GREENSBORO GOLD RUSH STORY: SHORE AC MASTERS STRIKE GOLD ELEVEN TIMES AT USA NATIONALS !! MONESMITH-LEE-LEWIS-HUFF-BLACK WINNERS

By ELLIOTT DENMAN
All the G’s were in alignment.
Google the Grand Gold rushes of history, the Gusting visions of the cherished inGots just waiting for the next incredibly fortunate digger to Gather and thus buld a lifetime of Glittering Grandeur.
And, for sure, you’ll strike Googled Gold at Kalgoorlie, Cripple Creek, Sutter’s Mill, the Klondike, Pilgrim’s Rest,,,and so many  more.
But there was plenty of gold to be found in Greensboro, North Carolina, Thursday though Sunday, July 20-23, too.
And Shore AC stalwarts Fred Monesmith, Rick Lee, Oneithea “Neni” Lewis,
Carl Huff and Ivan Black staked their claims to big chunks of it, at the annual USATF National Masters Track and Field Championships at
North Carolina A&T State University’s Truist Stadium.
No less than 135 USATF club teams took part and Shore AC wound up an excellent 12th over-all with 133 team points.    SAC’s 105 ranked seventh in men’s scoring and its 28 ranked 20th in women’s scoring, with 8-6-4-3-2-1 at stake in each event.  And for sure, we’d have fared much higher if our whole lineup had been able to attend.
The Lee-Monesmith-Lewis-Huff-Black quintet garnered no less than 11 of those vaunted USATF National Championship gold medals.  And plenty more silver and bronze, too.
As a famed football coach, trying to soothe his team’s vanquished opponent, once put it, “there was glory in it for all.”
Rick Lee, Shore AC’s brilliant and totally tireless distanceman, earned no less than five  golds as he dominated the M60 division of the meet that was open to all athletes of ages from 25 to a century-plus. 
Wow – this is Rick’s summary:  1st in the M60 1500 meters (4:52.41), 5000 meters (18:00.5), 10,000 meters (37:22.29) and in his debut as a 2,000-meter steeplechase, that event, too (7:33.36)  For good measure, he ran on the winning M60 4x800 relay team (9:31.06) and placed 7th in the 800 (2:26.44.) Only in the 400 (1:04.13) did he miss the top echelon.
But it was Shore AC teammate Fred Monesmith whose all-around talents surely outdid everyone in Greensboro, and they were there from all over the USA – and a whole bunch of other nations. The runs, jumps, hurdles, weights and multis – Fred did them all !
Truth be told, Fred was totally understating his brilliant showing in this
post-meet, e-mailed report to his teammates.
He tells you that he “only” competed in 11 of the 12 events he originally entered in the M75 category.  That, however, was counting the pentathlon as a single event (when it really is five) and not counting the two relays he ran, as well.
Here is what Fred told us:
“The meet is over and I was able to meet a number of other Shore AC athletes here.
   I was able to compete in 11 of the 12 events scheduled.  (His only miss – due to time conflict - was with the 100-meter sprint, where he’d almost surely have made the  finals.)

  Fred, along with his Shore AC teammates, was brilliant and tireless over the four days of the meet.

 “I was able to earn 45 points for SAC of our  133 combined team points.  My points were in the M75 group as follows:

“1st in the Pentathlon (2436 points);  2nd in the weight throw (18.57 meters);  2nd in the pole vault (1.90);  2nd in the discus (34.00);  3rd in the shot put (10.86);  3rd in the hammer (31.46); 3rd in the javelin  (31.01);  4th in the triple jump (6.61);  5th in the high jump  (1.19);  5th in the 80 M hurdles  (19.15); 7th in the long jump (3.16).”

  “I exceeded the All-American standard for all of my events and  was especially pleased to earn a medal in all five throwing events.  “

 But that wasn’t the whole story.  He ran a leg on the winning 4x100M relay and the 2nd place Shuttle Hurdles relay.  (Oh, too, he had firsts in the M75 pentathlon long jump, javelin, 200 and discus.)

“t was great to throw the shot with (SAC teammate) Charley Roll , ,the discus with Glenn Weaver, and vault with Carlton Huff and to talk with other SAC team members.”  

Summing it all up, “This meet will likely be the highlight of my Masters career and I was proud to represent our team.