MIGHTY MEDFORD FREEWAY 5K

Esposito Dominates Mighty Medford Race

 Although it has been obvious that Sherry Esposito has achieved exalted status in the local female running population in recent months and years, she went one step further on January 12 in winning--outright and not even close--the Mighty Medford Freeway 5K. On a brisk but sunny day, newly turned 50 James Moreland led the field of 23 runners and Rudy through the first mile in a time of 6:10. Running just behind him at that point were Esposito and Gary St. Onge, with Dave Ramsey passing at 6:30 and Roger Kilgore another twenty seconds behind. On the way up the Nicodemus Road hill to the turnaround, Moreland's sore back slowed him, and Esposito and St. Onge occupied the two positions. At two miles Esposito's time of 12:30 gave her a five second lead over St. Onge, with Moreland ten seconds further back and no one else within a half minute. Esposito held her pace through the Avondale Road stretch of the course, finishing with an eleven second margin over St. Onge. Moreland was the only other finisher to break twenty minutes, with Ramsey and Kilgore also finishing in the top five. Of the fifteen males in the race, not counting Rudy, only two were under forty years of age. With Esposito in another league, the remaining female runners were left to contest second place. At the one mile mark, Sherry Clower's time of 7:45 placed her five seconds ahead of Dee Nelson and twenty seconds ahead of Christina Rock. That lead grew to almost a minute over Nelson and two minutes over Rock. Fifth place went to Liuda Galinaitis, who received an award from the National RRCA for her long and meritorious service to the running community. The next race on the WRRC schedule is the Bear Run Four Miler, to be held at 12:00 noon on Super Bowl Sunday, January 26, at the fire hall in beautiful downtown Pleasant Valley. For more information contact Sherri Hughes at 410-857-9040 or shughes@mcdaniel.edu