Friday, September 3, 2010

Rice and Turner victorious at VSU Community 5K

It may have been the Valdosta State University Community 5K, but it was the Valdosta State University cross-country team that ran away with all the honors. In the 21 August 2010 race, VSU Blazer distance runners took the first nine places, with Blazer senior Chris Rice taking the overall title in 16:40. In doing so, Rice successfully defended his 2009 title in the race, becoming the only repeat winner in the five-year history of the VSU Community 5K. 2008 champ Austin McDonald was the runner-up in 16:58, while Dale Smith edged out Steve Cary for third, 17:30 to 17:32. Rick Mazurkiewicz was the top male master, placing 15th overall in 20:32.


VSU cross-country runners also captured the first two places in the women's division, with freshman Sarah Turner outrunning 2008 women's champion Jordanne Helton 20:13 to 21:22. Alice Smoot , the third female finisher, was the fastest woman master in the race, placing 19th overall in 21:32.


The VSU Community 5K started out in 2006 as the VSU Centennial 5K, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of VSU in 1906 as the South Georgia State Normal College (altho' apparently no classes were held until 1913). In 2009, someone noticed that it was no longer the 100th anniversary of VSU, so the name was changed to the VSU Community 5K. There were 236 recorded finishers in this year's fifth annual event, making it one of the biggest races in Valdosta. The current course is a single-loop tour of the VSU campus.

The next race in Valdosta will the the Labor Day 5K on 6 September 2010 at 7:30am ET.


Valdosta State University Community 5K champions, 2006-2010
Date
MenWomen
19 August 2006
Derek Storbeck (16:54)
Melissa Daugherty (20:06)
18 August 2007
John Seppala (16:58)
Jana Grygarova (20:12)
23 August 2008
Austin McDonald (17:17)
Jordanne Helton (20:12)
22 August 2009
Christopher Rice (16:15)
Ashley McGee (20:03)
21 August 2010
Christopher Rice (16:40)
Sarah Turner (20:13)


Links:

No comments:

Post a Comment