‘You go, Grandpa!’ Masters track meets feature competition and camaraderie

Daphne Scott, 59, is warming up beside the track preparing for the 80-meter hurdles.

Scott, a math faculty member at Western Washington University, started participating in Masters Track & Field 12 years ago.

Keenly focused, she practices her approach to the hurdles over and over.

She’ll have just two competitors in this race — another runner and the clock.

She’s won national championships in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and decathlon, plus world championships in the 400 meters, pentathlon and pole vault.  She’s been named best women’s athlete of the year in her age group by USATF Masters Track & Field, which sanctions the master’s events along with some 8,000 other competitions.

Scott clears the hurdles with a form reminiscent of Edwin Moses, the great Olympian who defined the sport. She waits for the other runner to greet her at the finish line. To compete and finish is often its own goal.

She says she simply “wanted exercise that was fun to do and get out of here healthy.”

Scott’s looking forward to turning 60 so she can be the youngest in the next age group. “I’m happy to be alive.”