Contact: Robert Weiner usa track & Field National Masters Media Chair 202-306-1200

Contact: Robert Weiner USA Track & Field National Masters Media Chair 202-306-1200 weinerpublic@comcast.net; Christa Mann USATF 404-579-4344 christa.mann@usatf.org

POTOMAC VALLEY TRACK CLUB WINS NATIONAL TEAM TITLE OVER 87 TEAMS AT USA TRACK & FIELD INDOOR MASTERS TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS IN WINSTON-SALEM, 900 COMPETITORS

Washington DC-based Potomac Valley Track Club (PVTC) won the national team title over 87 other clubs at USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships in Winston-Salem this weekend, concluding 5 PM Sunday.  The meet attracted 900 athletes 30-98 years old.  Club President Craig Chasse of Reston, VA said the Club’s motto is “all ages, all paces, all ways.”  The meet featured three world records by PVTC with the first ever 90 and over relay team to complete a relay in world masters indoor track history, and they did it three times, with a foursome finishing the 4x200, 4x400, and 4x800.  Five runners created a team of four in the three races—Dixon Hemphill, 90, Fairfax Station VA; Charles Boyle, 91, Annapolis MD; Roy Englert, 92, Springfield VA; Charles Ross, 92, Little Rock AR; and Orville Rogers, the team’s oldest, 97, Dallas TX. Potomac came from behind to win the 1^st-place team award on the last day of USATF National Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships, Friday-Sunday, March 20-22, at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.

PVTC scored 682 points, over Southern California Track Club (SoCal), 648, and Atlanta Track Club, 424.50. Among the 87 teams, 78 scored.

USATF PHOTO OF PVTC ACCEPTING TROPHY ATTACHED. (Photo credit Greg Coats USA Track & Field)

Among the stars for PVTC’s championship team were five men over 90 years old: Charles Boyle, 91,  of Annapolis, Md.; Roy Englert, 92, of Springfield, Va.; Dixon Hemphill, 90, of Fairfax Station, Va.; Orville Rogers, 97, of Dallas, Tex., the second-oldest participant in the meet; and Charlie Ross, 92, of Little Rock, Ark.  PVTC’s 90+ men’s teams set world records in the 4x200-meter, 4x400-meter, and 4x800-meter relays.

Sixty-five members of PVTC competed in Winston-Salem in individual events and relays, and points were scored in six places 8-6-4-3-2-1. "This was a true team effort," Chasse said.