 Left to right - Leslie Nowicki, Susan Stirrat, Alexandra Marzulla, Suzanne La Burt and Alysia Puma.
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 Read more about the Syracuse Half Marathon and the Spring Distance Classic 15K. Thank you to all our members who dedicated the weekend to compete for the Shore Athletic Club. Your dedication is appreciated and your success is very exciting!! Way to kickoff 2022!
NEW YORK - Three days and hundreds of events in every age bracket from 25-29 to infinity.
Yes, the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor National Championships, staged Friday-Saturday-Sunday, March 18-19-20, at The New Balance Armory Track and Field Center, had something for everybody. And an array of Shore Athletic Club member-athletes took full advantage of the meet coming - well, just about - to their backyard by racking up lots of medals, championship patches and national team points. All while having a great time enjoying the sport they love and competing against friendly rivals assembled from all over the nation, and a pack of international athletes, as well. Just ask Shore AC teammates "Neni" Lewis, Ana Irrizarry, Sherry Brosnahan, Rick Lapp, Dr. Ivan Black, Michael Kish, John McDonald, George Alexandris, Pat Toland, Barry Blake, Marc Bloom and William (Bill) Forlenza, for starters. They're all National Masters champions now! And for Neni, Sherry, Rick, Ivan, Michael, Pat and Barry, they are repeat National Masters champions in their assorted categories. Joining them as National Masters scorers were SAC teammates were Dave Friedman, Ira Wolfe, Tony Plaster, Carl Huff, and Spider Rossiter. Yes, and even a fellow named Elliott Denman. Joining in the three-day fray, as well, were John Kuhi, Matt Wallack and Herbie Medina. All told, they registered 115 points on the men's side (to rank 6th in the nation) and 75 on the women's side (11th in the nation) for a total of 190 points to rank 8th over-all in America. There were 73 scoring men's teams in the meet and 39 in the women's. Friendly rivals from Potomac Valley, SoCal and Greater Philadelphia ranked 1-2-3 on the combined scoring charts. Top six scored in each event (on an 8-6-4-3-2-1 basis.) (Note: All this scoring may be subject to review. National Masters Hall of Famer/Shore AC Hall of Famer "Neni" Lewis, now competing in the W60 bracket, again was brilliant, taking home golds in the shot put (9.60 meters), weight throw (16.16) and super weight (10.52.) All this coming off some injuries and health concerns. Brilliant in her Shore AC debut was Ana Irizarry in the W40 category. Her 9.02 win in the 60 hurdles set an American record and she added a win in the high jump (1.40), 2nds in the shot put (12.60) plus a 3rd in the 60 (8.08) and a fourth in the 200 (26.83) Way to go, Ana !! After a few years on the inactive/sabbatical list, past National 40K racewalking champion and US Masters record-breaker Sherry Brosnahan made a brilliant return to the Shore AC lineup. Competing in W70, Sherry took gold medals in the 1-mile (11:14.63) and 3000-meter (22:53.96) racewalks, then was 6th in the shot put (4.52.) Rick Lapp, as ever, was busy all over the Armory. He won the M70 long jump (4.09) and triple jump (8.48), ran 2nd in the 60 hurdles (11.0), 5th in the 400 (1:10.26) and 7th in the 200 (31.86.) Michael Kish was again brilliant in the M70 sprints, racing to double golds in the 60 (8.41) and 200 (28.07), after a 27.85 prelim, John MacDonald was crowned as the speediest M85 200 man in the nation, with a decisive 42.08 victory. Dr. Ivan Black and Dave Friedman were hugely busy, as well. For beginners, they battled it out in the M70 pentathlon, and Ivan won all five individual events for a winning score of 2,521 points, as Dave snared second at 953. Ivan then focused on his individual events and won the M70 high jump at 1.25, was second in the long jump (3.60) and triple jump (8.34) and 4th in the 60 hurdles (13.12.) Dave added a 2nd in the M70 HJ at 1.00. Finding new energy, Lapp, Black and Friedman joined Spider Rossiter in a pair of relays, placing second in the M70 4x200 (2:25.15) and 4x800 (14:19.07.) Spider clocked a 1:12.08 in the M70 800, too. Pat Toland, a brilliant football player and an NFL candidate at one point, continued celebrating his weight-event talents, with a win in the M55 shot put (13.94) and 2nds in the weight throw (16.83) and super weight (8.02.) Famed track and field journalist and coach Marc Bloom marked his new status in the M75 division by winning the 3,000 meters in 14:04.99. Barry Blake won the M65 3000 racewalk (22:16.73) a day after placing 2nd in the 1-mile walk (11:31.74.) Of course, these are relative sprints to him – Barry is a past Masters 50K (31.1.-mile) champion, The Masters movement now stresses inclusivity and thus action lists full events in the M/W 25-29 and 30-34 brackets. George Alexandris, who'd been the NCAA Division III LJ champion for Montclair State with a 26-plus leap, and now coaches at Fair Lawn HS, continues proving his fitness and thus won the M25 LJ at 6.64 and ran 3rd in the 60 (7.21.) Yet another Shore AC winner was William (Bill) Forlenza in the M65 shot put at 12.46. But for some unknown reason, he wasn't listed for the club in official scoring results. Another former Montclair State luminary, Ira Wolfe tossed an 8.41 for 4th in the M75 shot put. Tony Plaster raced 2:52.73 for 5th in the M70 800 and 1:05.50 for 6th in the 400. Carl Huff, once the Rutgers pole vault record-setter and now a top coach and official in the event, soared to 2.60 meters for 5th in the M65 PV. Matt Wallack sped a 1:02.97 400 for 8th in the M55 400 and a 28.45 for 13th in the 200. Shore AC lifetime trustee John Kuhi – who has been a key member of the “new” SAC since its very beginning, and ran the 800 leg on the club’s first major triumph of “the new era,” in the DMR at the 1966 National Relay Championships, continues staying right wth it, and was 7th in the M75 800 (4:43.84.) Herb Medina made his Shore AC debut in the M65 60, and placed 12th in 11.23. Shore AC surely would have scored lots more points and collected more medals if veteran stars Harry Nolan and Panse Geer, both entered but on the injured list, had been able to compete. Furthermore, our team score would surely have risen if teammate Hugh Sweeny had been able to get his USATF registration status for the club amended on time. Former Princeton star Sweeny, once one of the nation's top marathoners and a high place-winner at New York, Boston, Atlantic City and other major 26.2-milers, ran 2nd in the M75 800 (3:20.13), mile (7:08.40), and 3000(14.57.84) and 4th in the 400 (1:23.53.) But he was listed as unattached. AND THIS late-breaking bulletin: The silver medal in the M85 shot put went to teammate Elliott Denman. Said Denman, "my toss (4.13 meters) was extremely modest, but I was there, I gave it my best effort, probably reached a lot of decibels, scored some points, and had a lot of fun in the process. To me that's what it's all about." ---- ELLIOTT DENMAN. Major cheers for Shore AC Alumna Ajee' Wilson, for her explosive, dramatic, breakaway 1:59.09 win in the women's 800-meter final. It was one of just three gold medals collected by Team USA. Major cheers, too, for Shore AC Varsity Team member Josh Awotunde, for his great 21.70-meter toss, good for a truly terrific fifth place in the absolutely loaded men's shot put final. Here is the story of Teammate Ajee's big-big-win, as recounted by Simon Turnbull of www.Worldathletics.com: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Wilson brings her A game to claim global 800m gold in devastating fashion March 20, 2022 This time, Ajee Wilson didn’t have to settle for a silver lining. Beaten to the world indoor 800m title on home ground in Portland in 2016 and in Birmingham in 2018, the 27-year-old from the United States finally found a Midas touch on the closing night of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. She did so with a vengeance, putting the hammer down at the bell and destroying her rivals with a 29.19 final circuit of the Stark Arena. Sweeping into the lead with a devastating burst of acceleration, Wilson surged relentlessly clear, crossing the line with a 1.45 cushion in 1:59.09. It was a perfectly timed effort, rendering Freweyni Hailu’s late charge from the back of the field worthy of only silver. Fourth in the Olympic 1500m final last year, the Ethiopian passed three rivals in the home straight to finish a well-beaten runner up in 2:00.54. "It feels amazing to finally come home with the gold after coming so close so many times," said Wilson. "I've been working on that last phase of the race and I knew if I was close I had a good chance of running away with it and when I went I wanted to make sure it was convincing and power through the line." Uganda’s world outdoor champion Halimah Nakaayi took bronze in 2:00.66, with early leader Natoya Goule of Jamaica fourth in 2:01.18 and Australian Catriona Bisset fifth in 2:01.24. “Maybe my reaction was too slow and that cost me the gold medal,” said Nakaayi, reflecting on Wilson’s decisive break. “Right now I am glad for a medal despite the fact that my tactics were prepared to win gold.” Having missed the qualifying cut for the Olympic final last year, Wilson’s consummately executed victory was all the sweeter. The world U18 champion in Lille in 2011 and world U20 winner in Barcelona the following year, the native of Neptune, New Jersey, has finally made it to global gold standard at senior level. See Simon Turnbull's Article here  A huge congratulations to our youth athletes and coaches: Big Bob and Coach Will! Shore A.C./Gone Running stand out, Jess Abbott finished 2nd in the 1500M running a PR of 4:46! Additionally, three boys went sub-5 that same day. It was a great day for our youth program at the USATF National Championships in Staten Island. N.Y.! Keep up the great work!
By ELLIOTT DENMAN
When Talitha Diggs crossed the finish line in 50.98 seconds, last Saturday (March 12) to claim the women’s 400-meter title at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, at the CrossPlex athletic facility in Birmingham, one of the many world-class indoor track venues now emerging around the nation, reverberations were heard far beyond the Alabama borders. They resounded in at least five other states: * In Pennsylvania, where she’d gone to high school (and was a five-time state champion at Saucon Valley High.) * In New Jersey, where her Mom, Joetta Clark Diggs, had risen to fame (at Columbia High School of Maplewood), as a four-time USA 800-meter Olympian, 12-time USA National champion, multiple major-meet record-breaker and, capping it all, as electee to both the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and her home state’s all-endeavors Hall of Fame. * In Indiana, where at NCAA headquarters, they were scanning the archives to determine where the Diggs’ feat, added to her Mom’s exploits (as a nine-time national-collegiate gold medalist at Tennessee), fit into all of NCAA history. * In the Sunshine State, where this sophomore sensation was a key ingredient in the University of Florida's romp to the NCAA women's indoor team title. * And, of course/of course, in Oregon, site of this June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, the official qualifying meet for July’s historic World Championships, the global title meet coming to America (Eugene’s Hayward Field, to be precise) for the first time. Best guess is that in not much more than 50.98 seconds and her Birmingham win, the sport’s stats-keepers were penciling-in Talitha Diggs as a red-hot candidate for Team USA 2022, not just in the individual 400 meters but in two of the 4x400 relay events (all-women and mixed men and women) now on the Worlds slate of events. And as a major candidate for the Paris Olympic Games of 2024, too. “Yes, it was exciting to be there and see it all,” said Joetta Clark Diggs, just back from Birmingham. “Talitha ran a great race in the final. She made us proud.” Diggs’ 50.98 was a personal best-ever indoor clocking and she won it decisively over Kennedy Simon of Texas, whose runner-up 51.46 was also a personal best. Stacey Ann Williams of Texas – and Jamaica – (51.49), Alexis Holmes of Kentucky (51.50) and Jan Taijah Ford of Southern California (51.51) occupied the 3-4-5 slots. The 50.98 was not an NCAA indoor meet record – that still belongs to, who Southern Cal’s Kendall Ellis, who ran 50.34 in 2018. But it may have been something more important. “It made us the first mother-and-daughter pair ever to win NCAA individual-event track and field championships,” said her Mom, whose pride keeps reaching record-breaking levels now, too. “I think she’s got a pretty good future in the sport.” That’s obviously putting it oh-so-very-mildly. Talitha Diggs made a brilliant collegiate debut as a Florida freshman in 2021, and her 50.74 outdoor best ranked 28th in the world and 10th in the USA. Oh, and she was an All-Academic honoree, too. At the 2021 NCAA’s before heading into the USA Final Trials for the year-delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, she ran second to eventual Olympic 800 gold medalist Athing Mu of Texas A&M in the final. On now to the Trials, where she easily advanced out of the first round, but bowed out in the semifinals, and then saw Quanera Hayes take the final in 49.78. For Diggs, just getting that far was a major achievement – she was just 18 years old. As all track people have always known, only time will tell as to all these golden possibilities just ahead. Nothing is ever a given in this what-have-you-done-fror-me-lately sport. Now, back to Birmingham. Diggs’ 10 points and her teammates’ 58 more gave the Gators their second-ever NCAA indoor team title, with Texas (56), Kentucky (44), Arkansas (40) and LSU (29 ½) next in line, as 59 schools wound up in the scoring column with at least a single point. As Gator publicists wrote it, “Florida held a slim lead heading into the second day of the meet, but blew the competition out of the water on Saturday evening, winning the team title with three events to spare (and thus able to scratch out of the concluding 4x400 relay.) “The Gators home five individual titles (hurdler Grace Stark, long-triple jumper Jasmine Moore and pentathlete Anna Hall won the others) and that was just the second time that's happened in the history of the NCAA Women's Indoor Championships. “The Gators wrapped up the team race (68 points) before the start of the 200 meters, allowing Florida the ability to watch the final three events before the trophy celebration.” This NCAA Championship is the 11th in Gator program history and the second won by the women's team. This is also the 10th team title won under the leadership of head Coach Mike Holloway. Bottom line: For Talitha Diggs and all the Florida Gators, even better things are just ahead. She’ll be 20 on August 22nd. There will be lots more to celebrate by then. Count on it. |
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September 2024
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