HE JUMPED INTO THE RECORD BOOKS

By Villages TLC member Roger Vergin
 
Editor’s note: Roger Vergin has earned a multitude of number one rankings in masters championships. Getting there was a long and winding road.
 
At age 72, I finally realized I might have a future in track and field.
 
As a high school sophomore in the spring of 1953, I went out for the track team. Although I practiced diligently for ten weeks or so, the coach never picked me to enter a single race. It was a different era; not everyone who went out for the team got to compete in a real meet. When my high school introduced golf as a team sport the following year, I decided to seek my athletic fame there.
 
Fast-forward to age 30. I was still trim, carrying about 135 pounds on my 5’ 9” frame. However, when I tried to run a half-mile and couldn’t finish, I knew I’d better increase my physical activity. I took up the popular fad of running in the parks and on the road. For decades I ran fairly regularly, competing in a few road races, including two marathons. I was not particularly fast and would finish somewhere around the middle of my age group. My best performance was a 3:45 in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, at age 41.
 
I existed on the fringe of the road running community for ages, but it wasn’t until I turned 71 that I discovered track meets for older adults. The gym where I lifted weights had a flyer advertising something called the Senior Games. I entered the meet in Bremerton, Washington, and won three events: the 50 meter dash, long jump and triple jump. This was more fun than road races. The track events required only a few seconds of intense effort. Road races had taken me at least thirty minutes, with the last half spent in real agony.
 
I competed in three more meets in 2008, doing the long and triple jumps and running the sprints. I won most of the jumps but seldom a sprint, though I was often close. My best long jump of the year was 3.38 meters (11’ 1”). The website mastersrankings.com showed I was 26th in the U.S. in the long jump that year for the M70 age group, out of 53 competitors. I was also 13th of 23 in the triple jump, 29th of 72 in the 100 meters and 37th of 57 for 200 meters. At age 71, I was still a middle-of-the-pack guy.
 
The following year, my best long jump was 3.91 meters (12’ 9¾”). This moved my national rank up to 14th of 72. I was also 6th of 38 in the triple jump, 17th of 88 in the 100 meters and 12th of 69 for 200 meters. I had moved up to the top 20 percent and felt good about my progress.
 
Because I had jumped farther with each meet in 2009, I set a goal to reach the four-meter mark in 2010. My first competition that year was the Seattle Parks Department Masters Meet on June 5. We were allowed six attempts in the field events, which were measured in feet and inches rather than meters.
 
My first jump was long, but my foot was over the board: foul. My second jump seemed even better. The official called out the distance as 12’ 9¾”. Having done feet-to-meter conversions before the meet, I knew this was not quite the 4.00 meters I was aiming for. In fact, it exactly matched my best jump of 2009, which was 3.91 meters.
 
Third jump – another good one. The official called 12’ 9¾”, the same as my second jump. The fourth jump seemed good, too, until the official called out 12’ 9¾”. Come on, three jumps in a row at exactly the same distance? This doesn’t seem possible. Am I ever going to hit the four-meter mark? 
 
Fifth jump: I hit the board, and this time it seemed like I was flying. This has got to be over four meters. I hope it’s a fair jump. The white flag went up. I hurried back to the takeoff board to watch the measurement and make sure they didn’t pull that 12’ 9¾” stuff on me again.
 
I peered down as the tape was stretched out. It had settled exactly at the 9¾” spot again. I told the official, “I can’t believe it. I swear that was farther than those other jumps.” The official gave me a stern look and called out the result: 13’ 9¾”.
 
Thirteen feet! Wow! The official finally smiled. My smile was bigger. One foot equals roughly 30 centimeters, so I had hit 4.21 meters.
 
Sixth jump…well, I didn’t need a sixth jump. Besides, the announcer had just called runners to the 200 meter start, and I had more work to do that afternoon. I don’t have the slightest memory of how I ran that 200 meters, but I will never forget the long jump competition.
 
I was no longer like my pal Marlon Brando when he said, “I coulda been a contendah.” With that long jump I became a genuine contender.
 
My next meet was three weeks later, another Senior Games in Bremerton, Washington. I entered a half-dozen events. It was warm and sunny, the best kind of weather for sprinting and jumping.
 
First up was the long jump. I set my two markers on the runway – screwdrivers sticking into the ground – the first at the starting point for my twelve-stride run-up and the second at my six-stride visual checkpoint.
 
First jump: I felt fast. My right foot was right on the spot at the checkmark. I took the slight dip on the penultimate stride, kept my eyes focused to the horizon so I wouldn’t lower my head, and hit the board with my takeoff foot. It felt like a good jump, and I could see it was good by how far into the pit I landed. The officials measured and called out the length: 14’ 6½”. That was nine inches farther than the PR I’d set at the previous meet. At 4.43 meters, it was a terrific jump, far better than I had thought possible.
 
I took one more. It too was a good jump, but I realized there was little chance of improvement, so I passed the other four attempts to conserve energy for my remaining events.
 
My wife, Rosemary, had taken photos of the long jump competition. When I looked at them later, I thought it was amazing how high in the air that jumper was. Two of her photos ended up in the local newspaper.
 
With that 4.43-meter long jump, I ended 2010 ranked number one in the U.S. Just a few centimeters behind me were two athletes you’ve probably heard of: Darrell Horn and Emil Pawlik.
 
Back in the days when I couldn’t make my high school track team, Horn and Pawlik were breaking state records. Horn became an outstanding jumper at Oregon State University. He twice finished second in the U.S. national championships, twice finished fifth in the U.S. Olympic Trials, and became a silver medalist at the 1963 Pan American Games. Pawlik was an outstanding jumper at Texas A&M and set numerous world records in masters track.
 
My long jump accomplishments that summer of 2010 convinced me that I was finally able to run and jump with the big boys. For another 11 years, I have continued to do so. My current count of number one rankings in the U.S. is 54 in nine different events. In national/international championships, my count stands at 75 in 19 different events.
 
Run fast, jump high, throw far.
 
Most importantly: have fun and be healthy.