Aaron Thigpen of Brentwood, Calif., tied Stan Whitley's listed world and American records

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Contact:
Tom Surber
USA Track & Field
Media Information Manager
317-713-4690; Tom.Surber@usatf.org


Donley, Bates set world records at World Masters Championships

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Led by the world age-group records of Christel Donley and Christopher Bates, Team USA paced the gold-medal race after Day 2 of the 4th World Masters Indoor Athletics Championships in Kamloops, British Columbia. The American team, boasting 290 athletes age 35 to 92, collected 30 gold medals and 71 total, compared with host Canada's 24 gold and 71 total. Germany was third with 11 golds and 29 total.



Donley, a Masters Hall of Famer from Colorado Springs, won the W75 pentathlon Monday and set a world record in the event's 60-meter hurdles. Her 14.22-second clocking erased the listed 14.68 world best by Sweden's Asta Larsson in 2008. On Tuesday, Bates of Portland, Ore., scored 4,110 points to win the M45 pentathlon, bettering the listed World Masters Athletics record of 4,062 jointly held by Jean-Luc Duez of France and American Gregory Foster. Bates' marks were 9.28 in the 60m hurdles, 6.08m/19-11.50 in the long jump, 11.99m/39-4 in the shot, 1.82m/5-11.50 in the high jump and 3:09.49 in the 1,000m run.


In an M45 semifinal race Monday, Aaron Thigpen of Brentwood, Calif., tied Stan Whitley's listed world and American records in the 60m dash with a time of 7.02 seconds. (An Italian not competing in Kamloops ran a pending 6.97 earlier this year.) On Tuesday, Thigpen won the 60m final in 7.10 seconds. In the M55 age group, 59-year-old Bill Collins of Houston defended his 60m title from 2008 Worlds in Clermont-Ferrand, France, with a time of 7.47 -- which would have taken second in Tuesday's M50 final won by Michael Waller (7.34) of Federal Way, Wash. Brenda Matthews of Anaheim, Calif., and Sullivan Award finalist Phil Raschker of Marietta, Ga., went 1-2 in the W60 age group, with Matthews winning in 9.04 seconds to Raschker's 9.25.



In all, 10 Americans took 60m gold. The others were M35 Alfy Pettes of Omaha (7.00), W35 Dena Birade of Bellingham, Wash. (7.93); M40 Reggie Pendland of Dallas (7.20), M70 James Paddie of Shreveport, La. (8.53); M75 Dick Richards of Encinitas, Calif. (9.33); and W80 Sumi Onodera-Leonard of Huntington Beach, Calif. (13.13).



Other Team USA highlights from the world meet, which runs through Saturday include:



-- Besides Donley and Bates, American champions in the pentathlon were Raschker, W55 Rita Hanscom of San Diego and M55 Bill Murray of Birmingham, Ala., who beat a 12-man field but fell short of his own world record. Murray scored 4,097 points, behind his listed world record of 4,384 set a year ago in Landover, Md.



-- Wayne Sabin of Milwaukie, Ore., and new Masters Hall of Famer Ray Feick of Gilbertsville, Pa., went 1-2 in the M75 discus (held outdoors) with throws of 26.97m/88-6 and 24.14m/79-2.50, respectively.



-- Feick and Sabin went 1-3 in the M75 hammer (also outdoors), throwing 28.18m/92-5 and 25.39m/83-3, respectively.



--- Ken Jansson of Wichita, Kan., and Michael Venning of Cupertino, Calif., went 1-3 in the M50 hammer throw (6-kilogram held outdoors) with throws of 54.25m/178-0 and 50.63m/166-1).



-- Todd Taylor of Molalla, Ore., and Hank Konen of Reno. Nev., went 1-3 in the M60 hammer throw (5-kilogram) with tosses of 50.62m/166-1 and 44.63m/146-5, respectively.



-- Hank Konen of Reno, Nev., and Douglas Watson of Monument, Ore., went 1-2 in the M60 discus with throws of 45.48m/149-2 and 44.05m/144-6.



--- In the 8 km cross country race Monday, American gold medalists were W45 Sheryl Miller of Coralville, Iowa (32:16.60); W55 Kathryn Martin of Northport, N.Y. (32:27.60), M50 David Cannon of Seattle (24:55.50); and M60 Roger Price of Randolph, N.J. (32:02.00).



For complete results, visit http://www.kamloops2010masters.com/Results/index.htm.



Team USA home: http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/WorldMastersAthleticsChampionshipsIndoor/







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Kamloops Track & Field Club
2010 WMA World Indoor Championships - 3/1/2010 to 3/6/2010
Kamloops, Canada

Event 212 M45 60 Meter Dash
===================================================================
WMA: R 7.02
Name Year Team Prelims H#
===================================================================
Preliminaries
1 Aaron Thigpen M45 United States 7.05Q 2
2 Andre Francois M45 Canada 7.42Q 3
3 Stephen Jones M46 Australia 7.70Q 1
4 Francois Boda M45 United States 7.40Q 2
5 Trent Hagler M46 United States 7.64Q 3
6 Len Van Ryswyk M46 Canada 7.99Q 1
7 Robert Trapp M48 Canada 8.05q 2
8 Trevor Salmon M48 Canada 8.18q 3
9 Sholto Douglas-Home M47 Great Britain 8.20q 1
10 Darcy Meyers M48 Canada 8.29q 2
11 Michael R. May M49 Great Britain 8.40q 3
12 Konstantinos Chamouroudi M49 Greece 8.41q 3
13 Mariusz Borowski M47 Canada 8.43q 1
14 Christer Strömberg M49 Finland 8.57q 3
15 Lawrence Reynolds M49 United States 8.99q 1
-- Luigi Lorenzo Papetti M45 Italy DNS 2
-- Michael Burke M47 United States DNS 1

Event 212 M45 60 Meter Dash
===================================================================
WMA: R 7.02
Name Year Team Semis H#
===================================================================
Semi-Finals
1 Aaron Thigpen M45 United States R 7.02Q 2
2 Andre Francois M45 Canada 7.44Q 1
3 Francois Boda M45 United States 7.33Q 2
4 Stephen Jones M46 Australia 7.57Q 1
5 Trent Hagler M46 United States 7.67Q 2
6 Len Van Ryswyk M46 Canada 7.90Q 1
7 Robert Trapp M48 Canada 7.93q 1
8 Trevor Salmon M48 Canada 8.27q 2
9 Darcy Meyers M48 Canada 8.38 1
10 Sholto Douglas-Home M47 Great Britain 8.43 2
11 Konstantinos Chamouroudi M49 Greece 8.47 2
12 Christer Strömberg M49 Finland 8.51 1
13 Mariusz Borowski M47 Canada 8.65 2
14 Michael R. May M49 Great Britain 8.65 1
15 Lawrence Reynolds M49 United States 9.00 1

Event 212 M45 60 Meter Dash
===============================================================
WMA: R 7.02
Name Year Team Finals
===============================================================
Finals
1 Aaron Thigpen M45 United States 7.10
2 Andre Francois M45 Canada 7.23
3 Francois Boda M45 United States 7.34
4 Stephen Jones M46 Australia 7.62
5 Trent Hagler M46 United States 7.74
6 Len Van Ryswyk M46 Canada 8.01
7 Robert Trapp M48 Canada 8.05
8 Trevor Salmon M48 Canada 8.59


Event 224 M45 200 Meter Dash
================================================================
WMA: R 22.57
Name Year Team Prelims
================================================================
Heat 1 Preliminaries
1 Trent Hagler M46 United States 25.72Q
2 Stephen Jones M46 Australia 26.21Q
3 Robert Trapp M48 Canada 26.76q
4 Mariusz Borowski M47 Canada 29.30
-- Kelvin Mark M49 Canada DNS
Heat 2 Preliminaries
1 Andre Francois M45 Canada 25.90Q
2 Darcy Meyers M48 Canada 28.01Q
3 Martin Baranzke M46 Germany 28.13q
4 Michael R. May M49 Great Britain 28.40
Heat 3 Preliminaries
1 Aaron Thigpen M45 United States 25.91Q
2 Burghardt Funk M46 Germany 26.97Q
3 Trevor Salmon M48 Canada 28.53
4 Mark Hodder M49 Canada 28.86
-- Roy Langdon M47 Canada DNS
Heat 4 Preliminaries
1 Enrico Saraceni M45 Italy 24.43Q
2 Francois Boda M45 United States 24.61Q
3 Marcus Shute M47 United States 24.77q
4 Len Van Ryswyk M46 Canada 27.28q
5 Christer Strömberg M49 Finland 33.25
================================================================
WMA: R 22.57
Name Year Team Prelims
================================================================
Preliminaries
1 Enrico Saraceni M45 Italy 24.43Q
2 Trent Hagler M46 United States 25.72Q
3 Andre Francois M45 Canada 25.90Q
4 Aaron Thigpen M45 United States 25.91Q
5 Francois Boda M45 United States 24.61Q
6 Stephen Jones M46 Australia 26.21Q
7 Burghardt Funk M46 Germany 26.97Q
8 Darcy Meyers M48 Canada 28.01Q
9 Marcus Shute M47 United States 24.77q
10 Robert Trapp M48 Canada 26.76q
11 Len Van Ryswyk M46 Canada 27.28q
12 Martin Baranzke M46 Germany 28.13q
13 Michael R. May M49 Great Britain 28.40
14 Trevor Salmon M48 Canada 28.53
15 Mark Hodder M49 Canada 28.86
16 Mariusz Borowski M47 Canada 29.30
17 Christer Strömberg M49 Finland 33.25
-- Kelvin Mark M49 Canada DNS
-- Roy Langdon M47 Canada DNS