Rain, hills and cold make 10-mile challenge more so for Harford runners

The Harford County Running Club raced in tough conditions Saturday in the Club Challenge 10 Miler in Columbia.

Running on the hilly course of this annual RRCA-sponsored event was more difficult than usual. The challenge du jour was the numbing combination of rain and temperatures in the upper 30s.

“It was absolutely brutal from the start,” said Jerry Henderson, who led the club to fourth place in the men’s grand masters category.

Henderson placed sixth among the over-50 men in 1:05:04. Others in the scoring were Charles Powell II, 1:13:46; Paul Fallace, 1:17:29; Joe Richardson, 1:20:55; David Tikiob, 1:42:10, and Offie Clark, 1:46:53.

Jeff Burger led the Harford team to third place in the masters (over-40) category. He placed 15th in 1:04:26. Other scorers in over-40 were Brian Yeager, 1:04:55; Shawn Loper, 1:04:59; David Stevenson, 1:06:59; Toby Ehrbaker, 1:10:49; and Jeff Izzo, 1:11:58.

Hyunsun Reilly and Nelly Budrow were the top Harford finishers in the women’s field. Reily placed 23rd in 1:08:44, and Budrow was 3 seconds behind her in 24th. Courtney Waldhauser, 1:09:45, and Caroline Barkechir, 1:09:58, were close behind. The women's team, which also included Amanda Spaeth, 1:18:44; Elizabeth Hiken, 1:19:38; Katie Streib, 1:22:39; and Katie Harrington, 1:23:13, lifted the Harford coed team to sixth place among 11 teams.

Dan Gorski was the fastest of the Harford men, finishing 14th in the field of 761 in 55:56. Randy Doak also dipped under the 1-hour mark in finishing 36th in 59:08. Matt Miller ran 1:04:48, and Greg Peterson, 1:05:52.

Tyler Muse, last year’s team leader, ran 1:05:00, saving his strength for an upcoming half marathon in Virginia.

Harford’s grand masters women’s team placed seventh, led by Karen Henry, 21st in 1:33:09; Chi-Chin Wu, 1:37:15; Margie Gallagher, 1:40:47; and Tracey Halsch, 1:43:32.

In other races

David Wood, 56, of Abingdon, ran 6:56:15 to finish 13th among grand masters men in the Mid-Maryland Ultra 50K Feb. 16 in Elkridge. There were 82 finishers.

Matt Burdette of Churchville ran 3:19:45 in the 56th annual Washington’s Birthday Marathon Feb. 17 in Greenbelt. He finished 23rd overall among 181 runners.

In collegiate indoor track

Jaquez Torian (Edgewood) won the 400-meter dash in the Conference USA Championships Feb. 16-17. The Middle Tennessee State sophomore ran 46.64 on the 200-meter banked Crossplex track in Birmingham, Ala. He was also a member of the winning 4x400 team (3:09.17).

Julianna Stevens (Fallston) placed seventh in the mile in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships in Edinboro, Pa., Saturday. The Slippery Rock freshman ran 5:20.74. A week earlier she ran 5,000 meters in 18:54.43, her career best, on a 300-meter track at Grand Valley State, Mich.

Otto Wilson (Aberdeen) competed in indoor track this season for Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is a freshman biomedical engineering major. He won the 500 meters in 1:09.16 in an early season meet on the RIT track.

Mount St. Mary’s senior Nick Fransham (North Harford) finished second in the 5,000 meters in 15:06.33 and fourth in the 3,000 in 8:36.83 in the North East Conference Championships Feb. 15-16 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, Staten Island, NY.

Running for the Mount women, who won the conference championship, Adria Pirozzi (John Carroll) placed 13th in the mile in 5:30.32.