Athletics: McDaniels, Gage, Ward shatter records at US Masters Indoor Champs

BOSTON – Some of the world’s top masters athletes improved on their own outstanding records Friday at the 2004 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships. Pending world records in the first and last events on the schedule bookended a remarkable first day of competition in the three-day meet.

Leonore McDaniels (Virginia Beach, Va.) got the meet off to a record-breaking start at the Reggie Lewis Center by crushing her own women’s 75-79 world record in the pole vault. The 76-year-old jumping phenom first cleared 1.72m/5-7.75 to break her mark of 1.71m/5-7.25 set last year at the USA Masters Indoor Championships. She then raised the bar – and her pending record – to 1.80m/5-10.75.

“It tickles me to get 1.80,” said McDaniels, who still is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on her left knee over the Thanksgiving holiday. “I did 1.90 [6-2.75] outdoors last year, but that was at the end of the season. This is really my first time doing anything indoors all winter, so I’m very pleased.”

More records look to be in peril as McDaniels will compete in the long jump Saturday and the high and triple jumps Sunday.

1972 Olympian hammer thrower Tom Gage (Billings, Mt.) made the most of moving into the men’s 60-64 year-old age group by crushing the existing American record – and the de facto world record – in the men’s weight throw with a best mark of 22.82m/74-10.5. (World records are not kept in the weight throw. The United States is the only country to regularly contest the event, making American records essentially world records.) The 60-year-old’s effort obliterated the previous record of 18.14m/59-6.25, held by Stewart Thompson.

Similarly, Bob Ward of Dallas, Texas, shattered the record in the men’s 70-74 weight throw with his mark of 19.09m/62-7.75. The 70-year-old’s throw broke the previous record of 16.00m, and Lillian Snaden of Florence, S.C., broke the women’s 70-74 record in the weight throw with her mark of 8.42m/27-7.5.

Kathy Martin (Northport, N.Y.) scored yet another record in her stellar and still-improving track career. On the heels of breaking 5:00 in the 1,500m earlier this year, Martin on Friday broke her own American record in the 3,000 meters for the women’s 50-54 women’s age group with her winning time of 10:23.84. The time broke the mark of 10:33.72.

The star of a Nike television commercial in 2003, the 53-year-old was happy to have the record but saw plenty of room for improvement. “It just wasn’t there for me today,” she said. “I was hoping for 10:17. I’m also running the mile, 800 and a couple of relays. In the 800, I’ll just go out there and run it really hard.”

Also breaking an age-group record was Max Springer. The 90-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., resident finished in a time of 23:21.12 in the men’s 3,000 meters to set a world mark.

The 2004 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships continue Saturday and Sunday at the Reggie Lewis Center, on the campus of Roxbury Community College. More than 800 athletes are expected to compete in the 3-day event.

For complete results from, visit /www.usatf.org.

Records set at 2004 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships:

World records
W75 Pole Vault Leonore McDaniels 1.80m/5-10.75 M90 3,000m Max Springer 23:21.12

American records
W50 3,000m Kathy Martin 10:23.84 M60 Weight throw* Tom Gage 22.82m/74-10.5 M70 Weight throw* Bob Ward 19.09m/62-7.75 W70 Weight throw* Lillian Snaden 8.42m/27-7.5

* Official world records in weight throw not kept.