by Larry Eder
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The SF State track will be hosting the USATF Club Championships this coming weekend! If you have never run on the track at SF State, you are really missing a treat! My relationship with SF State goes back to June 1976, when my training partner, Robert Lucas and I ran the AAU Hour Run champs. I remember the pounding footstrikes of Jim Nuccio, Mike Bordell and the late Brian Maxwell, who cruised just over 12 miles to win the race. I tried to race in Pre Montreals, which were good until about 8 miles, when the blood blisters were too much to endure, so I changed into NB 305s and just missed 10 miles. Robert was smart, ran in the second heat and just passed 10 miles for an hour.
In the early 80s, the Johnny Mathis invite began, and Tim Gruber, my post collegiate training partner would run, I in the 10,000 meters and Tim in the steeplechase. Harry Marra, the coach at SF State back then, was able to get Johnny Mathis to support the meet for several years. It was at SF State way back in 1992, I met this former junior college student who turned out to be pretty good in the decathlon: Dan O’Brien.
SF State was the birth place (Harry Marra, and Princeton’s Fred Samara) of the VISA Decathlon program, still one of the greatest event building program ever done in our sport.
I can remember the smell of the eucalpytus trees blowing in the wind, as we ran twenty-five laps on the black artificial surface. I do recall one particular 10,000 meters, getting my butt handed to me, about twenty laps, the shot put from one Bob Feurbach rolled onto the track, waking me up from my aerobic slumber!
SF State has hosted some memorable events, and is a key part of the support system within the Bay Area. I hope the teams get to go to North Beach Pizza (best pizza, perhaps, in universe), Stinking Rose (garlic geek love), both nearby.
The coolest thing to do, however is to get a loaf of sourdough, some fresh, local crab and nice bottle of Pinot Grigio , and sit on the docks and watch the boats in the Bay…..oh and bring your sweaters, as Mark Twain once noted, evenings in THE City get cool in July….
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San Francisco to host 2010 USATF National Club Championships
INDIANAPOLIS – More than 500 athletes are expected to compete for $10,000 in team prize money July 9-10 at the 10th USA Track & Field National Club Championships on the campus of San Francisco State University in San Francisco, Calif.
In addition, local Pacific Association area athletes will conclude their season-long $15,000 Grand Prix competition at the championships. Entrants are limited to registered USATF club team members only.

Team awards will be presented to the top three men’s and women’s teams and an overall men’s and women’s combined team champion will also be crowned. Team prize money: First place men’s and women’s teams each receive $2,000; second place $1,500; third place $1,000; and fourth place $500.
Competition begins on Friday at noon and admission is free. Friday competition concludes with the men’s 10,000 meters and women’s high jump, at 6:30 p.m., followed by women’s and men’s 5,000m race walks.
Saturday competition begins at 10 a.m. with the men’s pole vault and javelin throw. The meet wraps up with three hours of relay races, from 4-7 p.m., with events ranging from the 4x100m relay to the distance medley. During the championships there will be a vendor area with USATF exhibits and food booths.
USATF is staging the 2010 Club Championships in partnership with its Pacific Association (Northern California and Northern Nevada) and SFSU — with PA President Irene Herman of San Francisco heading the local organizing committee.
Roulhac leads top individual entries
2009 USA Indoor and Outdoor men’s triple jump champion Brandon Roulhac leads an impressive list of top individuals that are entered to compete in the championships.
Roulhac, who entered this season ranked #1 nationally in the triple jump by Track & Field News and competed at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany, joins a list of top entries that includes:
MEN:
100m: Jeff Laynes, East Oakland Youth Development Center, 10.47
200m: Thomas Speiler, Norfolk Real Deal Track Club, 20.89
400m: Ladale Jackson, Vegas Lightning TC, 48.08
800m: Nicholas Thornton, Track Club L.A., 1:50.64
1,500m: John Ricardi, Club Northwest, 3:45.76
5,000m: Christopher Spooner, Central Park TC, 14:06.82
10,000m: Kevin Pool, River City Rebels, 29:36.87
110m hurdles: Hector Cotto, Greater Boston TC, 13.54
400m hurdles: Keith Anderson, U.S. Elite International T&F Club, 51.48
3,000m steeplechase: Atilla Sabahoglu, Central Park TC NB, 8:50.05
High Jump: Randal Carter, Team Nebraska Brooks,2.16m/ 7-1
Pole Vault: Scott McCoy, Club Northwest, 5.21m/17-1 .75
Long Jump: LeRon Williams, Team Nebraska Brooks, 7.89m/25-10.75
Triple Jump: Brandon Roulhac, Shore AC,16.76m/55-0
Shot Put: John Langhauser, Central Park TC NB, 17.90m/58-8.75
Discus Thow: William Conwell, Club Northwest, 61.36m/201-4
Hammer Throw: Lucais McKay, Shore AC, 69.66m/228-6
Javelin Throw: Dylan Dombrowski, ConnQuest, 63.10m/207-0
WOMEN:
100m: Yvette Lewis, Norfolk Real Deal TC, 11.61
200m: Taranisha Taylor, Norfolk Real Deal TC, 24.66
400m: Angee Henry, Team Nebraska Brooks, 51.73
800m: Angee Henry, Team Nebraska Brooks, 2:01.81
1,500m: Melissal Salerno, Central Park TC NB, 4:29.81
5.000m: Rose Wetzel, Club Northwest, 16:27.47
10,000m: Claudia Copeland, Club Northwest, 35:00.70
100m hurdles: Falesha Ankton, Club Northwest, 13.18
400m hurdles: Jesica Klett, Greater Boston TC, 1:03.12
3,000m steeplechase: Jane Rudkin, Eugene Marathon, 10:13.38
High Jump: Jeana Fletcher, Central Park TC NB, 1.67m/5-5.75
Pole Vault: Stephanie Simpkins, Tailwind Pole Vault, 3.90m/12-9.5
Long Jump: Casey Taylor, Greater Boston TC, 5.91m/19-4.75
Triple Jump: Ayanna Alexander, Greater Boston TC, 13.99m/45-10.75
Shot Put: Aubrey Baxter, Team Nebraska Brooks, 15.67m/51-5.5
Discus Throw: Jennifer Steiner, Team Nebraska Brooks, 49.30m/161-9
Hammer Throw: Amy Haapanen, Golden West AC, 65.99m/216-6
Javelin Throw: Kateema Riettie, Central Park TC NB, 55.82m/183-2
Shore Athletic Club & Greater Boston Track Club are reigning USATF Club Champs
The 2009 USATF Club Championships were held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, New York, where the Shore Athletic Club (New Jersey) and Greater Boston Track Club (New England) claimed the respective men’s and women’s team crowns.
The Shore Athletic Club dominated the men’s team scoring by outdistancing the second place team ConnQuest by 111 points (199 compared to 88). Southwest Sprinters Track Club (Southwestern) placed third with 85 points, fourth place went to Greater Boston Track Club (New England) with75 points, and rounding out the top five was Club Northwest (Pacific Northwest) ending the day with 66 points.
It was a close competition on the women’s side, but in the end Greater Boston Track Club (New England) edged out 2008 champion Central Park Track Club (Metropolitan) 159 to 154. Following in third was Norfolk Real Deal Track Club (Virginia) finishing the day with 105 points. Southwest Sprinters Track Club (Southwestern) finished fourth with 68 points, and Brockport Distance Project (Niagara) finished fifth with 58 points. 

For more information on the 2010 USATF Club Championships, visit: www.usatf.org.
