Yeates and Lembo Podium at USATF Masters 12 km Championships in New Jersey

Photo (used with permission): Jason Timochko
 

Niagara Results

On Sunday (17-September) 16 athletes from USATF Niagara competed in the USATF Masters 12 km Championships in Highlands, NJ. The championship, hosted by the By Hook or By Crook 12K for the third straight year, was the ninth, and penultimate, race in the 2023 USATF National Masters Grand Prix. A total of 273 athletes (167 men and 106 women) competed in the championships; ranging in age from 40 to 86.

Two of the Niagara members earned trips to the awards podium for finishing in the top three in their age division with. Five (5) of the athletes turned in national class performances with scores over 80% on the age grading tables*.

Earning bronze medals for their third place finishes were Jacalyn Lembo, 57, of Penfield and Keith Yeates, 76, of Fairport.

Lembo ran 53:33 (82.9% age graded score) to earn her bronze medal in the women's 55-59 division. The division was won by Fiona Bayly of New York in 47:34 with Lori Kingsley of New York finishing second in 50:18. Lembo's performance led the Genesee Valley Harriers W50+ team to a sixth place finish. The other team scorers for the team were Caroline Bucci, 50 of Rochester (57:26; 71.2%) and Cassandra Crane, 54 of Chittenango (1:00:11; 71.2%).

In the men's 75-79 division, Yeates had to battle his way to the podium as ran 58:08 (81.2%) to just edge out teammate Jim May, 77, of Williamson by four seconds as he stopped the clock at 58:12 (82.6%). David Glass of Georgia, the division fifth place finisher, was just six second behind May. The division was won by Gene Dykes of Pennsylvania in a time of 50:50 (91.5%). Yeates and May led the Genesee Valley Harriers M70+ team to a fourth place team finish. The team's third and final scorer was Liam Finnigan, 77, of Farmington in a time of 1:03:26 (75.6%).

The final Niagara member to score over 80% was Christopher Hernandez, 47, of Charleston, SC who finished fifth in the men's 45-49 division in a time of 43:47 (80.3%).

The full Niagara results scoreboard can be found here.
 

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*Each athlete earned an age-grading percentage rating which compares their time to the best-possible performance (100%) for runners their age. Age-grade scores allow comparision of performances across all ages.

Performances over 90% are classified as world-class and performances in the 80-90% range are classified as national-class performances.