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Runners brave rain for Gator Gallop
Published April 1, 2007
LAKE JACKSON — Brazoswood sophomore Lauren Smith trailed first overall finisher Grant Parker by 11 seconds at the finish line in the 27th annual Gator Gallop, but ran the 5K contest in record time for a female.
Parker, 25, of West Columbia and Smith, 16, of Lake Jackson sprinted to the front of the pack of 65 runners and walkers at the start. Smith stayed on Parker heels until the final stretch of the race.
“She was just a few steps behind me until the third mile,” Parker said. “When we turned into the wind with about a half mile to go, I couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore.”
“I started off at a fast pace and kept running fast; I wanted to push myself,” Smith said. “I tried to stay pretty close to him (Parker) because I knew he would do well. I could see him at the finish; it was pretty close.”
Parker finished in 18:21, a 5:55 mile average. He fell short of the 16:24 contest record posted by Brazoswood runner Robert Michie in 2003. Smith finished in 18:32, a 5:59 race pace. Smith broke the 5K female course record, 19:45, set by Susan Walters of Wallis in 2004 by 1:13.
Parker and Smith had decisive leads in the competition. The closest runners trailed them by more than two minutes.
Xavier Jimenez, 12, of Rasco Middle School finished third overall and second in the overall male competition in 20:35 with Stewart Crouch, 45, on his heels to finish fourth overall and third in the overall male competition in 20:48. Paul Cooley, 56, of Bellaire crossed the fifth overall in 20:52 to win first in the male masters (40-plus) competition in 20:52.
Cooley held on to third place until about 21?2 miles into the contest.
“First Xavier passed me, then Stewart,” Cooley said. “I stayed fairly close to them but couldn’t pass them.”
Cooley set a pace that challenged Crouch.
“He like to have killed me; he ran me to death,” Crouch said.
Grant Parker’s wife, Wendy, 29, finished the Gallop sixth overall and second in the female competition in 21:15.
“I didn’t have sight of Lauren after the start,” Parker said. “I ran by myself and didn’t know if any other women were near me.”
Parker did outdistance the third overall female finisher, Terry Allen, 38, of Lake Jackson by 2:07. Allen finished 10th overall in 23:22. Allen tried to outrun the threatening storm.
“I thought I’d better run fast because of the rain,” Allen said.
She did. The sprinkle started at about 19 minutes into the contest and became a deluge at about 25 minutes.
Finishing eighth and ninth overall, respectively, Edwin Quarles, 41, and Clark Courtright, 47, finished second and third in the male masters competition in 22:35 and 22:51.
“I was close to nobody in the race and just tried to hold off the guy behind me,” Quarles said. “He was 60 to 70 yards behind me, and I was just trying to hold on.”
Pam Cayer, 42, of Friendswood finished 18th overall and first in the female masters competition in 24:21. She passed female masters competitor Rene Miles, 43, of Lake Jackson early in the contest.
“I was right behind her at the beginning of the race, and at the half-mile mark, I started pulling ahead,” Cayer said. “I thought I was too slow at the 1-mile mark, so I picked up the pace, and I picked up my pace again at the 2-mile mark.”
“I thought I would just let her go and catch her later,” said Miles, who finished 23rd overall in 25:24. “But she increased her pace.”
Kelly Colosimo, 41, finished 24th overall and third in the female masters competition in 25:50, 26 seconds behind Miles.
More than 100 youngsters, a record number, finished the BASF-sponsored, non-competitive Kids Run before the 5K.
“I think things went well in the Gallop,” said Courtney Whittington, Brazosport College freshman, Student Senate secretary and student race director. “It took a lot of hard work on the part of the Student Senate and other volunteers, and the runners were very good.”
For complete race results and age-group winners, see barrahome.net.
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