Waller Finishes With Two Golds, One Silver

Michael Waller, Pacific Lutheran University's track & field sprints coach, finished with two gold medals and a silver at the recently completed 2009 Masters World Games held in Sydney, Australia.

Waller won the 50-54 age group title in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and took second in the 400-meter dash by one-hundredth of a second.

In the 100, Waller had the fastest time in the preliminaries (11.64) and the semifinals (11.74) before winning the finals in a time of 11.59. Competing next in the 400, Waller won the silver medal in a time of 53.46 compared to the winning 53.47 by Jeff Battista of the United Kingdom. Waller flashed to a relatively easy win ithe 200-meter final with a time of 23.73, almost three-tenths of a second faster than the second place finisher. He had the fastest 200-meter times in the preliminaries and the semifinals.

Waller is currently the USATF Masters Track national champion in the 400-meter sprint, a national champion in the 200-meter dash and a nine-year All-American in the 100-meter dash.

He serves as a pastor at Christ Life Center Church in Tacoma. He and his wife, Vanessa, are the parents of three sons, Michael Jr., Joshua and Caleb.