National Senior Games Sunday Results

By Tom Langenfeld

Jim Schoffman capped a busy Sunday at the National Senior Games in Cleveland by winning the M60 800m in 2:20.67, breaking Rick Kleyman’s 13-year-old Minnesota age group record by a tenth of a second and finishing more than 3 seconds ahead of the runner-up. 

That was just one of four races for Jim. He finished fourth in the 100m finals in 13.37 into a strong wind, just a hundredth of a second out of third.  He qualified for the finals in the 400m in 60.02, the second-best time in the heats.  And he qualified for the finals in the 50m, finishing second in his heat with the seventh best time overall.  (The 50m, long a staple of state and local Senior Games competitions, is an official event in the national meet for the first time this year.)

Dale Berry, 53, Bloomington, earned Minnesota’s second medal of the day, finishing third in the M50 100m in 12.17.  Elizabeth Foster, 61, Minneapolis, finished fifth in the W60 800m final in 3:26.80. She earlier qualified for the 400m final, winner her heat in 86.20, the fifth best time overall.

Susan Loyd, 55, Edina, qualified for the W55 400m finals, but did not advance in the 50m and did not run in the 100m finals.  She also may have opted not to run the 800m as only seven runners competed in the event. Paul Zabee, 56, Elk River, finished 11th in the M55 discus with a throw of 29.83m/97'10". Bill Cardinal, 62, Falcon Heights, was 16th in the M60 discus with a throw of 33.04m/108'5".

 John Lampe, 53, St. Paul, was third in his heat, but 11th overall in the M50 400m prelims.  He ran 65.60, and missed qualifying for the  finals by .18 seconds. Kevin  Leonard, 57, of Ramsey was fifth in his heat and 24th overall in the M55 50m prelims in 8.30, also a non-qualifier.