Monday, July 8, 2019

Enoch Nadler and Dr. Meredith DeFranco score Melon Run wins in Gainesville

Florida Track Club's Three-Mile Melon RunFlorida Track Club's annual Melon Run was first run on the streets of Gainesville, Florida on 4 July 1979. That means the Thursday morning, 4 July 2019, running of the race was the 41st annual Melon Run. That's quite old for a road race, but Gainesville's event isn't the oldest Melon Run in the state. In the Big Bend, Monticello hosted its first Melon Run 5K on 23 June 1979, nearly two weeks before Gainesville. Monticello's 41st annual race was 15 June 2019, well before Florida Track Club's 41st Independence Day race. Over in the Panhandle, the North Florida Watermelon Festival inaugurated the annual Hot Trot on 23 June 1979, and beat Gainesville to the 41st race by a few days with a run on 29 June 2019.


But if Gainesville's 41st annual Melon Run couldn't be the oldest, Enoch Nadler made sure it was the fastest. Running for the Florida Track Club Elite Team, Nadler won the three-miler by nearly a minute, running 15:12. Dr. Meredith DeFranco, another Florida Track Club runner, won the women's title, placing thirteenth overall in 18:42.


Nadler had won the venerable Fourth-of-July race before, but that was back in 2005--an earlier decade, and almost and earlier century--when he was still racing for the University of Florida. Calum McFetridge had won the race more recently, finishing first in 2018. But the defending champ finished runner-up to Nadler in the 2019 Melon Run, running 16:09. Gainesville's John Sansalone made it into the top ten for the fifth year in a row, placing third overall in 16:33--just a few steps ahead of the 16:38 posted by fourth-place Andy Merrill of Starke, Florida. Eric Drummond of Gainesville was the fastest master runner in the Melon Run, coming in seventh overall in 17:31.


Dr. DeFranco, the women's champ, had also raced the Melon Run previously, but her winning time of 18:42 was impressively faster than the 21:48 she had posted in 2018. Rae Powers, on the other hand, ran the exact same time in 2019 as she had run in the 2018 race--18:51. This year, it was good for second in the women's standings and fourteenth overall. Katelyn Greenleaf of Gainesville was the third woman and eighteenth overall in 19:21. Lake City, Florida athlete Michelle Richards was the first woman master in the race and the sixth female finisher, 31st overall in 20:09.


323 athletes finished Florida Track Club's 2019 Three-Mile Melon Run. Start 2 Finish Race Management timed the event.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Melon Run Three Mile
  1. 15:12, Enoch Nadler (M, 33) Gainesville, FL
  2. 16:09, Calum McFetridge (M, 20) Gainesville, FL
  3. 16:33, John Sansalone (M, 23) Gainesville, FL
  4. 16:38, Andy Merrill (M, 25) Starke, FL
  5. 17:10, Marc Coleman (M, 32) Gainesville, FL
  6. 17:30, Blake Lofing (M, 17) High Springs, FL
  7. 17:31, Eric Drummond (M, 42) Gainesville, FL
  8. 17:37, Juan Resendiz (M, 16) Lake City, FL
  9. 17:55, Ben Wise (M, 40) Gainesville, FL
  10. 18:01, Baker Herrin (M, 20) Gainesville, FL

Top Ten Women, 2019 Melon Run Three Mile
  1. 18:42, Meredith DeFranco (F, 35) Gainesville, FL
  2. 18:51, Rae Powers (F, 27) Gainesville, FL
  3. 19:21, Katelyn Greenleaf (F, 25) Gainesville, FL
  4. 19:51, Angela Nadler (F, 32) Gainesville, FL
  5. 19:58, Cierra Clark (F, 24)
  6. 20:09, Michelle Richards (F, 46)
  7. 20:13, Allison Drummond (F, 16) Gainesville, FL
  8. 20:16, Julia Buddendorff (F, 23) Gainesville, FL
  9. 20:17, Lindsay Fields (F, 29) Gainesville, FL
  10. 20:42, Melody Diehl (F, 28) High Springs, FL

Gainesville, Florida, Melon Run Three Mile winners, 1979 - 2019
DateMenWomenFinishers
4 July 1979*15:43, Paul Rehfus22:04, Diann Eley
4 July 198014:47, Joe Dubina18:14, Ruth Smith167
4 July 198114:25, Jeff Kramer18:51, Lisa Davis179
4 July 198215:14, Byron Dyce20:10, Ann Hanrahan
4 July 198315:14, Roger Sutton18:14, Ruth Smith
4 July 198414:29, Scott McMillen18:06, Kathy Schaefer
4 July 198514:47, Mark Kennard18:25, Kathy Schaefer279
4 July 198615:22, John Matthews18:28, Shelly Allen219
4 July 1987
4 July 1988
4 July 198915:20, Scott McMillen18:00, Anita Kelly
4 July 199015:08, Scott McMillen19:09, Johanna Reneke
4 July 1991
4 July 1992
4 July 199315:14, John Pianhorst18:01, Jim Schultz
4 July 199415:31, Randall Hollinger19:04, Lisa Gable
4 July 199514:58, Stephen Kortenkamp17:14, Monica O'Reilly
4 July 199614:48, Randall Hollinger19:38, Annemarie Kosarek
4 July 199715:34, Randall Hollinger17:58, Wendy Frazier
4 July 1998
4 July 199914:57, Connor Holt18:52, Shannon Lennon
4 July 200015:51, Randy Hollinger18:40, Shannon Lennon240
4 July 200116:22, Randy Hollinger18:48, Allison Burnett276
4 July 200215:40, Darin Shearer18:44, Ashley Espy281
4 July 200315:49, Alex Phipps17:55, Anna Brew311
4 July 200416:07, Justin Jacobs18:26, Larisa Timchina222
4 July 200515:44, Enoch Nadler17:59, Friderike Wilde222
4 July 200615:35, Michael Anderson17:53, Sheryl Rosen282
4 July 200715:02, Alex Phipps18:03, Amanda Hahn406
4 July 200815:43, Geoffrey Anderson17:39, Lisa Vaill460
4 July 200915:34, Andrew Robinson18:48, Michele Howell287
4 July 201014:46, Michael Anderson17:30, Allison Costello308
4 July 201115:38, Michael Anderson17:38, Betsy Suda339
4 July 201215:24, Michael Anderson18:05, Betsy Suda460
4 July 201314:58, Mike Hensley20:00, Danielle Kolb410
4 July 201414:34, Matt Hensley17:32, Betsy Suda444
4 July 201515:59, Mike Hensley17:41, Betsy Suda304
4 July 201616:26, Mike Hensley17:51, Anne Creamer337
4 July 201714:33, Eduardo Garcia16:47, Jess Pascoe398
4 July 201815:50, Calum McFetridge18:02, Betsy Suda440
4 July 201915:12, Enoch Nadler18:42, Meredith DeFranco323
* The inaugural race in 1979 was the “5 km Metric Melon.”


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Posted by Herb Wills at 10:47 PM
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