Mission accomplished for Ryan Kelly and Audrey Williams

The metric system has been part of athletics for over a century, and distances in running are almost exclusively metric nowadays. But it wasn't that many decades ago that in the United States, metric races were the exception. It wasn't until 1976, for instance, that the NCAA cross-country distance changed from six miles to 10,000 meters. In fact, prior to 1965 the collegiate championship cross-country distance was a modest four miles. That same non-metric four-mile distance is what Valdosta State University's Baptist Campus Ministry chose for its Run 4 Missions Road Race.


100 athletes finished the second annual edition of the non-metric Run 4 Missions on Saturday morning, 19 January 2013. Valdosta Middle School cross-country coach Ryan Kelly was the fastest in that field, running 23:48 for the win. Peter Akiti, a VSU freshman, finished runner-up in 24:31. Tyler Thurman of Lowndes County High School outdueled Matthew Baun of St John Catholic for third place, 24:53 to 24:59. Valdosta's Rick Mazurkiewicz was the top master of the morning, finishing eighth overall in 27:16.


Valdosta State University undergraduate Audrey Williams finished first among the women with a 31:08. The next female finisher was Martha Mazurkiewicz at 31:34. She was also the first female master, completing a Mazurkiewicz sweep of top master honors at the Run 4 Missions.


Top Ten Males

1. 23:48.0 ~ Ryan Kelly (M, 34) Lake Park, GA
2. 24:30.3 ~ Peter Akiti (M, 18) Valdosta, GA
3. 24:52.5 ~ Tyler Thurman (M, 17) Valdosta, GA
4. 24:58.2 ~ Matthew Baun (M, 13) Valdosta, GA
5. 25:23.3 ~ Elijah Gilmore (M, 18) Valdosta, GA
6. 26:58.3 ~ Nathan Crews (M, 15) Valdosta, GA
7. 27:12.4 ~ Justin Brownridge (M, 21) Valdosta, GA
8. 27:15.9 ~ Rick Mazurkiewicz (M, 45) Valdosta, GA
9. 27:27.7 ~ Jacob Bearrentine (M, 20) Valdosta, GA
10. 29:28.1 ~ Steven Watts (M, 19) Hahira, GA

Top Ten Females

1. 31:07.7 ~ Audrey Williams (F, 22) Valdosta, GA
2. 31:33.5 ~ Martha Mazurkiewicz (F, 45) Valdosta, GA
3. 31:42.9 ~ Debbie Green (F, 46) Valdosta, GA
4. 33:04.4 ~ Erin Wilkey (F, 10) Valdosta, GA
5. 33:23.9 ~ Misty Watkins (F, 30) Valdosta, GA
6. 33:35.0 ~ Angel Godwin (F, 39) Valdosta, GA
7. 34:34.9 ~ Alison Thornhill (F, 32) Valdosta, GA
8. 35:35.3 ~ Madeline Posse (F, 12) Valdosta, GA
9. 35:43.3 ~ Heather Kelly (F, 34) Lake Park, GA
10. 35:56.1 ~ Ashley Valerio (F, 21) Valdosta, GA

Links

• Complete results of the 2013 Run 4 Missions four-mile road race
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AuBsYKIIn3TCdGNXbmdvbmZxVFVfZ2ZaTEtWZERqdXc
  
  
• Tom Durham's photos of the 2013 Run 4 Missions four-mile road race
  http://tdurham.zenfolio.com/p35275035
  
  
• Find your next Valdosta road race on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1