Coach’s Corner
USATF-NE Masters Indoor Championships – Providence, 1/26/2025
For most of the year, Liberty’s primary involvement with racing is on the roads – the grand prix series, marathons, the last leg of triathlons etc. But just as fall brings cross country into focus, winter is the season for indoor track, and this past Sunday was a special one for Liberty’s indoor track crew at the USATF-New England Masters Championships in Providence.
There were Liberty runners who’d been doing track for forty years or more (Alda, Karen) others in her first track meet ever (Jackie, Margaret) and lots in between. A dozen club members took part (some in individual events as well as relays), the relay being the highlight and meet finale.
Alda has a nose for sniffing out breakable age-group records, and this time it was the women’s 65-plus 4 x 800m relay. The record, set at last year’s masters indoor nationals in Chicago by the Greater Philadelphia TC, was 14:55, an average of 3:44 per 800-meter leg. We can beat that, thought Alda. The hard part might be getting other teams to run, as solo efforts can’t qualify as national or world records. But Liberty, along with a little help from our friends at Tracksmith, stepped up to form two more teams, one all-Liberty and one half-Liberty & half-Tracksmith (with thanks to Cherie Turner and Natalie Jeong).
With Viki Bok’s mother on hand for support (and to watch nonagenarians Flo Meiler, 90, and Hannele Lawrence, 95, take part) things got started with the 3000m (slightly less than 2 miles). Mary Cass, Jan Holmquist and Karen Lein each won her respective age group; more than that, Jan knocked just over a minute from the world record set 11 years ago in Edmonton. An hour later it was time for the mile, with Jackie Shakar and Viki, plus Mary and Karen doubling back. Jackie won her age group in the first track race of her life.
I could spend an afternoon talking about the 4 x 800m relay but I’m already going on too long as usual. Suffice to say (well, not quite) it lived up to its billing and then some. After a little baton-passing practice in the hallway for those new to relay-ing, the three teams took the line. But only after a last-moment scare: Mary, due to run third leg on the Liberty-Tracksmith team, caught a spike and took a hard fall near the starting line. Mary is tough as nails, but it would not have been wise to run, so Jan leaped into the breach to run leg #3 instead.
Baton passes were clean, and it appeared that every single runner ran a smart, well-paced leg to meet or exceed expectations. It was exciting to see people, newbies and track veterans alike, push themselves, and to embrace the spirit that is indoor track and (especially) relay running). And yes, the world 65-plus record went down by some 45 seconds.
3000m
Mary Cass 12:20.57 (1st 60-64, 86.16% age-graded)
Karen Lein 18:48.02 (1st 65-69(, 58.54%)
Jan Holmquist 14:56.68 (1st 80-plus, new World 80-84 record, 88.41%)
(Your coach ran 11:57.56 for 2nd 70-74, 83.47%)
Mile
Mary Cass 6:22.38 (2nd 60-64, 84.69%)
Viki Bok 6:37.01 (3rd 60-64, 81.57%)
Jackie Shakar 7:06.11 (1st 65-69, 77.49%)
Karen Lein 9:40.71 (2nd 65-69, 57.43%)
4 x 800m relay
LAC mixed-age 13:33.32 (Margaret Keaveny, Maria Rojas Duran, Kara Bown, Tara Cates)
LAC-Tracksmith 13:34.70 (Viki Bok, Cherie Turner, Jan Holmquist, Natalie Jeong)
LAC 65-69 14:08.94 (Jackie Shakar, Dru Pratt-Otto Alda Cossi, Juie Menosky)
New World age-group record – old record 14:55.12
Final note: This was also a team scoring event (10 for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd etc.), and with so many Liberty people involved, all-women Liberty would up 3rd out of 16 teams (68 points)! -- John
USATF-New England Indoor Track & Field Championships, Gordon Track, Harvard University, February 23, 2025
One world age-group record in a year is wonderful beyond expectations, but two? Within a month? At different distances? In the course of their pursuit, Liberty as a whole was lifted to a new level of engage-ment and accomplishment on the track (which we surmise may have been Alda’s secret plan all along).
Back story: A month ago the Liberty team of Jackie Shakar, Alda Cossi, Dru Pratt-Otto and Julie Menosky chopped 46 seconds from the existing age 65-69 4 x 800 meter relay record, running 14:08.94, supported by a Liberty mixed-age team and a combined Liberty-Tracksmith team. Two weeks later in Dublin an Irish mixed-club team also crushed the old record in 14:16.8 – 8 seconds short of Liberty’s new standard, though they didn’t know it at the time.
Meanwhile Alda, who hunts up breakable records the way a French pig hunts truffles (that’s a very large compliment in case you’re unsure), had scoped out the W65-69 4 x 400m record, 6:55.32 from 2019, an average of 1:44 (104 seconds) per leg. We can do that, she realized, and set about getting the necessary paperwork in order (world and national records aren’t casually done and governing bodies such as USATF are careful to ensure that record claims are legitimate), targeting the USATF-NE indoor meet at Harvard. (Harvard’s track is actually in yards, not meters, meaning that instead of 1600 meters team would be running a mile, or 1609 meters, but 6:55 still seemed like a ‘soft’ mark.)
Cut to February 8th and the classic Millrose Games in New York, held on the new and very (very) fast Armory track in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. Surprise! A 65-69 team from the Central Park TC runs 6:13.71 (86.25-96.93-95.14-95.39), averaging just over 93 seconds per 400m leg. Uh-oh.
By this time everything for Feb 23 was full speed ahead, and enthusiasm from Liberty to support and participate was going off the charts. Needing at least one other team in the 4 x 4 for any records to count (single-team time trials don’t), not one but three other full Liberty teams – that’s twelve runners in addition to the four 65-69s – signed on. And since this meet also had the infrequently-run distance medley relay (1200m-400m-800m-1600m), Liberty came up with two full teams for that event as well. (Five runners did both relays, which came back-to-back at the end of the meet – Mary Cass (who also ran the open mile and 800m) Tara Cates, Jolie Jaycobs and Margaret Keaveny.)
Mary kicked the meet off with an excellent 6:14.82 mile; a couple of hours later she, Viki Bok and Jackie Shakar ran the 800m together in the same heat, Mary speeding 3:00.85, Viki 3:04.07, Jackie 3:18.69, all meeting or exceeding expectations (Jackie in just the third track race of her life).
By this time, lots of Liberty blue occupied bleacher space near the finish line – in addition to those running, Rachel Steely, Mary McNulty & sister, Jan Holmquist, Alda’s sister Lidia, Julie’s husband Dave, Jolie Jaycobs’ parents and others I’m forgetting?) were on hand. Soon it was DMR time. Five teams were entered, two from Liberty (and three college club teams. Jas Lee (5:05.98) and Jolie (4:30.39) took the opening ¾-mile legs (6 laps), handing off to Helen Bresler (78.42) and Margaret Keaveny (79.76) respectively for ¼-mile. Margaret passed to Tara (2:46.75) for the 1/2M leg with Madeline Miller (5:59.78 mile) finishing in a very strong 2nd place. Mary Cass (3:07.48 1/2M) took the baton from Helen and Catherine Xie (6:13.63) brought her team home in 4th.
After the men’s DMR it was show time for the women’s 4 x 440y. With 16 runners/4 teams (plus a prep school team & a pair of college club teams) it’s hard to give a blow-by-blow account for each, but suffice to say that the energy was terrific, both on the track and in the stands. The team of Cates-Lee-Kara Brown-Theresa O’Riorden ran 5:22.53, Theresa’s 70.64 the fastest Liberty split of the day, faster than some prep/college runners. Jaycobs-Keaveny-Kate Gilmartin-Kathy Materazzo ran 5:30.89 while an all-60s team of Bok-Cass-Karen Lein-Brenda King ran 6:41.26.
The 65-69 team knew it would run well under the old 6:55 record, but the new 6:13 was a steep climb. But mountain/trail runner Jackie knows about steep climbs and turned in a 90.53 split – the team needed 93s to break CPTC’s mark – and thus laid down the gauntlet. Then Anne Shreffler showed that she has more than just fast flute fingers by ripping off a 90.53 while Alda, inching up on 70, sped 94.32 to leave Julie with 97 seconds to set a new record. Julie’s 90.77 iced the 6:06.81 and the party was on. (Alda’s work wasn’t quite done as she had to get signatures from specific meet officials added the paperwork for record submission.)
I’ve largely given up trying to compare ‘best’ Liberty days as they’ve become both numerous and varied; besides, citing a ‘best’ by definition slightly devalues others. But this was clearly one of the best. Additional notes:
Shout-out to Jas not only for running the opening 3/4M leg when she thought she was doing the half, but this marked (1) just her 2nd track race ever and (2) the first race of any kind since her bike accident, a tremendous milestone -- congratulations, Jas.
Also to those running either their first-ever track races or the first since possibly high school – I’m thinking maybe Brenda, Kara, Kate, Margaret?
Theresa’s husband Steve won the master’s 200m in a fast 29.15, while our long-time friend Roger Pierce ran 34.84 at age 80.
Lots of great action through the day in both track and field events. As the men’s DMR was going on, we were treated to Harvard soph Tito Alofe clearing 7-3¾ in the high jump, the crowd in full & loud support. There was also a fine mark in the women’s long jump, Anika Scott reaching nearly 20 feet (19-6¾).
Once again, Liberty AC athletes – whether you ran, cheered from the bleachers, or supported from wherever you were, together you’ve created some valuable memories, and again demonstrated that this is indeed a sport for life. (Next up: USATF-NE 5K on March 9th!)
-- John
