USA Masters Indoor Report: Weddle Wins, Early Miss Trips Langenfeld

Tom Langenfeld, USATF-Minnesota's Masters Track and Field Chair, just sent us a report on the Minnesotans, himself included, in action at the USA Masters Indoor Championships in Landover, Maryland last weekend.

Here's some of what Langenfeld offered about his Minnesota teammates:

"It was Thom Weddle’s weekend — first in the M70 3000m (Friday), second in the Mile (Saturday) and second or third in the 800 on Sunday. (He’s listed second in the posted 800 results, but an Internet report has him third.)

"Jim Schoffman took sixth in the M55 400 and eighth in the 800, both very tough fields. He also moved down into a younger age group to run legs on the Mass Velocity TC medal-winning M40-49 4X40 and 4X800 relay teams.

"Mike Moser was the oldest competitor in the M55 pentathlon by four years and ran into a loaded field. He finished fifth there, but contributed to medal-winning performances in the M50-59 ad-hoc, non-club 4X400 and 4X800 relays."


Tom Langenfeld himself, as we previewed HERE, got the battle he expected in the M70 high jump. The 73-year-old who has won 29 USA Masters high jump titles in his career finished second to 70-year-old Emil Pawlik in the event in Landover.

Both cleared 4-7, but Pawlik won on misses.

"We both got over the winning height -- 4-7 -- on first attempts and missed all three at 4-9," Langenfeld explained. "But I had one careless miss at a lower height. That cost me a chance to get him in a jump-off (in the faint hope that he might finally succumb to exhaustion after already winning the pentathlon with a world-record performance on Friday, and winning the long jump and high hurdles and finishing second in the 60m on Saturday)."

Going into the meet, Langenfeld had been unbeaten in the high jump in his last fourteen consecutive USA Master Championships -- indoors and outdoors. The USA Master Hall of Famer is already looking forward to this summer's USA Masters Outdoor Championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for a rematch with Pawlik.

Langenfeld has won high jump titles in eight consecutive USA Masters Outdoor meets, as well as 10 of the last eleven.