Posted: June 5, 2004

Athletics: Runyan Gets Third Freihofer's Victory

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

ALBANY, N.Y. (05-Jun) - Marla Runyan clinched her third consecutive U.S. 5-K title here today in convincing fashion, pulling away from Elva Dryer, Colleen De Reuck and Nicole Aish early in the third kilometer, and posting the fourth-fastest time ever on the course: 15:26. She earned $10,000 for her victory.

Runyan, 35, of Eugene, Ore., again came achingly close to Lynn Jennings's 1995 course record of 15:24, a mark she missed in last year's race by one second.

"That race is always so hard!" exclaimed Runyan who noted that the course is more challenging than is generally acknowledged. "I didn't let up after two miles... I did everything I could."

The lead pack formed within the first minute of the race, as Runyan, Dryer, De Reuck, Aish and Sylvia Mosqueda quickly moved to the front off of the uphill start. They passed the first kilometer in 3:17, but with the help of a downhill in the second kilometer in Washington Park things speeded up to a 3:02 pace (6:19). Soon, Runyan began to push the pace and quickly had a gap of three meters on De Reuck and Dryer. Aish was solidly in fourth, but Mosqueda and fallen well back.

"Bad one, bad one," Mosqueda would later say about her fifth place finish in 16:00.

Runyan quickly turned her attention from running against the field to trying to beat the clock. She passed 3-K in 9:32 and 4-K in 12:27, a 2:55 kilometer. As she hammered down Madison Avenue, the 800m straightaway to the downhill finish, she could hear race announcer Dave Oja counting off the seconds: 15:12, 15:13, 15:14...

"It was just my legs," said Runyan of why she couldn't increase her turnover. "My legs were just hurting superbad. I thought I had it."

She ran the last kilometer in 2:58.

Dryer got away from De Reuck, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion, with a strong move late in the third kilometer, and finished second in 15:42.

"She just surged by me," said De Reuck, 40, who finished third in 15:47, a pending world masters record. "I was hoping to get under that time."

Aish would finish fourth in 15:56, the same position she finished last year.

De Reuck also won the U.S. masters title, and Carmen Troncoso was the second master across the line in a pending U.S. 45-49 record of 16:55. "It was pretty hard," said Troncoso who also holds the U.S. masters record for 5000m.

Reflecting the usual depth of the field, 41 women broke 18 minutes. The race reported 3500 entrants, an event record.

Top Results:
 1. Marla Runyan, Nike, 15:26
 2. Elva Dryer, Nike, 15:42
 3. Colleen De Reuck (40), Nike, 15:47 WMR
 4. Nicole Aish, Nike, 15:56
 5. Sylvia Mosqueda, adidas, 16:00
 6. Amy Yoder Begley, Asics, 16:20
 7. Jenny Crain, Wisconsin Runner, 16:23
 8. Rachel Kinsman, New Balance, 16:39
 9. Sonja Friend-Uhl, adidas Runner's Edge RT, 16:43
10. Cassandra Henkiel, 16:46

40+:
 1. De Reuck (40), 15:47 WMR
 2. Carmen Troncoso (45), Unatt., 16:55
 3. Debbi Kilpatrick-Morris (40), 17:03

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