WOW!  What a year for the Masters. The guys had 15 grades over 85% and the ladies 12 over 80%. The men also had 3 grades over 90, all by Keith Long of Beaumont and Keith had 4 more over 85.  So he easily ranks as the male master of the year.  He had the best grades in 5 different distances plus 3 second bests as well.  Normally, a runner specializes in either long or short distances, but Keith’s achievement covers every distance from the 5k thru the Half Marathon.  Also in 4 of the 5 different distances, his gradings were keyed by State or State Resident records.   We also had 3 other men who graded 88% or better; Kevin Miller of Olathe (89.80), Dennis Smithhisler of Wichita (88.89) and David Keller of Wichita (88.01).  David’s best didn’t even get him in the top two of the Half Marathon, but  he had other lower grades that ranked first in the 2 mile and 10K and no other master, other than Long of course, had more than one first.  However, Smithhisler had a pair of  second bests.

Remember that these gradings are a percent of what the World Record Holder would grade.  Also the gradings are based on tables generated more than 20 years ago, but the last ones that the World Masters Athletes organization officially published.

On the distaff side, Deborah Torneden of Wichita had 3 of the top 5 grades, all over 85%. She also had the top grades in 3 different distances. Cindy Cameron of Westwood matched that feat, also leading 3 different distances but with lesser quality ratings; Cindy also checked in with one second best grading in the 5K. However, besides Deborah, the only other female to grade over 85% was Mary Grene of Andover but her two were in the 2 mile.  Mary did lead the 15K event, but with one of her poorer gradings. So these three ladies pretty well dominated the overall gradings with 8 of the top 10 bests.  Kathleen Johnson of Shawnee and Barbara Holzman of Wichita were the other two females to slip into the top 10. But only Barbara made the listing below with 3 second bests.

Among those younger than Masters, excluding teenagers, the best grading was by Fernando Cabada of Colorado at 89.16% at the Atwood 10 Mile. But we had 5 gradings by master males that were better, which is an unusual occurrence. The best by a female non-master was 86.92% in the Half Marathon by Tonya Nero, former Wichita State runner.  But here again our top lady Master was extremely close, with Torneden getting 3 plus 86% grades, but none quite besting Tonya's 86.92.

On average, teenage grades were about the same as last year. But only one grade bettered last year’s best of 83.5% and this year it was a male taking first place.