King's win leads Athletics Boulder to team title at masters cross country championships

Results & Photos

The 2021 USATF Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships were held on Sunday (17-Oct.) in Boston, Mass.  The event attracted 289 athletes from 25 states.  It was held in Franklin Park the site of the 1992 World Cross Country Championships.

Twelve (12) USATF Colorado members and two Colorado teams competed in the championships. 

Three indviduals and two teams from Colorado earned visits to the awards podium for their top-three finishes. 

Daniel King (Athletics Boulder), 62, of Boulder continued his outstanding entry to the 60-64 division as he captured the title in that division running an impressive 18:57 over the undulating course.  Since turning 60 earlier this year King has set new American records ranging from 1500m through the 1 Hour.  But this was his first national title in the new division.  King's low stick led the Athletics Boulder squad to the 60+ team title with 16 points (for 3 scorers).  Backing up King's effort were David Litoff, 60, of Louisville and Jay Littlepage, 62, of Boulder.  Litoff and Littlepage finished 5th and 11th; respectively in the 60-64 division.  Finishing second in the M60+ team scoring was the Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey with 25 points.
 
The Boulder Road Runners M70+ squad finished second with 13 points; just four points behind the Atlanta Track Club.   Doug Bell, 72, of Greeley was the team's top scorer as he placed second in the 70-74 division.  His time was 22:37.  Winning the 70-74 division was Kirk Lawson of Georgia in 22:32.  Backing him up were Carl Mohr, 71, of Broomfield and Jan Frisby, 74, of Grand Junction.  Mohr finished fourth in the 70-74 division running 23:11.  Frisby earned a podium visit as he finished third in the 75-79 division running 24:30.  Finishing just four seconds behind Frisby, in fourth place, was his teammate Gary Ostwald, 77, of Denver in 24:35.
The top finish by a Colorado woman was turned in by Laura Bruess (Athletics Boulder), 60, of Boulder.  Bruess, King's younger sister, finished fifth in the 60-64 division running 22:35.  Her 81.23% age graded score was second best amongst the Coloradans; only trailing the 85.21% turned in by her big brother.

The top Colorado age-graded performances were:

Daniel King      85.23%
Laura Bruess    81.90%
David Litoff       81.74%
Todd Straka      79.91%
Jan Frisby         79.36%
Jay Littlepage    78.34%
Doug Bell          77.10%
Carl Mohr          76.16%

Age-graded scores mathematically "level the playing field" across age divisions, identifying those who are running closest to the world’s best for their age and gender.

---

Next year's championships will be held in Boulder, CO in mid-October.