Cross Country, the 60m, 800m and Pentathlon all saw action on Sunday in “Day One” of the WMA Indoor Championships. At West End, the Men’s 70+ and Women’s 70+ (6K) cross country started the day’s events. Team USA’s Rick Becker’s 26:03 and Nora Cary’s 28:14 set the high-water mark for the first race on Sunday. The Team Score for Men’s & Women’s (8K) 70+ also saw Team USA in Gold with a combined time of 1:20:11. Thailand finished in second with 1:28:56.  

The Women’s 35-69 (6K) was led by Portugal’s Andreia Santos time of 30:16. The Men’s 35-54 (6K) was won by Team USA’s Joseph Gray and his time of 25:54. The Men’s 54-69 (6K) saw Germany’s Miguel Molero-Eichwein’s time of 28:53 win Gold. Women’s Team 35-69 (8K) belonged to Team USA at 1:46:04. In the Men’s Team 35-54 (8K) Spain grabbed gold with their time of 1:23:28. In Men’s Team 55-69 (8K) Team USA’s 1:28:50 bested Spain’s 1:30:20. 

West End, the location for the cross country events, was purchased by Alachua County.  Following the WMA Indoor Championships, it will become a public park and a venue for future events including a cross county course for the community.

The Indoor Pentathlon also took place on Sunday, in seven categories starting with Women’s 50-54 to Men’s 80+.  The Women’s 50-54 division was won by Team USA’s Marsha Baird.  Women’s 54-59’s winner was Australia’s Lenore Lambert. Women’s 60-64 saw another American’s gold with Neringa Jaksteine finishing first. Men’s 65-69 was won by Poland’s Wieslaw Musial. In Men’s 75-79, Sweden’s Olle Borg took top honors. Men’s 80+ had first time competitor and Team USA’s Jim Sharps wearing Gold.

“My first world championship!” said Sharps.  “It’s absolutely superb. Very nice facility and very well run. It was a tough day but a good day. I’m a jumper.  You can see I’m built for flight not for fight so getting out to a lead on the track was big.”   

Sunday also saw 15 heats and semi-finals take place in the Women’s 60m and 18 semi-finals in the Men’s and Women’s 800m.

The Marty Liquori Jazztet wrapped up “Day 1” in the Athletes Village with a live performance.  Liquori, a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, become only the third American High Schooler to run a sub four-minute mile in 1967, three years after Jim Ryun first did it. 

Monday morning saw multiple competitions in two locations. At 9AM, the Men’s and Women’s Indoor Pentathlon continued at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center with Women’s 70+ and Men’s 60 categories starting the day. The Men’s 60m heats and Women’s 60m finals followed. The Men’s Shot Put and Women’s Weight Throw also got underway at 9AM. At 3:30PM the Men’s and Women’s 800m finals started. At West End, at 9AM, the Outdoor Throws commenced with Men’s and Women’s Discuss, Javelin and Hammer.