Saturday, September 26, 2015

Van Brussel and Smith remember Prefontaine with wins

Peter Van BrusselWest of Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday morning, 27 September 2015 Gulf Winds Track Club hosted the 40th annual running of the Prefontaine Forest 5K. The race has endured longer than the man it memorializes, the distance runner Steve Prefontaine, who died in a tragic car accident in 1975 at age 24. In all 40 years of the Prefontaine 5K, the United States Forest Service has been in charge of the course. The Forest Service has no particular interest in running, but the race is in the Apalachicola National Forest. In fact, the Forest Service's changes to the course haven't had anything to do with the Prefontaine 5K at all, but have been designed to regulate access to Silver Lake, Andrew Lake, and nearby spots in the Forest. By the 1970s, that part of the Apalachicola National Forest was a maze of jeep trails, in danger of becoming a large sandy parking lot. To save the woods, the Forest Service brought in earth-moving equipment and threw up barriers across many of the trails--and the participants in the Prefontaine 5K found their run punctuated by tank traps. More recently, the rangers felled a couple of trees across a trail leading to Andrew Lake. On the morning of the race, those became hurdles.


It's all part of cross country running.


Emily SmithHaving run cross country at Pensacola Washington High School, Peter Van Brussel is familiar enough with the sport. It showed on the Saturday morning of the 40th annual Prefontaine 5K. Van Brussel took an early lead as the runners left the starting line and headed for the trails. Only Maclay School cross country coach Gary Droze was able to stay near Van Brussel; at the halfway point only six seconds separated the first two runners. Droze is a ten-time winner of the Prefontaine 5K, but at the 2015 race he wasn't able to close that gap, though, and Van Brussel won the race in 18:42. Droze took second in 18:50, the first master runner in the race. Master runner Joel Piotrowski held off Zack Scharlepp to take third, 21:07 to 21:10.


Emily Smith took the women's title, placing 15th overall in 23:38. Emma Spencer was second in the women's standings, finishing 24th overall in 25:00. There was a finish-line duel for the women's master title, but Julie Clark was able to hold off Nancy Lewis 27:36 to 27:39 for the honor. Clark, the 1997 Prefontaine 5K women's champ, finished 32nd overall and Lewis was 33rd.


64 athletes finished the 5K. Chip timing was provided by Gulf Winds Track Club of Tallahassee, Florida.


Top Ten Men, 2015 Salute to Prefontaine 5KGary Droze
  1. 18:42 ~ Peter Van Brussel (M, 22)
  2. 18:50 ~ Gary Droze (M, 54)
  3. 21:07 ~ Joel Piotrowski (M, 46)
  4. 21:10 ~ Zack Scharlepp (M, 32)
  5. 21:37 ~ Josh Cartwright (M, 20)
  6. 22:53 ~ Mark Tombrink (M, 27)
  7. 22:54 ~ Mike Burns (M, 50)
  8. 22:58 ~ Sean Rinehart (M, 44)
  9. 23:05 ~ Felix Gaspar (M, 53)
  10. 23:10 ~ Greg James (M, 47)

Top Ten Women, 2015 Salute to Prefontaine 5KEmma Spencer
  1. 23:38 ~ Emily Smith (F, 30)
  2. 25:00 ~ Emma Spencer (F, 34)
  3. 27:36 ~ Julie Clark (F, 53)
  4. 27:39 ~ Nancy Lewis (F, 50)
  5. 30:21 ~ Kristie Lamb (F, 41)
  6. 30:24 ~ Rylee Fowler (F, 10)
  7. 32:36 ~ Mary Jean Yon (F, 59)
  8. 32:36 ~ Lisa Rutledge (F, 54)
  9. 32:37 ~ Fran McLean (F, 57)
  10. 32:54 ~ Maria Matheu (F, 36)

Known winners of GWTC's Prefontaine Forest 5K
1976 - 2015
DateMenWomen
25 September 197615:43, Tim Simpkins19:20, Nancy McCormac
September 197715:35, Tim Simpkins19:00, Janice Gage
23 September 1978

September 1979

20 September 198017:17, George West20:52, Donna Miller
September 198118:20, Shannon Sullivan22:27, Pam Ledbetter
September 1982

24 September 198317:17, Jeff Doherty20:36, Donna Miller
September 198417:11, Larry Abele20:43, Barbara Balzer
September 198516:51, Tim Simpkins20:40, Darien Andreu
27 September 198617:20, Tim Simpkins22:14, Laura Partin
12 September 198717:33, Tom Burr21:20, Linda Nicholson
24 September 198817:38, Tom Burr22:23, Yvonne Gsteiger
23 September 198917:25, Tim Simpkins21:30, Vikki Saga
22 September 199017:12, Bill Crooks22:23, Tina Davies
22 September 199117:54, Gary Droze24:48, Tina Davies
19 September 199218:29, Gary Droze22:05, Diane Blas
18 September 199317:58, Tim Simpkins24:16, Sissi Carroll
17 September 199417:00, Gary Droze21:16, Carrie Weyant
30 September 199517:12, Gary Droze22:56, Sissi Carroll
28 September 199619:18, Gary Droze22:56, Jane Johnson
27 September 199718:50, Bill Crooks23:07, Julie Clark
26 September 199819:26, Paul Hoover24:44, Peggy Simpson
25 September 199917:56, Gary Droze24:13, Brandi Rook
30 September 200017:49, Gary Droze22:17, Allie Hunter
29 September 200119:37, Scott Poindexter22:17, Allie Hunter
5 October 200222:17, David Yon25:47, Yvonne Gsteiger
27 September 200318:35, Shawn Patterson23:49, Angela Dempsey
25 September 200417:43, Gary Droze22:46, Seeley Lovett
24 September 200518:13, Gary Droze24:06, Jane Johnson
23 September 200617:24, Gary Droze19:59, Stephanie Liles
29 September 200717:29, Chris Gregory20:26, Micah Adriani
27 September 200818:16, Daniel Lee21:10, Kati Gosnell
26 September 200920:28, Joel Piotrowski21:20, Micah Adriani
25 September 201018:53, Jay Wallace22:17, Kelly Stevens
24 September 201119:08, Michael Martinez22:31, Olivia Swedberg Yinger
22 September 201217:18, Stanley Linton20:58, Micah Adriani
21 September 201316:27, Stanley Linton23:34, Melissa Geary
27 September 201417:43, Chris Lake22:30, Cora Atkinson
26 September 201518:42, Peter Van Brussel23:38, Emily Smith


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Posted by Herb Wills at 5:01 PM
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