preview

Personal Narrative: Roger Vergin

Decent Essays
Open Document

Over the weekend eighteen (18) athletes from Indiana competed in the USATF Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The championships were held in the Albuquerque Convention Center with over 600 athletes ages 30-99 competing over the three days of competition. While the 5,000 foot elevation was kind to the sprinters and field event athletes; the distance athletes needed to make adjustments to their normal strategies to navigate the effects of the oxygen-depleted air. Seven of the local athletes won a total of eight national titles - all in field events or the pentathlon. Vergin goes all IronMan on us (AGAIN)! Roger Vergin, 79 (Poulsbo, WA / ClubNorthwest) was the only double champion as he won the M75 pentathlon …show more content…

It is a reflection of the joy I saw and experienced at the meet. Everyone is so engaged, no matter if they won or lost. We are running and jumping and joking around with our friends like we did when we were eight years old in the schoolyard. In the airport Sunday afternoon, amidst a sea of tired looking, out of shape, unsmiling people with their heads in their cell phones, there was lots of healthy looking, animated people in athletic gear talking and reliving the last three days with each other, a smile on every face. At 79.5 years old, I feel so blessed to be able to do this with my friends." Vergin scored a all of Club Northwest’s 50 points; which resulted in an 11th place finish in the men’s team standings. The Pole Vaulters stake their claim Three of the gold medals won by the locals came in the pole vault where Pro Vault NW teammates Rena Wong (W55-59), McKane Lee (M30-34), and David Lindeberg (M35-39) each defended their 2016 titles in their respective age divisions and each jumped higher in doing so. For Lindeberg it was his seventh title in a …show more content…

In the long jump competition Atkins trailed Jason Melton of Texas after 3 jumps but on the next jump he soared 6.29m (20-07.50) to take the lead for good and won by 11 inches over Melton. In the triple jump Wright and Atkins finished 1st and 2nd with Wright taking the lead on the first jump and never relinquishing it. His best jump of the day was 12.27m (40-03) which was 9 inches clear of Atkins best on the day. Wright also placed third in the high jump (5-01) and fifth in the long jump (won by Atkins). Wilcox wins pentatlon Rod Wilcox, 51, of Edmonds, Wash. joined Vergin as a gold medalist in the 5-event pentathlon competition. Competing in the M50-54 division, he scored a total of 3241 points to outdistance Kerry Sloan of Texas by 218 points. His individual event performances were: 60m hurdles (9.63), long jump (17-07), shot put (35-09.75), high jump (5-01), and 1000m (3:58.71). This was the second title in a row for Wilcox in the event. Last year he won with a score of 3248 points. Silver for Zerbe and

Get Access
Related
Get Access