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Star Photo by Michael BrannonLast year's Apple Blossom 10K winners Maria Spinnler (left) and Street in the Grand Feature Parade. Spinnler, holding her 2-year-]oe Gibson sit atop one of the floats heading down Washington old son, will try to win her third consecutive race Saturday.10K Race.from Page C4ning) but since January 1st, I’ve been a lot more serious,” Gibson said. “Saturday will be a good gauge to see where I’m at.”Gibson will also see an old foe in Mike Cox, a former runner at Virginia Tech who now teaches at Concord (W.Va.) College.“We go way back,” the 25-year-old Cox said from his home in Princeton, W.Va. on Wednesday. “I ran against him when he was at Clemson and he just recently beat me by a second in The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer 10K. I owe him one.”Cox could also be considered a legitimate darkhorse to win Saturday’s race. Back on Nov. 25, he finished 13th overall in the USA National Cross Country Championships in Boston with an impressive time of 29:37.A few weeks later Cox won the Hickory (N.C!) 10K in 30:19.“That was my PR (personal record) on the roads,” Cox said. “I’m looking forward to running (in Winchester), but I don’t think it will be easy. A lot of the time, someone unexpected shows up on the day of the race.”Last year’s unexpected visitors included a trio of Russian runners — Sergey Shalomayev, Elvira Kolpakova, and Victor Zhdanov. Shalomayev and Kolpakova eventually finished sec-ttl think I’m suited well for the course, especially with the steady climb from the 31/2-mile point to the finish line. I’ve been a hill climber all my life.”' —Joe Gibsonond in the men’s and women’s races, respectively.Handley High School’s record-breaking runner Bobby Lockhart finished third last year with a time 31:50. Despite the strong finish, the junior said he does not plan to run again this year.“I have a big race coming up and it’s not worth risking an injury at this point,” Lockhart said on Tuesday.Even without Lockhart in the mix, there are a number of local runners who could make a strong push at dethroning Gibson.Mark Stickley, a 38-year-old Winchester resident who won in 1992, was fifth last year (33:1,1) but still managed to take the men’s 35-39 division.“I feel more fit than I was last year,” said Stickley, a former All-American at VirginiaTech. “I struggled (last year) with some physical problems, but I’m in better shape now.“Whether or not I can win is just a question of who shows up. I’ll run the course before the race — just for giggles.”Clarke County High School senior distance runner Dustin Sweeney, who finished sixth (34:14) and won last year’s men’s 15-19 division, has registered to compete again. According to race director Rosie Schi-avone, Sherando High School standout Jared Prunty is also expected to race.The male and female winner of the Apple Blossom SunCom 10K will each receive $500. Second- and third-place winners receive $250 and $100, respectively. Masters winners receive $250 each.
Newspaper Details
Winchester Star
Winchester, Virginia, US
Fri, May 04, 2001
Page 23
Full Page
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MD, USA 11 Dec 2024
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