Strong show for local runners
Pittsburgh native Kristin Price and Kenyan Timothy Psitet win marathon.
A Wissahickon High School graduate came within two minutes of winning the Philadelphia Marathon yesterday.
Paige Miller, a 24-year-old Penn State graduate student who grew up in Ambler, Montgomery County, finished second behind the women's winner, Pittsburgh native Kristin Price, who completed the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 42 minutes, 5 seconds.
"This race seems to be mostly Pennsylvanians and local runners," said Miller, who finished in 2:43:59. "I'm from Philadelphia, so it's a lot more fun."
Almost 16,000 people participated in the city's annual marathon, which began at 22d Street and the Parkway and ran through Fairmount Park and Society Hill and along Kelly Drive. The event also included a half-marathon, an eight-kilometer run, and a kids' race.
"I felt some pain . . . so I [told] him to go" ahead, said Too, who trains with Psitet at the Westchester Track Club in Westchester, N.Y.
Miller and Price also were familiar with each other.
The two runners crossed paths in a couple of Atlantic Coast Conference cross-country meets when Price was at North Carolina State and Miller was at Duke.
In this meeting, Price led the pack for the majority of the race. Miller said it was hard to find a sense of where she was until the half-marathon ended.
Once the half-marathon runners began to clear out, Miller made her move from the back of the top 10 to the front near Price.
"I wasn't sure I could get her, but I figured I'd try to get as close as possible," Miller said.
Although she never led, Miller still finished below the U.S. Olympic women's marathon trials qualifying time of 2 hours, 47 seconds.
And Abby Dean did the same.
Dean, 36, of Rittenhouse Square, finished in 2:45:21.
"It feels wonderful," Dean said.
Like the rest of the field, Dean had to deal with the cold and wind yesterday. She said she preferred to run in colder weather.
"With the heat, you really have to adjust, you have to adjust your pace and make sure you're drinking a lot of fluids," she said. "With this kind of weather, you still want to take the fluids in, but you're obviously not going to have to adjust your pace as much."
Several younger runners also kept pace with the rest of the pack, including members of Students Run Philly Style, a marathon training program for 12- to 18-year-olds.
Ashley Ethengain, 15, and Qulimata Sow, 13, were among 120 runners from Students Run Philly Style to participate in the marathon.
Ethengain, a ninth grader at Merion Mercy Academy on Montgomery Avenue, finished the half-marathon in 2:48:26, a vast improvement on what she might have done when she joined Students Run Philly Style as a sixth grader.
"I couldn't even run half of a mile," Ethengain said. "But, I've come a long way."
Results
Philadelphia Marathon
Women
Kristin Price, Raleigh, N.C., 2:42:05
Paige Miller, State College, Pa., 2:43:59
Heidi Wolfsberger, Moosic, Pa., 2:44:03
Anne Kugler, New York, 2:44:57
Abby Dean, Philadelphia, 2:45:21
Kathleen Castles, New Providence, N.J., 2:45:30
Nicole Kulikur-Hagoble, Hadley, Mass., 2:45:34
Sheri Piers, Falmouth, Maine, 2:45:37
Kristin Barry, Scarborough, Maine, 2:45:37
Briana Whaley, Culpeper, Va., 2:46:20
Men
Timothy Psitet, High Falls, N.Y., 2:25:01
Solomon Too, High Falls, N.Y., 2:26:03
Jean-Nicolas Duval, Quebec, 2:28:41
Tom Haxton, Philadelphia, 2:28:50
Christopher Ninschel, Philadelphia, 2:28:56
Bryan Kovalsky, Peekskill, N.Y., 2:30:17
Bob Weiner, Evergreen, Colo., 2:30:39
Elliott Frieder, Montville, N.J., 2:30:59
Mike LaQuaglia, Philadelphia, 2:32:12
Kenneth Foster, Erie, Pa., 2:32:50
Half Marathon
Men
Hillary Kipchumba, West Chester, 1:05:40
Gurmesse Megenssa, Bronx, N.Y., 1:05:49
Rod Koborsi, Boston, 1:05:53
John Gathoga, Royersford, 1:06:24
David Chepkwony, Minneapolis, 1:08:18
Rapheal Kuto, Coon Rapids, Minn., 1:08:19
Nate Weiland, Milwaukee, 1:08:48
Aaron Flower, Gunnison, Colo., 1:10:33
Quinn Thomas, Ithaca, N.Y., 1:10:39
David Hryvniak, Christiansburg, Va., 1:14:00
Women
Molly Taber, Somerville, Mass., 1:18:38
Meredith Lambert, Philadelphia, 1:19:01
Kara Haas, Chelmsford, Mass., 1:19:41
Crystal Sineath, Beverly, Mass., 1:21:31
Annette Acuff, Binghamton, N.Y., 1:21:35
Gayle White, New York, 1:22:02
Katharine Baloga, New Windsor, N.Y., 1:22:55
Lydia Singer, Claymont, Del., 1:23:31
Emily Ward, Richmond, Va., 1:25:09
8 kilometers
Men
Dagne Alemu, Silver Spring, Md., 0:24:18
Tom Parlapiano, Bryn Mawr, 0:24:21
Grant Scott, Ardmore, 0:24:22
Drew Nesbitt, Glenside, 0:24:40
Gregory Bielecki, Philadelphia, 0:24:44
Timothy Mulligan, Whiting, N.J., 0:24.50
Kyle Brightbill, Prospect, Pa., 0:24.50
Jonathan Volpi, Chester, 0:24.54
Adam Ambrus, Conshohocken, 0:25.02
Shawn Cavanaugh, Blue Bell, 0:25:08
Women
Caroline Chepkorir, Royersford, 0:26:18
Tatina Chulakh, Gaithersburg, Md., 0:26:44
Hirut Mandefro, Takoma Park, Md., 0:26:58
Naser Teyba, Washington, 0:27:58
Alemenga Desta, Silver Spring, Md., 0:28:16
Kate Taylor, Ardmore, 0:28:33
Melissa Tanner, Bethesda, Md., 0:29:39
Doreen McCourbie, Malvern, 0:29:42
Katina Alexander, Pleasantville, N.J., 0:30:06
Diana Rancourt, Chapel Hill, N.C., 0:30:06
