WIN, WIN, WIN
New Jersey runners had a field day in Virginia Beach on
Saturday (March 16, 2019). Several came
home with medals and big smiles after competing at the USATF national masters
8K championship.
You read it here.
Roberta Groner of East Ledgewood won the 8K masters division of the race
and was the first woman of any age to record the fastest time. She finished in 12th place overall
in 26:48 – age graded in second place.
Only Marisa Sutera Strange, the fast New York woman in the W55 division
age graded above her at 93.87%. Groner
hit 92.89%.
Other New Jerseyans on the podium were Michelle Brangan of Woodbury
Heights, first in the W45 division and third overall in 30:42. Suzanne LaBurt
was first in the W55 division and finished in 31:15 for fourth overall masters
woman, and third at the age grading with her 91.96%.
With LaBurt leading the way, her Clifton Road Runners team
of Laura DeLea and Kerry Monahan repeated their W50 second place finish from
2018, earning a silver medal for the team.
On the men’s side, Jonathan Frieder placed fifth overall and
was the second man in the M45 division with a time of 26:30. Frieder’s Garden State Track Club New Balance
successfully defended their title from 2018 with their decisive win by more than
three minutes ahead of the second place team.
Scoring for the team was Sam Teigan in 26:45 and John Hogan in 29:06,
back-up members were Harold Porcher in 30:02 and Gary Leaman in 30:07.
At age 59 Leaman shouldn’t be anywhere near the podium but
he finished in third place in the M55 division
Ezequiel Garcia placed third in the M70 division with an
identical time to second place in 35:11. Garcia’s Clifton Road Runners M70 team
placed fourth with Tony Fiory and William Ash.
The Shore Athletic Club’s M40 team Jan Stofan, Brian
Prendergast, Robert Skorupski and Timothy McQueen, placed fifth.
The Shore’s M50 team placed second in their division with
Ken Ginsburg, Jeff Conston, Brian Hill, Przemyslaw Nowicki and Roger Price. Nowicki and Price were dropped down from an
incomplete M70 team.
The Shore’s M60 team placed third in their division with
Reno Stirrat, Kevin Dollard, Michael Mooney, Harold Leddy and Scott Linnell.
As was expected the Shore’s women were all on the W40 team with
Christine Hill, Necia McQueen, Susan Stirrat and Leslie Nowicki. They finished in fourth place.
Yours truly won the W75 division with no other women entered
in the USATF championship division. The
race was huge this year. I finished in 2,889
out of 4,773 female runners and first of seven women in the division.
Amanda Marino of Jackson won women’s division of the
Shamrock Half Marathon on Sunday in 1:14:3.