Liberty AC racing report, July 26 2025
Lots of weekend Liberty racing news, almost all of which was concentrated on a 400-meter track in Weston. First, though, we were pleased to have a Loomis encounter last Thursday – for those new-ish to Liberty, Amanda Loomis (always call her Loomis) is a veteran club member, great person, fine runner, and fellow denizen of West Roxbury. She came out to the Thursday evening Parkway RC run and we did about 40 minutes (give or take) together, catching up and discussing her upcoming Chicago marathon plans. Great to see you, Loomis!
Now, on to the USATF-New England outdoor meet at Regis College on Saturday. Liberty was wonderfully represented both in individual events and, perhaps especially, the meet-closing 4 x 400m relay, with three teams – a 65-69 team trying for a national record, plus two support teams.
Karen Lein ran the 5000m in the morning, while Mary Cass took on the 1500 (aka metric mile) and later the 200m (which she’ll soon run at US nationals in Eugene, Oregon) and. Gilding the lily, Mary also threw the javelin as a follow-up to her initial foray at US masters nationals in Florida last January. Lauren Leslie, meanwhile, continued her comeback by running the 400 and 800; both she and Mary also ran legs on one of the support 4 x 400m teams.
There was drama preceding the relay – to recap, the foursome of Jackie Shakar, Alda Cossi, Judy Copley & Julie Menosky broke – or thought they had broken – the US 65-69 club record last month when they ran 5:55 at the last Battle Road twilight meet. It turned out, however, that a team from Greater Philadelphia had run 5:50 at the Penn Relays in April, so that became the new target. Mind you, knocking 5 seconds from a 4 x 400 relay is harder than it sounds, more than 1 second per runner over a short distance.
Fine. Until, at the prior weekend’s US masters outdoor championship in Alabama, Greater Philly ran 5:38, knocking a whopping 12 seconds off their own mark from April. The Liberty group would need to improve from 5:55 to 5:38 – 17 seconds, a nearly impossible task – to get the record.
Spoiler alert: they didn’t run 5:38, but they did run 5:46.30, a 9-second improvement from a few weeks ago. It was a remarkable effort and a true pleasure to watch. Jackie, Alda, Judy & Julie prepared well and it showed; they ran their hearts out. Equally exciting were the efforts put in by the two support teams – Liberty athletes volunteered for this duty in order for any records to be legal. Team B consisted of Caitlin Sweeney, Anne Shreffler, Jennifer Stewart & Kara Brown while Team C was Kathy Materazzo, Maria Rojas Duran, Lauren Leslie & Mary Cass.
Individuals: Karen Lein: 5000m, 31:39.42 (1st 60+); Mary Cass: Javelin throw, 16.40m (53-09) 11th of 12, 3rd 60+; 1500m, 5:51.18 (12th of 20, 1st 60+, 2nd 50+); 200m, 39.66 (15th of 15, 1st 60+); Lauren Leslie: 400m, 86.54 (4th of 5, 1st of 2 60+); 800m, 3:09.88 (4th of 4, 1st 60+)
4 x 400 relay: Team A 65-69: 5:46.30 (Jackie 85.26 - Alda 88.96 - Judy 83.24 - Julie 88.85);
Team B: 6:09.24 (Caitlin 85.04 - Anne 1:41.81 - Jennifer 85.71 - Kara 96.68);
Team C: 6:00.20 (Kathy 77.36 - Maria 1:48.06 - Lauren 88.34 - Mary 86.44)
Complete results here: https://live.harrierrace.com/meets/55006. Finally, thanks again go to Cossi sister Lidia for providing an array of cold post-race noshables, and to Jan Holmquist for her ever-steady support even while wearing an achilles boot. It was also good to share tree-shade space with friends from from Greater Lowell and CSU.
Next team race: Bobby Doyle 5-miler (Narragansett RI) in two weeks . . . !