Twilight Series, Race #1

McDaniel 2-mile Track Run, 2 June 2005

Pool, Stick Lead Field in First Twilight Series Race

Kevin Pool, recently graduated from Allegheny College, and Sherry Stick, who graduated from Salisbury University several years ago, literally ran circles around a field of 73 in the first Twilight Series Race of the the summer.

With such a large collection of runners, ranging in age from 10 to 77, the race was conducted in three sections. In the first, comprised of male masters runners, Pete Dodd grabbed the early lead and proceded to begin lapping runners. The only runner to finish in less than twelve minutes, a 90 second per lap pace, his margin over Jim Bullock was a half-minute. Bullock, who recently broke twenty minutes for a 5K track run, continues to amaze, since he not only ran faster than anyone in the 60 and over category, he also dusted the entire collection of 50 somethings. Mark Hadley, the youngest of the masters runners at 41, finished third.

While there was happiness amongst the top finishers in the first section, the cruel fact is that top finisher Pete Dodd finished 16th of 54 overall. In the third section Kevin Pool, who achieved All-America status several times during his college cross-country and track seasons, ran a series of low seventy second laps as he broke ten minutes for the two mile distance, winning for the second year in a row, with a time two seconds better than last year's.

Paul Hannsen, who competed at the University of Delaware while in college, outlegged Westminster High School student Rob Kelvey down the last stretch to grab second, with Chris Gonzalez, one of only two thirty something runners in the race, grabbed fourth. Following Gonzalez were eighteen runners, including thirteen teen runners and eleven year old Patrick Rollo, who broke twelve minutes.

Sherry Stick won the women's division for the fifth time in the last six years, and in her fastest time ever, with a time of 11:26, a time which would have won the men's masters section by eighteen seconds. Only Becky Alvarez and Tina McCubbin were on the same lap at the finish. Debra Leathers finished as the first masters runner, just ahead of Dee Nelson and Judith Brennan.

An interesting sidelight to the women's competition occured when Diana Pool did her version of Danica Patrick in the open heat. Aside from the fact that the two young females are the same age and have the same initials, they also competed well with the boys. Diana finished fourteenth in the open section and would also have won the masters section had she been in it. Her time was second only to Stick's for female runners, bumping all other female finishers down one place.

The next Twilight Series race will occur at 7:00 pm on Thursday, June 16, at Century High School. The 5K road course is new to the WRRC schedule and to the Twilight Series. For more information contact Joe Paczynski at 410-549-1123.