Special to USATF, from Bob Weiner and Rebecca
VanderLinde BOSTON - Two-time Olympic relay gold medalist and 1993
world champion 400m runner Jearl Miles-Clark heads a
field of over 700 masters athletes, ages 30+ to 90+, who will
descend on Boston's Reggie Lewis Center for the 2008
USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships
March
28-30. This marks the 11th time the championships will be
held at "The Reggie," located on the campus of Roxbury
Community College, 1350 Tremont Street. Finals are 4-6
p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, and 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Sunday. Admission is free.
The 41-year-old Miles-Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) is among the
most decorated American 400 and 800 meter runners in
history. A five-time Olympian, Miles-Clark owns a pair of
Olympic gold medals in the 4x400m relay and also is the
American record holder outdoors at 800 meters, the event
she contested at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She
will be one of a bevy of highly regarded track and field stars
in the meet and will run the 200 and 400.
A total of 18 American winners from last week's World
Masters Indoor Championships in Clermont-Ferrand,
France, are coming to Boston. No fewer than 15 current
outdoor World Champions will participate as well, including
Phil (Philippa) Raschker, the 2007 IAAF World Masters
Athlete of the Year who won 10 gold medals at the 2007
World Masters Championships in Italy. For the second time,
Raschker, 61, from Marietta, Georgia, is a finalist for the
Sullivan Award for the nation's Top Amateur Athlete. Last
week in France, Raschker won six gold medals at the World
Masters Indoor Championships: 60-meter dash, 60-meter
hurdles, 200-meters, high jump, long jump and triple jump,
including one world and two American records.
More top entries
Also entered is Paul Babbits, who at age 47 this winter has
vaulted a 45+ world record of 16 feet, 10.25 inches.The first
16 foot vault indoors by a person of any age was John
Uelses in 1962; Olympic gold medalist Bob Seagren had
the first indoor 17-foot vault in 1966.
Kathy Martin (Northport, NY), 55, former USATF masters
Athlete of the Year who won three world indoor titles last
week (800m, 3000m and cross country), is entered in
Boston in the 800, 1500, and 3000.
Seven competitors are over age 90, including Bob Matteson
(Bennington, Vt.), 92, and Betty Jarvis (Aberdeen, N.C.), 93.
For a full meet schedule and entries by age, visit
http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/USAMastersIndoorTFCha
mpionships/
For media interviews onsite or for more information, see
National Masters Media Chair Bob Weiner trackside or call
202-329-1700
(Special thanks to contributors Ken Stone, Pete Taylor and
Mike Travis.)