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Street Mile, 16 April 2008
Father-daughter duo takes Main Street Mile titles.
BY KEVIN SPRADLIN
WESTMINSTER – Remus Medley said after his daughter Brittney Rooks’ victory in the 27th annual Main Street Mile that the 14-year-old girl simply enjoys running.
Competitors should look out, then, if she ever gets serious. Rooks, a 7th grade student at City Springs Middle School in Baltimore, was the first female to cross the finish line at the 27th annual Main Street Mile April 16. She shaved 18 seconds off her time in 2007 and stopped the clock this year in 4 minutes, 39 seconds – just 6.1 seconds off the 21-year-old course record set in 1987 by Maria Spinnler (nee Pazarentzos).
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| Men's winner Remus Medley (left) and women's winner - and Medley's daughter - Brittney Rooks (right). Both are from Baltimore and ran under the sponsorship of the Falls Road Running Club). | |
“The greatest thing about her is that she doesn’t care if she wins or loses,” said Remus Medley, a proud father. “She was brought up running.”
But Medley didn’t just watch his daughter sprint the last several hundred meters of the downtown Westminster road course, which features a 144-foot vertical drop from start to finish.
Instead, the 38-year-old managed to just stay ahead of her. He was the overall winner, in fact, in 4:24. His son, Del’Vaughn Rooks, 16 was sixth overall in 4:36. All three family members improved on their times from 2007. Medley was fourth last year in 4:28; Del’Vaughn was 13th in 4:47.
Del’Vaughn Rooks won the boys’ 16-19 age group while younger sibling Lance Rooks, 12, took the boys’ 11-12 title in 5:45.
Brittney Rooks beat out Carroll County running staple Sherry Stick, 29, of Eldersburg, by 13 seconds. Stick edged Rooks by seven seconds last year. Competing for the Baltimore-Washington Athletic Club with fellow club member Becky Rhodes, Stick, the defending MSM champ, was pushed back to second overall in 4:52. Rhodes, 28, of Westminster, was among 104 women in the competitive first heat in 5:06.
Rachel Walter, 39, of Reisterstown, Md., and Kasey Fogelsanger, 12, of Owings Mills, Md., rounded out the top five in the women’s field. Forty-year-old Dorothy Carpenter, of Finksburg, Md., won the women’s masters title in 6:09.
Medley paced 148 other men to the finish. Victor Cretella, 37, of New Market, Md., was second overall in 4:29 while Jason Counsman, 22, of Norristown, Pa., was third in 4:31. Counsman was followed by Timothy Schuler, of Chambersburg, Pa., in 4:32. The 44-year-old Schuler grabbed the men’s masters title – but barely. Fellow masters running Tadd Morris, 40, of Camp Hill, Pa., was fifth overall in 4:33.
If Medley has anything to do with it, the family of harriers will only get better. He said he’s still experimenting – and there could be as many bad days as good ones.
“I’m still getting smarter with my training methods,” Medley said. “We took a step back last year. It’s trial and error.”
Brittney feasting on the event’s traditional post-race ice cream sundaes, said she there aren’t any other sports she’s interested in. But she does have a weakness – a place where competitors can go and still be successful.
“I can’t swim,” she said.
Medley was understandably proud of his family. But his goals and expectations – and admiration – for 30-some people in his extended family satisfied him just as much. Medley coached more than two dozen first-time runners recovering from substance abuse to the finish line by the Westminster branch of the county library system.
In such a community race, there are several notes of distinction. The first and foremost, perhaps, is the 31 students from Manchester Elementary School in northern Carroll County who ran to support Betty Smith, a teacher at the school. Smith is the grandmother of Connor Smith, who, at the age of 6, suffered sudden heart failure and died while competing in last year’s race.
The male and female winners of the untimed second heat were recognized as the inaugural recipients of the Connor Smith Memorial Award. This year, Jacob Nelson, 10, of Westminster, Md., and Sarah Rinehart, 10, of Eldersburg, Md., earned top honors.
Also, Westminster Road Runners club member David Mount started a running club at Mechanicsville Elementary School and signed up his runners for the fun run. Mount’s son is a student there, while teacher Alicia Fornal used the race as a final tune-up before the Boston Marathon.
There is an annual cash award to the school with the highest number of entrants. The award this year went to William Winchester Elementary School with 47 runners. Eldersburg Elementary School was second with 40, followed by Spring Garden Elementary (32), Manchester Elementary (31) and Sandymount Elementary (29).
Kevin Spradlin can be contacted at cmacrunning@hotmail.com.