Scott Burnham, of Lowell, was the men’s winner at Saturday’s Kicks for Kids 5K race in Parkersburg.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
PARKERSBURG — Washington County residents Averi Schwendeman and Scott Burnham topped the field here Saturday night in the Kicks for Kids 5K and in the process claimed the Road Runners Club of America Eastern Regional Championship.
Schwendeman, who just graduated from Waterford High School, finished 19th overall and was the top overall female after completing the course in 22 minutes and 5 seconds.
“I’m running at Muskingum University,” said Schwendeman, who topped 14-year-old Kenadee Strauss (23:20) of Marietta for the title. “I just wanted to see where my time was so I would be ready to go to college.
“I wanted to get in like the 21s, but I got 22:05. It’s OK. It was a little humid, but it was pretty good. I saw some people behind me, but I was just trying to be the first female.”
Lowell’s Scott Burnham, who is an assistant cross country coach at Fort Frye, had just enough to outlast former Parkersburg Big Red Anthony Bradford. Burnham finished in 16:27.5 to finish ahead of the ex-Big Red, who clocked in at 16:31.3.
Averi Schwendeman, of Waterford, was the women’s winner at Saturday’s Kicks for Kids 5K race in Parkersburg.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
“I wanted to win,” admitted Burnham, who finished third at last year’s Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon. “I was hoping to go below 16 minutes. I ran a 16-flat race earlier in the year so I wanted to try and best that, but the humidity got to me a little bit.”
Bradford, who graduated from the University of Charleston but is going to go back and get his masters degree and run one more season, competed in the race for the first time.
“Scott showed up, but it was good competition and it was fun,” Bradford said. “It was a great temperature, but it was really muggy.
“It was back and forth and he put a little gap on me after like a mile and a half. I just couldn’t reel him back in.”
Bryson Angelo, a 2022 Warren High School graduate, finished in 17 minutes and 48 seconds to place third. Derick Reynolds, the masters champ with a time of 17:54, finished fourth.
Grand Masters victor and defending champ Kevin Trippett ran an 18:01 to place fifth. Peter Gibson, who was ninth overall, claimed the senior grand masters title with a 19:51.
“It was good to have someone else up there to help push the pace a little bit up front,” Burnham added. “We basically ran together up until about a mile and three quarters where I passed him. I just tried to hold on to that for the rest of the race. It was close.”
The female masters winner was Tricia Allen with a time of 23:32. Deana Farrah (24:15) was the grand masters champion and Pamela Addis (24:15) won the senior grand masters title.
In the walk division, Jason Mader crossed first with a time of 26 minutes and 16 seconds. The top female walker was Katherine Vickers (33:38).
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com