Brazosport Regional Health Services 5K/10K

By Bill Shaw—Facts Correspondent

LAKE JACKSON—Charles Kutz of Charleston, South Carolina, came to visit his parents in Lake Jackson and finished first in the annual Brazosport Regional Health Services 10K with a decisive 1:27 lead over the second-place finisher Leno Rios of Dickinson, with Lake Jackson local Kevin Regis 35 secon= ds on Rios heels to finish third.

Both the 10K (6.2 miles) and a 5K (3.1 miles) run/walk started simultaneously in front of the BRHS Hospital. The longe= r 10K wound around MacLean Park, onto the Bottomlands Trail then back to a loop around Medical Drive then back to the hosp= ital. The 5K looped around MacL= ean Park, around Medical Drive and finished at the same point.

“I went out letting the 5K runners lead the way,” said Kutz, 21, who finished in 37:51, a 6:06 mile pace. “When we reached the split (at t= he Bottomlands Trail), I thought I was going to be running by myself there. But there was a guy about 100 meters behind me. He pushed me. I figured I had it made though in the last mile stretch, which I thought would never end. It’s not quite so hot in Charleston yet.”

“On the ‘git-go’ I was looking at what he (Kutz) could do,” s= aid Rios, 36, of the Houston Tornados running club. “When he took off at the beg= inning after the 5K runners, I saw he was a good runner. He had at least a 30 seco= nd lead through mile four. I looked behind me, there was no one behind me, so I pulled back.”

“I started out behind Leno; I knew not to try to keep up with him,” said Regis, 47, who finished in 39:53. “I knew Willem (Maas) was c= atching up with me. Leno slowly opened about a 200 yard lead up to the finish.̶= 1;

Maas trailed Regis by eight seconds at the finish l= ine and was first in the male masters (40 plus) competition in 40:01.

Trained by Rios, Tornado teammate Jean Brown, 30, finished first in the overall fem= ale 10K competition in 41:21, a 6:40 race pace, and she broke the female 10K co= ntest record posted by Jones Creek local Melissa Hurta by 34 seconds.

“My = first mile was a little too fast, 6:15; when I got onto the trail, I was pretty m= uch on my own, so I just tried to maintain&nbs= p; an easy pace,” said Brown. “Miles four and five were pre= tty hot, so I pulled back a bit and cruised in.”

Brown was = right about her lead. Abbie Artley, the second-place overall female, trailed her = by almost six minutes in 48:19. Karin Slough finished third in 53:01, 4:42 beh= ind Artley.

Following Maas= in the male masters competition were Mick Bayer, second in 47:05, and Don Murphy, third in 49:43. Kelly Colosimo finished first in the female masters competition in 54:17, Susan Lorms finished second in 59:21, and Judy Lotzenhizer finished third in 1:03= :38.

In the sho= rter 5K race, Brazoswood senior Weston Caceres surged to the front of the pack and never relinquished his lead to finish first overall in 17:22 and beat his frequent competitor Carlo Deason of Houston for the second time this year.

“I t= ook the lead at the start and stayed there,” said Caceres. “I ran the first mile in= about 5:16, a little fast. I felt like Carlos didn’t run that aggressively today. He may have thought I was coming back to him. He did gain some groun= d in the second mile, but my third mile was faster than my second.”

“Wes= was just too fast from the start, and I just stayed behind him,” said Dea= son, 37, who finished in 17:59. “I slowed down the third mile and didnR= 17;t push it. He has been running well; it would have been something else to cat= ch up with him.”

Finishing = third overall and 45 seconds behind Deason, Brazoswood sophomore Lauren Smith, 16, finished first in the overall female competition for the second consecutive year and improved her 5K contest time by 46 seconds. She posted an 18:44 th= is year and a 19:30 last year.

“I w= as really close to Carlo in the first mile,” said Smith, “but I al= most took a wrong turn at the 5K/10K split. I was about average today.”

Stewart Cr= ouch, 45, of Angleton finished fifth overall and third in the male competition in 19:42.

“Tho= se guys in front were in sight but uncatchable; I did catch Xavier (Jimenez) at abo= ut two miles,” said Crouch. “At about two and a half miles, I pass= ed him, but I couldn’t catch the girl ahead of me.”

The girl a= head of Crouch, Gloria Mancilla, 26, a visiting radiation therapist at the hospital from the Dallas area, finished fourth overall and third in the female competition in 19:14.

“I w= as pretty close to (Lauren) in the first mile, she pulled away in the second m= ile, but I caught up some in the third mile,” said Mancilla. “I didn’t know who was behind me; I was just trying to run against the clock.”

Leslie McK= inney, who was unavailable after the race for comment, finished third in the overa= ll female competition in 25:02.

Bob Bowden finished first in the male masters 5K competition in 20:32, Lenord Burns finished second in 20:57, and Armando Caceres, Weston’s father, finis= hed third in 22:16. Rene Miles fi= nished first in the female masters competition in 25:09, followed by Jenny Seagrav= es in 26:19 and Kelly McClendon in 26:39.

“I t= hought the race was a huge success with a record turnout,” said Patty Green, executive director of the Brazosport Health Foundation and first-time race director. “Everyone had a good time. The weather was wonderful. IR= 17;m really pleased that so many came together to volunteer. Next time I hope I’m running the race.”

Green also= thanked her sponsors and the participants in the race Health Expo. Brazosport Regio= nal Health Services, Aramark Health Care, the BASF, Brazosport Area Road Runners Association, Mark D. Bonnen, M. D., Family Fitness, Bob Franklin State Farm Insurance, Michael Gilliland, M. D., and Integrated Architecture & Desi= gn sponsored the contest. Brazos= port Regional Health Services, Family Fitness, the Mermaid Project, Occupational Health and the SPCA participated in the Health Expo.

Overall 5K= and 10K race results and age-group rankings are available on the BARRA Web site www.barrahome.net.

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