Posted: March 26, 2006

Athletics: Valien posts second WR to conclude USA Masters Indoor Champs

BOSTON - Fierce competition and world-champion athletes took center stage Sunday in concluding a successful - and popular - 2006 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center.

With nearly 800 athletes submitting 1,600 entries, the 2006 edition of the USA Masters Indoor Championships was the biggest in several years.

Distaff records

Johnnye Valien of Los Angeles set her second world record of the meet in field competition, triple jumping 5.57m/18-3.25 to break the listed women's 80-84 world record of 5.15m/16-10.75, set by Margaret Hinton in 2002. On Friday Valien broke Hinton's pole vault WR with her mark of 1.25m/4-5.

The Athena Track Club broke their second relay record of the meet, running 4:20.88 in the W40-49 4x400m relay to break the world record of 4:31.15. They club also broke the American record in the 4x800m relay on Saturday.

A trio of American records fell in the super weight throw, with Lillian Snaden of Florence, S.C., taking the W75 record (4.89m/16-0.5); Bob Ward of Dallas breaking the M70 record (10.61m/34-9.75) and David Schlothauer of Westport, Mass., breaking the M85 record (5.08m16-8).

The 3,000-meter race walk saw an American record set as Miriam Gordon of Hollywood, Fla., set the W80 record with her time of 23:08.58, as the first American of her age to walk the distance.

World champions excel

Lesley Chaplin-Swann, the 2006 World Masters Athletics Championships Indoors champion from McDonough, Ga., again ran under the posted American record in the W45 800 meters. Her time in Boston was 2:22.32, which was better than her own pending record of 2:22.37, run in December in New York, but slower than her more recent record of 2:20.99, run at WMAs. Chaplin-Swann broke the W45 American record in the mile on Saturday with a time of 5:08.81.

Several other athletes came tantalizingly close to setting records. World Masters Athletics Indoor gold medalist and last week's USATF Athlete of the Week, Bill Collins of Houston, threatened his own M55 200m dash world record of 23.36, set at the 2006 WMAs. On Sunday, Collins won his division in 23.43.

Nolan Shaheed of Pasadena, Calif., nearly claimed another record after breaking the M55 mile world record on Saturday. In Sunday's race, he ran 2:09.95 to just miss the world record of 2:08.15. The best 800-meter competition of the day came in M40, where Joseph Carnegie (1:56.17) of Fresno, Calif., outran John Hinton (1:56.36) of Chapel Hill, N.C. in a thrilling finish.

On the women's side, Alisa Harvey of Manassas, Va., was just a few strides off her own record in the W40 800 meters, running 2:08.68 to finish near her record of 2:07.23 run last month.

In one of the most anticipated match-ups of the day, Leland McPhie of San Diego sailed 4.75m/15-7 to deal a defeat to Max Springer of Knoxville, Tenn. (4.64m/15-2.75) in a triple jump battle royal of 92-year-olds.

For complete results and reports from all three days of the 2006 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships, visit USATF.org.

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