By Fred Baer       
Pacific Association Media Chair / Track and Field Writers of America Secretary

                SAN MATEO, June 22, 2008 -- The longest hammer throw in San Mateo County history highlighted an Olympian showing at College of San Mateo Sunday for the throwing portion of USA Track & Field's Pacific Association Masters Championships.  
 
                Two-time Olympian Kevin McMahon, who came out of retirement just over a month ago, spun the 16-pound implement 243 feet, three inches to highlight a day of throwing at the spectacular CSM field facility, which overlooks the Bay.  PA Masters Championship medals for athletes over age 30  were awarded to the top three finishers in each five-year age group.   
 
                Competition was open to all athletes, however.  So 19-year-old CSM freshman Kelly Young took advantage of the opportunity on her home field to compete in all five throwing events, including the weight throw (for the first time) – and provided the leading mark.  The MVP of the Northern California Community College Championships also had the top mark in the shot put and hammer throw.  
 
HALF CENTURY OF USA OLYMPIC HAMMER THROWERS TAKE SPOTLIGHT:
               But the focus was on the men’s hammer throw, which featured a half century of USA Olympic throwing, headed by three-time Olympian Ed Burke.  His South Bay Explorer Scout Post pioneered throwing opportunities for teenagers, including McMahon, in the 1980’s.  Burke, 68, had the third best throw Sunday, 171-6, to easily top his age group (in which he set a world master’s record of 182-10 at the 2006 PA Masters Championships).
     
                The 24-year-span of Burke’s three Olympics, from 1960 to 1984, holds the record for the longest span of Olympic competition by an American runner or field athlete (along with discus thrower Al Oerter, 1956-1980).
  
McMahon, 36, won the USA Junior National title in 1991 as a Bellarmine Prep grad and went on to earn U.S. Olympic Team berths in 1996 and 2000.    Now a teacher at Bellarmine and the throws coach at Stanford, he retired from competition after becoming an alternate for Athens with a fourth place finish at the 2004 Olympic Trials.   

“I started playing with again it a year ago with a light hammer,” McMahon said.  “But my first competition wasn’t until Modesto in May.”  At the May 10 California Relays at Modesto, he threw 246-4, which ranks No. 3 among Americans this year going into the Olympic Trials.  
 
He ranks No. 4 all-time among Americans at 260-0, which he achieved in 1999.  A.G. Kruger is the only American to throw that far since 2000 and is the current U.S. leader at 258-2.   
 
“I was just looking for another competition before the Trials,” McMahon said when asked why he was competing when many athletes are in their finals Trials preparation.  “I hadn’t competed for awhile (four weeks).  I had heard this was a great facility to throw.”    
 
                It was almost too good.  McMahon showed consistency by hitting on the far embankment on all six of his throws (all over 230 feet and 70 meters), including one just out of the sector and well up the embankment that was unofficially measured at 246-10.  His Stanford coaching duties had kept McMahon busy through last week’s NCAA championships in Des Moines, Iowa.  
 
                Long time area observers, such as Burke and CSM throws coach Mike Lewis, could not recall any athlete previously surpassing 240 feet in San Mateo County.
 
TRIALS TRIVIA: McMahon ranks No. 6 and Burke No. 8 on the all-time list of top hammer throwers at the Olympic Trials.  

MCMAHON PUBIL SARAH VERESS (HOPPINS) OF SF IS NO. 7 ENTERING WOMEN’S HAMMER TRIALS:  

                --Stanford grad Sarah  Veress (formerly Hoppins) won the women’s hammer with a throw of 220-7.  The San Francisco resident, who is coached by McMahon and trains with him at Stanford, was trying to reach the Olympic “A” standard of 228-0.  She ranks No. 7 entering the Olympic Trials with a best of 223-9.  
 
                NOTE: Only throwing events were conducted at San Mateo.  All other events were contested at Los Gatos High School.