victory in 1:09.34.
Having already won national championships in the men’s 55 100- and 400-meter races, Bill Collins (Houston, Tex.) completed a sweep in sprints by winning the 200-meter run with a time of 23.99 seconds. Collins has won the triple seven times in world championship competition, and owns 27 World Outdoor individual titles.
Nolan Shaheed, who captured the men’s 5,000-meter title on Thursday, won the 1,500-meter race in 4:44.38.
Shaheed is the reigning world 1,500- and 5,000-meter champion in the men’s 55 age group. Next July, Shaheed turns sixty.
“I look forward to winning in my new group,” he said. “The benefit of masters track is that competitors look forward to getting older every five years in order to be at the young point of their next age group.”
Locals who fared well on Sunday included: Spokane’s Susan Osborn (women’s 35 1,500 winner in 5:21.18), Hayden Lake’s George Mathews (men’s 65 shot put runner-up, threw 42 feet, 6 1/4 inches) and Coeur d’Alene’s Linda Lanker (women’s 50 300 long hurdles runner-up in 58.49 seconds).
In the men’s 35 hammer throw, Greenacres resident Aaron Linerud won with a throw of 166 feet and Spokane’s Ryan Weidman was second (152-06).