2009 Synopsis

Hooray!  After two years of frustration, we finally have the State Record Book back on line.  It has been painful and the setup has been changed quite a bit. I’m not going into details of why the difference and will not elaborate even on how they compare to the original format. You, the runners, will have to make those kind of comments to the undersigned.

Well, 2009 was another big year for new Honor Roll entries, with more than 600 times added. However, a large percentage were made by runners who were already on the list, so their times will get relegated to the APPENDIX. But all 600 times are listed this year above the ALL TIME BESTS list, for each distance and age category. The APPENDICES as a total, are now much larger than Base entries, with about 7000 records.

What I call the Base entries are in the ALL TIME BEST listings which shows only the best times for that individual at that distance and in a specific age group. This year we finally exceeded 5000 Base entries. It has been suggested that we cut the size of the APPENDICES by limiting the display of only a person’s top five achievements. I would like to hear from the running community if that would be enough to satisfy a runner’s ego.

We had to use that limit when publishing the HONOR ROLL in booklet form. Or this limit could be applied to only the 3 shorter distances which account for two-thirds of the APPENDIX entries. For example, there are more than two times as many APPENDIX entries for the 5K as there are Base entries. The size is not so much of a problem, but the maintenance is. The Appendix maintenance takes as much, if not more, time than the new Base entries including the new addition entries.

Another first, as we had more than 100 race results to check for Honor Roll times this time but later found several races were not run as certified, or the certification had expired. Also one race had timing problems.

But on to a disappointing aspect of this years achievements. Only nine age group state records plus one Resident record were broken this year, despite the 600 new Honor Roll times. And even more disappointing, only two of those were by the distaff side. My memory is pretty weak, but I can’t remember any year that the gals did not break more than two records. The guys held up their end with eight plus one resident record, which is about normal.

Based on age grading (see Age Graded Analysis), Dennis Smithhisler’s half marathon record of 1:12.55 for the 45-49 age group was really the most outstanding for the men, and it dropped the old record by almost three minutes.

And 14 year old Kaelyn Balch‘s 36.36 10K record topped the ladies. Looking at the older 16-19 age group, her time is actually two & a half minutes better than that record. Let’s hope she can keep her focus on running for the next two years so she can top all three youth age groups in the 10K; she also owns the 12 & under record. But it will be tough. Not only has no female ever even been ranked in all three, but no male has ever been ranked in all 3 either. Many years ago, Randy Staats of Wichita came close and still holds both the 12 & under and 13-15 records, but discovered basketball was more to his liking during his 16-19 age years.

Here are the other State Records that deserve attention:

1. Sheryl Drevo of Goddard knocked more than 9 minutes off the ladies 65-69 record in the Half Marathon.
2. Craig Compton of Derby clipped the HM record for 13-15 age group on the really tough Topeka to Auburn course.
3. Ed Burnham of Missouri turned 90 this year and of course established a new record for his age group in the 5K, and I think he’s the only male 90 year old who ran a race in Kansas this year on a certified course.
4. Steve Riley of Lawrence clipped the 55-59 Marathon mark by about 2 minutes, and in doing so became the first runner over 55 to ever break 3 hours for that distance. Of the nine records broken, Steve’s was by far the oldest, breaking a mark that had stood since 1988. Steve also came within nine seconds of breaking the age 55-59 ten mile mark, settling for a new Resident record. But that Resident record was no easy push-over: it was owned by one of the best runners to ever grace the Kansas racing scene – Jeff Berven. Despite losing this record, Jeff still holds nine plus one Resident record although leaving Kansas about six years ago.
5. Eighty year old Ivan Goering of Nebraska erased the half marathon record for his age group and was the only out-of-state record breaker beside Ed Burnham.
6. And lastly, Phil Hudnall of Lenexa took down the 35-39 12K record. It was notable in that now the 35-39 age mark is finally better than the 40+ record.

Finally, those who are reading this SYNOPSIS or checking the Honor Roll probably already know that it’s all due to a new volunteer from Lawrence – Gene Wee. Gene stepped up to the challenge when our other webmaster had to withdraw to take care of family health problems. But Steve Robb still has hopes of restoring his web site sometime in the future. And even if we have two web sites, that’s not a bad thing. Some of you remember two years ago when our site was destroyed by a hacker. So redundancy can have some advantages. Not only did Gene step into a tough job, but he spent considerable time auditing my data, even finding mistakes that were several years old. And, by the way, if there’s someone out there who likes statistics, my job is available. After 21 years, I’m getting too old and too tired; and as Gene can attest, making too many lazy mistakes.

Millard “Jack”  Crook, m-crook@att.com, phone 316-777-1321