Monday, February 11, 2019

Tristan Cravello and Ani Veltcheva for the win at Run For The Cookies

In 2016 Tallahassee Community College fielded a women's cross-country team for the first time. Since then the school has hosted Florida's junior college cross-country state championship three times, added a men's cross-country program, and started a track team. But TCC's running roots go back to at least 1997, the year that the Run For The Cookies 5K moved to the college campus from its original venue at Tallahassee Mall. TCC is still the home of the race, and on Saturday morning, 9 February 2019, athletes met at the school for the 26th annual Run For The Cookies 5K. Tristan Cravello won the 3.1-mile race in 17:13, and Ani Veltcheva was first woman, placing fifth overall in 18:49.

Tristan Cravello
Tristan Cravello

Each of the 315 runners who finished the race scored a box of Girl Scout cookies for entering. That was a unique feature of Tallahassee's first Run For The Cookies, but it has since been imitated by races in Panama City, Pensacola, and elsewhere. Additional boxes of Girl Scout cookies went to top places in the age-groups and the first master runners. The first overall male and first overall female finishers each took home another five boxes.


When the race started a few minutes after 9:00 AM, it looked like Tristan Cravello really wanted those five boxes of cookies. A second year student at Florida State University, Cravello had finished runner-up to Vince Molosky in the 2018 Run For The Cookies, trailing most of the race. Cravello was setting the pace nearly from the start in 2019, with Brad Busboom following.

Brad Busboom (2nd, 17:36)
Brad Busboom

"Maybe on the downhill I was moving up on him," said Busboom. "But he finished twenty seconds ahead of me. He's faster than I am."


Unchallenged, Cravello finished first in 17:13, with Busboom second in 17:36.

Carter Hay
Carter Hay

Master runners Carter Hay and Gary Droze changed position several times during the race, with Hay ahead during the first mile and Droze ahead during the second. Early in the third mile the two were running together, but Hay dropped Droze on the way to the finish line to take top master honors, placing third overall in 18:25. Droze, TCC's cross-country coach, finishing fourth in 18:32.


Fourteen-year-old Ani Veltcheva lives in Gainesville, Florida, but she's a prominent runner on the Tallahassee roads, a three-time women's champ of the Palace Saloon 5K and the first woman in the 2017 Springtime 10K. She had also won the women's title at the 2017 Run For The Cookies 5K.

Ani Veltcheva
Ani Veltcheva

"I love running in Tallahassee," said Veltcheva. "There is a great running community here. The people along the course and the other runners in the race are always so supportive and encouraging. I just love running in the races here."


Before the Run For The Cookies, Veltcheva's most recent race in Tallahassee was the class 3A girls' 5K in Florida's High School Cross-Country Championship. A frosh on the Gainesville High team, Veltcheva had placed second in 17:47.

Genevieve Printiss
Genevieve Printiss

"This is my first road race since State," said Veltcheva. "We have kind of an off-season after cross-country. Track starts soon, though."


Veltcheva stepped back onto the roads looking like she had never left, leading the women's field nearly from the start of the race. Her lead only grew longer on her way to crossing the finish line in a winning 18:49. Behind Veltcheva, TCC cross-country runner Genevieve Printiss moved into second during mile two of the race. Printiss ended the race as the women's runner-up, placing thirteenth overall in 19:52. Meg Ogle was even farther back in the early going, but worked her way up through the field to challenge Katie Sherron for third late in the race. Ogle edged Sherron at the finish line, 20:39 to 20:41, the two runners placing eighteenth and nineteenth overall. Stephanie Liles-Weyant was the first woman master in the 5K and fifth female finisher, 21st overall in 20:51. Liles-Weyant was the women's champ at the Run For The Cookies in both 2006 and 2008.

Meg Ogle, Katie Sherron
Meg Ogle and Katie Sherron

Before the start of the 2019 Run For The Cookies 5K, 63 athletes finished a one-mile kids' run. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed both races.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Run For The Cookies 5K
  1. 17:13, Tristan Cravello (M, 19)
  2. 17:36, Brad Busboom (M, 31)
  3. 18:25, Carter Hay (M, 47)
  4. 18:32, Gary Droze (M, 57)
  5. 18:54, Kurt Dietrich (M, 27)
  6. 19:11, Jonathan Callejas (M, 22)
  7. 19:14, Zach Deveau (M, 31)
  8. 19:29, Michael Martinez (M, 53)
  9. 19:35, Filippo Aldrovandi-Reina (M, 14)
  10. 19:43, Dalton Gray (M, 18)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Run For The Cookies 5K
  1. 18:49, Ani Veltcheva (F, 14)
  2. 19:52, Genevieve Printiss (F, 18)
  3. 20:39, Meg Ogle (F, 28)
  4. 20:41, Katie Sherron (F, 37)
  5. 20:51, Stephanie Liles-Weyant (F, 46)
  6. 21:18, Mia Wiederkehr (F, 21)
  7. 21:48, Lauren Davidson (F, 27)
  8. 21:48, Maya Tang (F, 13)
  9. 22:06, Clifton Lewis (F, 10)
  10. 22:16, Jenny Early (F, 35)

Run For The Cookies 5K champions, 1994 - 2019
DateMenWomenFinishers
19 February 199416:12, Gary Droze-118:51, Carrie Weyant-185
25 February 199515:42, Gary Droze-218:15, Jane Johnson186
24 February 199616:08, Gary Droze-319:57, Chateau Mangaroo175
22 February 199715:17, Gary Droze-419:02, Carrie Weyant-2150
28 February 199815:38, Jason Ritter17:29, Sarah Docter-Williams-1207
27 February 199916:17, David Ogletree17:38, Sarah Docter-Williams-2258
26 February 200016:23, Robert Pautienus17:53, Kim Winn294
24 February 200115:59, Kevin Danahy17:30, Sarah Docter-Williams-3231
23 February 200215:25, Lee Willis-116:18, Breeda Dennehy-Willis-1248
15 February 200315:49, Lee Willis-216:30, Breeda Dennehy-Willis-2152
14 February 200417:07, Timothy Bolton18:06, Sarah Docter-Williams-493
12 February 200516:23, Justin Jacobs17:43, Sarah Docter-Williams-5258
11 February 200616:49, Kyle Larson19:04, Stephanie Liles-1156
10 February 200715:53, Judson Cake19:06, Zika Rea386
9 February 200816:45, Tripp Southerland19:35, Stephanie Liles-2411
7 February 200916:16, Chris Lake-118:40, Audrey Hand550
13 February 201016:27, Chris Lake-218:11, Amy Hines-1432
12 February 201115:50, Kevin Sullivan19:02, Sheryl Rosen-1431
11 February 201216:07, Alex Smyth17:36, Amy Hines-2685
9 February 201316:00, Stanley Linton-117:43, Chelsi Woodruff602
8 February 201415:24, Stanley Linton-217:54, Carly Thomas369
14 February 201515:40, Remy Tamer18:04, Sheryl Rosen-2332
13 February 201617:15, Clayburn Milford18:53, Alexandra Midgett342
11 February 201716:27, Matthew McCurdy17:35, Ani Veltcheva-1405
10 February 201817:00, Vince Molosky17:59, Adriana Piekarewicz347
9 February 201917:13, Tristan Cravello18:49, Ani Veltcheva-2315
The Run For The Cookies was held at Tallahassee Mall from 1994 to 1996,
and at Tallahassee Community College from 1997 to the present.
A big thank-you to Mark Priddy for his help in completing this summary.


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Posted by Herb Wills at 7:43 PM
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