Sunday, February 4, 2024

Hot times on a cool day for Crowdis 5K winners Walker Elrod and Gabriella Baker

Dr. Crowdis RunSince the Crowdis 5K was revived in 2012, no athlete has broken 17:00 in Blakely, Georgia's oldest road race. That changed in a single morning. Walker Elrod of Bainbrdige, Georgia led a fast field through the streets of Blakely on Saturday, 3 February 2024, winning the 2024 Crowdis in 16:29. Gabriella Barker of Dothan, Alabama was the first woman in the race, placing fifteenth overall in 20:34.


2024 also marked the elimination of the Crowdis 10K. The Crowdis had been a 5K race since it was first run in 1981. In 2017 a 10K was added to the annual program. Dr. Patrick Whitehead, an Albany State University professor of psychology, had won the last 5K-only Crowdis in 2016, then gone on to win the Crowdis 10K in 2017, 2018, and 2022. With the elimination of the 10K in 2024, Whitehead was back racing the shorter distance. Tallahassee, Florida master runner Michael Martinez, the 2019 Crowdis 5K champion, was also in the 2024 field; as was Donalsonville, Georgia's Myles Gibson--the Crowdis 5K winner in 1993, 2014, and 2015. But the Crowdis veterans were up against a corps of youth.


Leading that youth movement was the race winner, Walker Elrod, a sophomore-year cross-country runner at Grace Christian Academy. The runner-up, Rush Hatcher, ran 16:43, joining Elrod in breaking 17:00. Hatcher is a sophomore on the Worth County High cross-country team. Wesley Warren, a frosh on the Brookwood School cross-country squad, took third in 17:09. The next two athletes across the line were likewise high school harriers--Crosspointe Academy senior Graham Harrod (4th, 17:23) and Tift County High sophomore Owen Davies (5th, 17:51).


The stream of young distance runners was finally interrupted by the first master runner in the race, Russell Coleman, who placed sixth in 17:59. Coleman had won the Crowdis 10K in 2020 and 2023. As for the other past champions, Dr. Whitehead was seventh in 18:10, Martinez was tenth in 19:47, and Gibson thirteenth in 20:28.


The women's division was also dominated by high school cross-country runners, starting with first-place female Gabriella Baker, a junior on the Dothan High team. Emmalee Johnson was runner-up to Baker on the women's side, placing seventeenth overall in 22:09. Johnson is a junior at Southwest Georgia Academy. Kali Nicholson, the third woman and twentieth overall in 22:36, is a junior on Lee County High's cross-country squad. Fourth, fifth, and sixth for the women were also ran cross-country for their school--Seminole County junior Geisha Smith (22nd, 23:01), Baconton sixth-grader Madison Miracle (24th, 23:09), and Grace Christian Academy frosh Tatiana Smith (25th, 23:09).


Carolyn Houston of Dothan was the first woman master and the seventh female finisher, 27th overall in 23:54. Houston had been the first woman in the 2018 Crowdis 5K as well as the 2021 and 2023 Crowdis 10K races.


77 athletes finished the 2024 Crowdis 5K.


Top Ten Men, 2024 Dr. James H. Crowdis 5K
  1. 16:28.1, Walker Elrod (M, 15)
  2. 16:42.7, Rush Hatcher (M, 16)
  3. 17:09.0, Wesley Warren (M, 14)
  4. 17:22.7, Graham Harrod (M, 17)
  5. 17:50.5, Owen Davies (M, 16)
  6. 17:58.3, Russell Coleman (M, 46)
  7. 18:09.2, Patrick Whitehead (M, 37)
  8. 18:21.3, Russ Benton (M, 16)
  9. 18:34.8, Ridley Eidson (M, 16)
  10. 19:46.7, Mike Martinez (M, 58)

Top Ten Women, 2024 Dr. James H. Crowdis 5K
  1. 20:34.0, Gabriella Baker (F, 18)
  2. 22:08.1, Emmalee Johnson (F, 16)
  3. 22:36.0, Kali Nicholson (F, 16)
  4. 23:00.4, Geisha Smith (F, 17)
  5. 23:08.9, Madison Miracle (F, 12)
  6. 23:28.2, Tatiana Smith (F, 15)
  7. 23:53.1, Carolyn Houston (F, 51)
  8. 24:38.0, Lana Bray (F, 13)
  9. 25:24.5, Crystal Sekula (F, 37)
  10. 25:28.6, Kaylee Gattie (F, 15)

Dr. James H. Crowdis Run champions, 1981 - 2024
DateDistanceMenWomenFinishers
28 March 19815K17:14, Tony Gilbert21:09, Connie Cullifer
27 March 19825K17:20, Brian Doby, Connie Cullifer108
12 March 19835K16:19, Kirk Thomas20:10, Maurine Farley143
10 March 19845K15:50, Louis Floyd21:16, Ann Lee139
9 March 19855K15:46, Mike Mead19:54, Donna Duty179
9 March 19865K15:31, Mike Mead19:36, Donna Duty198
14 March 19875K15:20, Lee Fidler19:36, Donna Duty158
12 March 19885K15:53, John Devine18:59, Janice Hochstein151
11 March 19895K14:59, Matt Parker17:03, Kim Byrd178
10 March 19905K15:05, Matt Parker19:47, Donna Duty152
9 March 19915K15:36, Matt Parker18:29, Connie Robertson130
14 March 19925K14:52, Paul Waldron20:09, Janice Hochstein102
15 May 1993*5K16:54, Myles Gibson20:22, Donna Duty65
12 March 19945K16:51, Scott Hoxie18:32, Connie Robertson97
11 March 19955K16:54, Dale Thomas19:19, Connie Robertson105
No race held, 1996-2011
3 September 20125K18:27, Jonathon Davison23:13, Debra Hunter87
13 July 20135K17:34, Chase Harris21:14, Paige Braswell88
19 July 20145K18:12, Myles Gibson23:24, Margaret Winkler103
11 July 20155K18:10, Myles Gibson23:02, Margaret Winkler107
9 July 20165K17:07, Patrick Whitehead19:14, Sheryl Rosen90
21 January 201710K36:24, Patrick Whitehead54:43, Katie Sheppard33
5K19:23, Trevor Cleveland20:23, Alli Hay58
20 January 201810K35:59, Patrick Whitehead41:32, Ann Centner26
5K19:20, Alan Flores24:17, Carolyn Houston71
19 January 201910K31:41, Antonio Marchi41:22, Vivianna Schuyler18
5K18:50, Michael Martinez23:24, Debra Hunter83
11 January 202010K39:02, Russell Coleman46:06, Anna Haberzettl30
5K17:18, Thomas Rischar20:11, Brittney Skiles70
9 January 202110K35:58, Joshua Grant 48:47, Carolyn Houston33
5K19:55, Richie Fernandez 19:41, Alli Hay30
15 January 202210K35:47, Patrick Whitehead41:43, Alli Hay22
5K17:48, Eyan Zupko20:14, Brittney Skiles67
11 January 202310K35:32, Russell Coleman48:12, Carolyn Houston18
5K17:41, Timothy Ellis22:07, Vivianna Schuyler62
3 February 20245K16:29, Walker Elrod20:32, Gabriella Baker77
* The 1993 race was originally scheduled for March 13, but was one of several races in the region
that day postponed by a severe winter storm.

A huge "thank you" to Larry Dykes of the Dothan Runners for his help in filling many blanks in
the above history.



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