Charlie Johnson swats the swarm at Conley 10K

On Saturday morning, 15 October 2011, Charlie Johnson took a break from the triathlon to do 34 minutes and 11 seconds of pure running. Just enough, as it turned out, to win the inaugural Conley Elementary School Yellow Jacket Swarm 10K in Tallahassee's Southwood community. Almost 800 meters behind Johnson, Tony Guillen was the runner up and fastest master in 36:56. The first female finisher was Katie Showman, eighth overall in 41:09. Paula O'Neill took women's master honors, running 47:41.


It isn't out of the ordinary for a new road race to be added to the schedule, but most of those are five-kilometer runs; it's unusual when someone establishes a new 10K race. But that's just what Conley Elementary School did with their Yellow Jacket Swarm 6.2-mile race. For good measure, though, they did include a 5K event. Both races started just after 8:30AM in front of the school, headed south on Four Oaks Boulevard. Johnson was out in front almost immediately, clearly leading both 10K and 5K runners only one kilometer into the race. At two kilometers the 5K runners and 10K runners split to go opposite directions around Southwood's Central Park Lake. Johnson was only farther ahead, but without the 5K runners to muddy the picture, it was clear that Capital City Runners' Brian Manry and Tony Guillen were fighting for second, with Mickey Moore and Joel Piotrowski running in tandem behind them. Manry and Guillen stayed together through the first half of the race. Guillen broke loose in the second half, though, and while Johnson ran on to a 34:11 win, Guillen beat out Manry for second, 36:56 to 37:24. Moore stole a few steps on Piotrowski to take fourth, 38:45 to 38:54.


In the women's division Katie Showman was just as dominant as Johnson, winning by over a kilometer. Behind Showman, Sandy Holt dropped Abby McLenehan to move into second. In the late stages of the race, though, Kelly Stevens began to close. With two kilometers to go, Stevens was in fourth place, over a minute behind Holt. During those two kilometers Stevens passed McLenehan to move into third and gained half a minute on Holt. But Holt still ended the race substantially ahead of Stevens, 46:12 to 46:49. McLenehan was the fourth woman in at 47:16, followed by the first woman master, Paula O'Neill (27th, 47:41).


Top Ten Men, 2011 Conley Swarm 10K

1. 34:11 ~ Charlie Johnson (M, 31)
2. 36:56 ~ Tony Guillen (M, 42)
3. 37:24 ~ Brian Manry (M, 32)
4. 38:45 ~ Mickey Moore (M, 41)
5. 38:54 ~ Joel Piotrowski (M, 42)
6. 40:34 ~ Dustin Rhodes (M, 37)
7. 41:02 ~ Mike Labossiere (M, 45)
8. 41:24 ~ Juan Ordonez (M, 37)
9. 41:31 ~ Michael Kennett (M, 38)
10. 41:47 ~ Dennis Keane (M, 17)

Top Ten Women, 2011 Conley Swarm 10K

1. 41:09 ~ Katie Showman (F, 29)
2. 46:12 ~ Sandy Holt (F, 26)
3. 46:49 ~ Kelly Stevens (F, 29)
4. 47:16 ~ Abby Mclenehan (F, 20)
5. 47:41 ~ Paula O'Neill (F, 50)
6. 47:49 ~ Tiffany Roddenbery (F, 27)
7. 51:04 ~ Jennifer Quarterman (F, 34)
8. 51:37 ~ Katie Howard (F, 21)
9. 52:01 ~ Sarah Dugas (F, 32)
10. 52:12 ~ Ashley Daily (F, 24)

The 5K was run concurrently with the 10K. Evan Francis, the Leon County middle-school cross-country champion, was leading by the end of the first kilometer. He continued to lead, going on to win the short race in 18:53. The next runner across the line after Francis was Tallahassee schoolteacher Lisa Johson, at 19:00 the first woman in the race. Karl Hempel (3rd, 19:11) was the fastest master in the 5K, and the first woman master was Marilyn Ney (49th, 31:17).


102 athletes finished the 10K, with another 131 in the 5K, plus a horde in the one-mile fun run. Not bad numbers for a first year event.


Top Ten Men, 2011 Conley Swarm 5K

1. 18:53 ~ Evan Francis (M, 14)
2. 19:11 ~ Karl Hempel (M, 60)
3. 20:19 ~ James Dodson (F, 13)
4. 20:47 ~ Laitaras Stokes (M, 22)
5. 21:11 ~ Bill McNulty (F, 53)
6. 22:30 ~ JP Escallier (M, 34)
7. 22:41 ~ Ryan Fitzgerald (M, 32)
8. 24:32 ~ Ryan Knutson (M, 29)
9. 24:43 ~ Brandon Griffith (M, 27)
10. 25:04 ~ John Hunt (M, 43)

Top Ten Women, 2011 Conley Swarm 5K

1. 19:00 ~ Lisa Johnson (F, 29)
2. 25:12 ~ Kristin Mejia (F, 34)
3. 25:32 ~ Marena Benoit (F, 12)
4. 25:40 ~ Christie Pontis (F, 26)
5. 28:37 ~ Whitney Fishman (F, 25)
6. 28:41 ~ Farra Noel (F, 37)
7. 29:48 ~ AuCare Stokes (F, 21)
8. 29:58 ~ Nancy Click (F, 31)
9. 30:33 ~ Tina Williams (F, 37)
10. 30:41 ~ Shannon Grouters (F, 31)
    

Links:

• Complete results of the Conley Yellow-Jacket Swarm 10K and 5K at gulfwinds.org
  http://www.gulfwinds.org/raceresults/2011/Yellow%20Jacket%20Swarm%202011.html
  
  
• More photos of the Conley Yellow-Jacket Swarm Run
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101093803590683.3222832.5215641&l=7e182c7ebe
  
  
• Fred Deckert's photos of the Conley Yellow-Jacket Swarm Run
  https://picasaweb.google.com/Freddecka/Conley11
  
  
• Find an upcoming 10K, 5K, or other length of run on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1