Ballinger, Padgett win back-to-back titles at Steve’s Run
Published 3:56 pm Saturday, July 25, 2009
DOWAGIAC – Mary Ballinger and Craig Padgett ran to back-to-back victories in the 35th annual Steve’s Run Saturday morning.
Ballinger of Chesteron, Ind. and Padgett of Mishawaka, Ind. took advantage of mostly cloudy and cool conditions to best the field.
Ballinger ran a time of 36:58 to finish nearly a full three minutes ahead of Anna Weber, also of Chesterton, who ran a 40:19.
Terra Norman of Portage, Ind. with a time of 41:55, while Christina Delturco of Portage, Ind. was fourth (42:24) and Valerie Burns of Granger, Ind. was fifth (42:57).
Padgett used a burst toward the end of the 10K course to edge Dustin Emerik of Evansville, Ind. Padgett ran a 32:48 and Emerik a 33:01.
Adam Martin of Chesterton, Ind. was third with a 33:21, David Goodman of Valparaiso, Ind. fourth with a 33:45 and Brandon Campbell, also of Valparaiso was fifth with a 33:45.
Justin Kowalski of Mishawaka, Ind., who is Padgett’s training partner, won the 5K race with a time of 15:56.
Andrew Baryon of Chicago, Ill. was second with a time of 16:24 and Steven Dennig of South Bend, Ind. was third with a time of 16:41.
Rounding out the top five were Joey Zielinski of South Bend (16:41) and Collin Ludwig of St. Joseph (16:52).
Kristina Olsen of Jackson won the women’s 5K crown with a time of 18:39.
A minute behind Olsen was 12-year-old Maddie Woods of Osceola, Ind., who ran a time of 19:40. Megan Pearson of Paw Paw finished third after finishing with a time of 20:25.
Elley Hinkel of Lawton was fourth with a time of 20:30 and Paige Sutcliffe of Paw Paw was fifth with a time of 20:40.
Buchanan’s Torie Eger finished sixth with a time of 20:42.
Benton Harbor’s Nancy Nelson won the women’s 5K walk with a clocking of 34:39.
Julie Koch of St. Joseph was second with a time of 35:56 and Dowagiac’s Cheryl Hess was third with a time of 37:22.
Allyssa Blomgren, 9, was fourth with a time of 37:59, while Sarah Davis of South Bend was fifth with a time of 39:02.
The men’s 5K walk title went to Rich Brychta of New Buffalo with a time of 35:13.
David Phillips of Eau Claire was second (37:13) and Andrew Myers of Oakton, Va. was third (37:18).
Mishawaka’s Matthew Embrory was fourth with a time of 38:38 and Jackson Priess of Kennesaw, Ga. was fifth with a time of 38:50.