When Rankings Serve a Higher Purpose

John Seto, 62, is the force of nature behind www.mastersrankings.com. As webmaster of a worldwide site, John's work adds to the credibility of Masters Track & Field. The benefits don't stop there, as you will read below.  

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By Ray Glier

ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla.___ John Seto, 62, works in a blizzard seven days a week. It is not a blizzard of snowflakes at his Pleasant Valley, N.Y. home. It is a blizzard of numbers that fly at him from all around the world. 

It is enough data all at once to put most of us in a fetal position.

John is the data collection scientist, or webmaster, behind www.mastersrankings.com. If you run, jump, or throw in Masters track & field in a certified event, it’s a good chance Seto has your time or mark. Whether you are ranked 1st or 88th in an event, it is posted for all the world to see.

Sometimes it is just enough for you to see your name.

“They see their name listed and they can know where they stand, as well as a myriad of other things, so they use the rankings many times just to scout out the competition,” John said.

And then Seto said this, which is in line with the imperative tone of messaging each week from Geezer Jock.

“What also happens with the rankings is it affects lives in a huge way when they see their names," John said. "In some cases, there have been people that have told me they think the rankings have saved their lives. And that's not just hyperbole. 

“The rankings have motivated people who have had a sedentary lifestyle. I personally know one person’s history and how they used the rankings to stay with their training. Now, they are setting track & field records.”

Mastersrankings.com matters. Please read on.

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I have had numerous college football coaches insist to me how “meaningless” rankings are and then their players go out and use the rankings as motivation in a big game. Either the players thought they were ranked too low, or that week's opponent had a higher ranking, which incensed them.

Seto’s work is hardly meaningless. It is indispensable to Masters Track & Field. The rankings provide motivation, to be sure, but they also knit together the world of Geezer Jocks.

“It is an incredible way to make the world that much smaller because it literally connects people from around the world with a common interest,” John said.

Indeed, 99 countries were represented at the World Masters Athletics championships last month and every participant is now among the 120,000 worldwide in Seto’s data base.

It is an awesome responsibility and it adds to the credibility of Masters Track & Field to have such a professional website.

“My desire is to make sure the lists are accurate, make sure they're mistake-free, which is a challenge because of all the different modes that come in from around the world,” Seto said. “I feel responsibility on a multitude of levels. I feel a responsibility that every single athlete out there should be listed, and I feel a personal responsibility to strive to list them and do whatever it takes.”

John's culture of “do whatever it takes” was kindled from work early in his career at a place nicknamed "Big Blue.” That is IBM (International Business Machines) and Big Blue had its own cultural mantra: “Failure is not an option.”

For a number of reasons, John is a perfect fit for mastersrankings.com and its demands. He is a workaholic. He has the tech background and he describes himself as a “compulsive helper.”

John had some help in building the data base. His wife, Linda, is listed as an employee/director/secretary. She has pitched in with technical and moral support and shared the financial burden in making the enterprise sustainable.

Then there was John's and Linda’s daughter, Becky, who was in a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy.

On those challenging days, which were many, Seto said he could peer over the top of his computer monitor and make eye contact with Becky and feel renewed. Becky was non-verbal, but she was a constant companion. 

“She just picked me up,” he said. “She was my manager working with me every single day.”

Becky, who also had a rare genetic disorder, Kleefstra Syndrome, died in May of 2024. She was just 31 years old.

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In 2006, Seto began competing in Masters track & field in the Men’s 40-44 age group. He threw the shot, discus, hammer, and weight. In 2007, John climbed to No. 4 in the U.S. in the Super Weight Throw and No. 8 in the Weight Throw. You can see his own MastersRankings profile here. 

It was about that time Seto was drawn into the rankings and the challenges of a creating a robust national and then international system. The system, which included hand-written data on 3X5 cards, was desperately in need of an upgrade.

John’s work at IBM and as an executive-level consultant for his own company makes it seem like his destiny was fulfilled.   

“I was very experienced in managing multi-diverse things simultaneously,” Seto said. “I was very experienced in around the clock sort of work, in managing large teams to move mountains.”

In the case of MastersRankings.com, John is managing a mountain of data. He needs to wear “blinders” so thousands of tasks do not snow him in. 

It helps immensely that Seto is aligned with the cause of Masters Track & Field.

“I believe in the mission,” John said, “I have a passion for the wellness of an aging population.”

Click on this link to support and sustain www.mastersrankings.com.

John climbed to 4th in the U.S. in the super weight throw. Photo by Cheryl Treworgy.

John, Linda, and Becky at a New York Giants game.