The five entrants made Shore AC the best-represented club in the nation in this grueling
31.1-mile test of willpower and determination, efficiency and expert technique, staged over a loop course on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 in this Southern California community. All five finished the race - directed by the celebrated Mr. Tracy Sundlun - wIth honor and distinction. The performances of all five, 3000 miles away from the club's East Coast base, brought immense pride to all their Shore AC teammates, who are well aware of the club's historic role of racewalking leadership over the past five and a half decades. Anthony J. "A.J." Gruttadauro, a recent graduate of West Virginia Tech, was first Shore ACwalker over the line, placing fourth in four hours, 42 minutes and 31 seconds. Immediately behind A.J. with a 4:47.00 clocking in the concurrently staged Women's USATF National Championship, was Shore AC teammate Erin Taylor-Taylor, second placer in the women's event. For the past half-decade, and more, Erin has been a ceaseless advocate for the staging of the 50K as a standard event for women - as well as men - in global and hemisphere championship meets. Her stirring efforts - surely helped along by attorney Paul DeMeester, led to the women's 50K being included in the World Championships of London (2017) and Doha (2019) but - most disppointingly - no success yet in getting the 50K onto the Tokyo/Sapporo program for August 2020. Placing sixth of the men in a gallant 5:02:01 was USAF Airman Michael Mannozzi of Shore AC. Hugely busy in his meteorolgical studies, the new airman has had little time to train properly. He nevertheless "hung in there" for a top-six finish. One place behind in seventh was Shore AC veteran Dave Talcott, whose 5:06:51 performance also won the Masters 55-59 divisional title. "Anchoring" the Shore AC delegation, with a 6:26:48 finish, was club veteran star Barry Blake, who set a personal 30K record en route. Now a retired engineer, Blake has found more training time, resulting in improving performances and technique at all distances from one mile up. Over-all winners were Andreas Gustafsson (4:12:11) for the men and Robyn Stevens (4:37:31) for the women. All these 50K people ask the rest of the track and field world to remember this: their event is nearly five miles further than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. They are the grittiest of the gritty, the toughest-minded of all in their sport. --- By ELLIOTT DENMAN,
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As Shore AC "alumna" Ajee' Wilson was racing to the 11th - yes the 11th! - Senior
National title of her magnificent track career - and she's still just 25 years old - a parade of Shore AC Varsity Team athletes was doing big things at the USA National Indoor Track and Field Championships, the nationally-televised event (NBC and NBCSN) at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 14 and 15. Ms. Wilson - the special pride of Neptune, NJ - and all of Shore AC, too - easily vanquished her top rivals in the women's 800-meter final in 2:01.98. Even in ABQ's 5,000-foot altitude, it seemed a breeze - a week after she'd lowered her American indoor record to 1:58.29 at the Armory in NYC at the 113th edition of the NYRR Millrose Games. Kaela Edwards was a not-close second in 2:02.41 and Monmouth University graduate Allie Wilson - the former Shore AC intern now running for the Atlanta Track Club - claimed third in 2:02.99, a major breakthrough into the National ranks. From 2,000 miles away, we again cheered the great high jumping of Shore AC Varsity Team star Amina Smith, the University of Maryland grad now training with SAC superb jumps mentor Mike Pascuzzo. Only American record-holder/ World Outdoor medalist Vashti Cunningham, the winner at 1.97 meters/ 6-5 1/2 could outleap our Amina, who went over the bar at 1.90 / 6-2 3/4 for yet another National medal in her great career. Shore AC veteran Brandon Roulhac once again proved he could triple jump with the very best as he came through with a 16.49/ 54-1 1/4 hop-step-jump to claim sixth place, just 0.62 back of winner Donald Scott. Placing ninth in the women 's 3000-meter racewalk at 15:03.53 was Shore AC stalwart Chelsea Conway. Making his debut as a Shore AC representative on the National scene was star shot putter Corey Martin, the former multi-IC4A champion for Monmouth University. In a brilliant competition that saw Olympic champion Ryan Crouser bomb it out to 22.60/ 74-1 3/4, number two mark on the all-time indoor list, Murphy ranked 15th on the star-studded list with a toss of 18.93 /62- 1 3/4, Also in the SP was SAC invitee Josh Awotunde, fifth-placer at 20.15-66-1 1/2. The women's weight throw saw UCLA junior Alyssa Wilson's big breakthrough, all the way up to second place with a superb throw of 22.80/ 74-9 3/4. The former Donovan Catholic HS of Toms River super star also placed 10th in the SP at 16.65- 54-7 1/2. Brianna Stratz, Allie Wilson's Monmouth U. teammate and still her teammate (with Atlanta Track Club) ran third in her 800 heat at 2:09.80 and did not advance. Indoor Nationals notes: This meet was held at Staten Island's Ocean Breeze in 2019 and was originally slated to return there in 2020, only to see it moved away - for reasons never fully announced - and off to New Mexico...And with no World Indoor Championships to aspire to - the World meet, booked for Nanjing, China, was cancelled after the Coronavirus outbreak - this became a major focus for many heading into the Olympic Year 2020 outdoor season. Great news from Annapolis!!! An impressive performance by Andrew Ghizzone this past weekend. "It was very thrilling to see the 1,000 meter run," stated long time Shore AC member and grandpa, Bill Richardson! This was the event to put Andrew in 5th place overall after taking 2nd in pole vault to bring him form 10th to 7th and then with the 1,000 to 5th. Excellent job, Andrew!! Keep up the great work and thank you representing the club so well!!
Dear Shore AC Athletes:
Your club whirled through the fabulous Ocean Breeze facility on Staten Island yesterday and piled up more points that there are grains of sand along the shore. OK, that’s a heap of hyperbole. We did, though, garner 26% of 1,796 points awarded in the meet. That towered over the second-place club’s 9% take. Shore AC men ruled the beach. Our 381 points far outstripped the 104 points accumulated by the second-place men’s squad. We employed a wide range of talent, from fresh-faced surfers to ancient mariners. A summary of individual and relay team accomplishments appears below. Meanwhile, a small contingent of Shore AC women created mighty waves. Their amazing 82 points notched third place within a tumultuous field of 14 clubs. You will find their shining accomplishments listed below as well. Congratulations to every one of our athletes who contributed! -Scott Linnell Team Captain, Shore AC LDR Progra USATF-NJ/NY Dual Meet Results: Individual here; club here. Notes:
Shore AC Men: Individual events: Name Age Event Time Points earned
TJ 8.02m 10
5000M 25:02.5 8 3000M 14:54.8 10
5000M 20:50.3 10
400M 1:09.5 10 LJ 4.08m 10
Shore AC Men: Relay events:
Shore AC Women: Individual events: Name Age Event Time Points earned
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