It might get hotter for Atlanta's Peachtree Classic on July 4, but as far as 8 a.m. races on Memorial Day Weekend, this one was about as hot as they get.

Steve Kartalia and Maria Pazarentzos, the victors of yesterday's 16th-annual Constellation Classic 10K, say they had their minds on one thing -- winning without killing themselves. Considering the conditions, they had a hot enough order.

"Never again, not when it's this hot," was a common refrain among the sweating mass of humanity for the post-race festivities at Joseph H. Rash Memorial Park.

Still, the race produced a better-than-average field that included, among the men, third-place finisher Jeff Campbell, a state champion from Randallstown; fourth-place runner Dave Berardi; sixth-place Gerry Clapper; and eighth-place Brad Uhlfelder, who has won a half dozen local races this spring. Pat O'Malley, who had won the Governor's Bay Bridge Run 10K three weeks ago, was 44th.

Classic stalwart masters runner Bill Roberts, 79, who has been doing more swimming than running of late, might have made the day's wiser choice. Roberts, who opted for the accompanying Constellation Classic 1-mile fun walk/run, told a crowd of well-wishers on Key Highway: "It's cooler this way."

The temperature for the start of the race at the Inner Harbor was 79 and humidity was 79 percent. Understandably, there were few personal records among the starting field of 3,026 runners.

But Kartalia and Pazarentzos both met their objectives, defending-champion Kartalia winning by half a minute over second-place finisher John Doub of Waynesboro, Pa., and Pazarentzos by more than a minute over second-place female finisher Ruth O'Hara of Alexandria, Va.

Kartalia's 30-minute, 28-second finish was well-off his PR of 28:55 for 10 kilometers on the road, as well as the 29:15 he turned in in last year's Constellation. Pazarentzos' 35:56 was almost 1 1/2 minutes slower than the course record she had set in the 15th Constellation.

"I'm nearly as fit as I was for last year's race," Kartalia, 25, a native of Westminster who is doing graduate studies in fisheries-biology at Clemson University. "After I knew that I had a good lead, I just wanted to take it easy. Even though I was running conservatively, I felt pretty dead."

Pazarentzos was one of many to echo that sentiment, saying that "last year was a lot more fun."

"It's still kind of early, and real early for these kinds of conditions," said Pazarentzos, 29, of Hagerstown. "I haven't run that much [this spring]. I wanted to go hard and get done. But I didn't want to pass out."

Roger Clark, 45, of Vienna, Va., was the top male in the masters division in 32:58, and 12th-place female finisher Marge Rosasco, 43, of Joppa was the first women's masters finisher, in 39:00. Ken Archer won the wheelchair division.

Kartalia and Pazarentzos, who each won $600, said the hot running should help them in The Athletics Congress Championships in New York on June 13. Both have qualified for 10,000 meters.

"That's [TAC Championships] what I was trying to think of today because that's what the weather conditions could be like," Pazarentzos said.

Kartalia, who now makes his home in Pendleton, S.C., but who came north for the race, as well as for a family reunion in Carroll County, will be preparing for a 5K road race at Clemson Saturday, the TACs and a return to Peachtree.

"I would like to move up a few places," Kartalia said about his 19th-place finish in last year's Peachtree, "but it's hard to make any time predictions."

He's not sure whether his schedule will bring him to Maryland for any other races this summer.

"Once you get [into] this time of year," he said, "you don't get much relief from the humidity coming from South Carolina to Maryland."

Top Constellation Classic finishers

Males

7-1. Steve Kartalia, 25, Pendleton, S.C. 30:28

2. John Doub, 34, Waynesboro, Pa. 30:58

3. Jeff Campbell, 19, Lawrenceville, Va. 31:01

4. Dave Berardi, 30, Baltimore 31:10

5. Dave McCormack, 30, Falls Church, Va. 31:28

Gerry Clapper, 29, Columbia 31:42

7. Brad Uhlfelder, 30, Owings Mills 32:15

8. Jim Clelland, 33, Catonsville 32:24

9. Mark Shea, 27, Portsmouth, Va. 32:25

10. Charles Ellis, 30, King of Prussia, Pa. 32:26

11. Tom Brown Jr., 23, Baltimore 32:40

12. Ken Fowler, 25, Baltimore 32:41

13. Dominique Da Luz, 31, Silver Spring 32:45

Greg Coan, 25, Kensington 32:50

15. Roger Clark, 45, Vienna, Va. 32:58

16. Rob Bedell, 22, Bethesda 33:0017. Stavros Rologas, 23, Baltimore 33:04

18. Michael Santoni, 28, Glyndon 33:18

19. Paul Jacobson, 27, Bethesda 33:20

20. Ramon Marin, 24, Annapolis 33:30

vTC 21. Roger Howell, 30, Silver Spring 33:35

22. Chris Samley, 29, Columbia 33:39

23. John Ausherman, 35, Chambersburg, Pa. 33:40

24. Keith McIntyre, 32, Laurel 33:45

25. James Pryde, 37, Bel Air 33:47

26. Patrick Rodrigues, 18, Ellicott City 33:50

27. William Desmond, 39, Baltimore 33:55

28. Mark Gaffney, 23, Auburn, N.Y. 33:57

29. George Altieri, 33, Columbia 34:00

30. Jeff Sanborn, 37, Baltimore 34:05

31. Ralph Morales, 35, Baltimore 34:09

32. Mark Bogardy, 33, Perry Hall 34:10

33. Paul Keating, 30, Clarksville 34:13

34. John Heslin, 35, Crofton 34:23

35. Brooks Martin, 19, Baltimore 34:25

36. Craig Hanner, 31, Norfolk, Va. 34:27

37. Frederick Harris, 28, Auburn, N.Y. 34:30

38. Jon Thoren, 36, Washington 34:33

39. Scott Douglas, 26, Bethesda 34:35

40. Mike Sterling, 30, Baltimore 34:40

41. Mark Anderson, 24, Wheaton 34:44

42. Kyle Thomas, 25, Columbia 34:50

43. Neil Cucuzzella, 22, Ellicott City 34:56

44. Pat O'Malley, 24, Stevensville 35:00

45. Dan Esser, 31, Reisterstown 35:03

46. Dennis Albright, 33, Mount Savage 35:09

47. Steven Smith, 24, Gaithersburg 35:10

48. Mike Buckley, 32, Columbia 35:15

49. Michael Stevens, 29, Baltimore 35:17

50. Dave Keaton, 31, Rockville 35:20

51. Jay Hermanns, 38, Felton, Pa. 35:23

52. John Sherlock, 43, McLean, Va. 35:25

53. David Webster, 38, Stevensville 35:30

54. Jim Carbary, 39, Columbia 35:35

55. Ted Baca, 45, Arlington, Va. 35:40

56. Craig Chasse, 21, Columbia 35:42

57. Ronnie Knepper, 40, Waynesboro, Pa. 35:43

58. Bill Stahr, 30, Germantown 35:45

59. Bruce Roadside, 25, Mechanicsburg, Pa. 35:46

60. David Bixler, 38, Hanover, Pa. 35:47

61. Dave Keller, 25, Frederick 35:48

62. Don Forgione, 40, Baltimore 35:49

63. Derek Johnston, 19, Columbia 35:49

64. Steven Messick, 29, Newark, Del. 35:50

65. Piriya Pinit, 45, Catonsville 35:51

66. Martin Goode, 28, Ellicott City 35:55

67. Kenneth Plasse, 18, Columbia 35:56

68. Dan Knaul, 29, Ellicott City 36:00

69. Tony Summerlin, 38, Baltimore 36:01

70. Glenn Shoemaker, 33, Columbia 36:15

71. Ted Poulus, 29, McLean, Va. 36:16

72. Tim Washington, 37, Arlington, Va. 36:17

73. Ian Hersey, 28, Bethesda 36:19

74. Jeff Cooper, 23, Rockville 36:20

75. George Myers, 44, Cheverly 36:24

76. Kevin Hewitt, 19, Baltimore 36:30

77. Marvin Conerly, 30, Baltimore 36:31

78. Layne Party, 31, Perry Hall 36:34

79. B.J. Whetstone, 31, Columbia 36:35

80. James Disciullo, 38, Columbia 36:43

81. Bill Wooden, 47, Silver Spring 36:45

82. Mark Rosasco, 32, Baltimore 36:46

83. Richard Fulton, 29, Laurel 36:47

84. Ronnie Wong, 44, Catonsville 36:48

85. Timothy Bradley, 30, Columbia 36:50

86. David Lowe, 44, Westminster 36:52

87. Paul French, 30, Hagerstown 36:54

88. Bruce Batchelor, 30, Baynesville 36:55

89. Bobby Gessler, 34, NA 36:56

90. Ed Kandrot, 49, Shiremanstown, Pa. 36:56

91. James Osborne, 21, Philadelphia 36:57

92. Robert Burns, 38, Columbia 37:00

93. Scott Lutrey, 37, Severna Park 37:11

94. Jake Myers, 51, York, Pa. 37:14

95. Finley Mears, 35, Baltimore 37:15

96. Bennett Sweren, 35, Baltimore 37:19

97. Pablo Clark, 25, Silver Spring 37:20

98. Don Mertz, 31, Laurel 37:22

99. Timothy Morgan, 40, Damascus 37:23

100. Jason Tripp, 18, Columbia 37:24

Females 1. Maria Pazarentzos, 29, Hagerstown 35:56

2. Ruth O'Hara, 28, Alexandria, Va. 37:00

3. Donna Vitacco, 28, Mount Wolf, Pa. 37:04

4. Leslie Minnix-Wolfe, 29, Reston, Va. 37:14

5. Louise Mallet, 27, Rockville 37:17

6. Shelley Burns, 30, Falls Church, Va. 37:18

7. Chris Curley, 28, Fairchild, Pa. 37:37

8. Stacey Nicholson, 28, Baltimore 37:40

9. Amy Harloff, 22, Wayne, Pa. 38:00

10. Patricia Walker, 30, Arlington, Va. 38:10

11. Kimberlee Burns, 32, NA, 38:50

12. Marge Rosasco, 43, Joppa, 39:00

13. Maureen Hall, 26, Baltimore, 39:30

14. Joy Glass, 36, Westminster, 39:41

15. Terry Sweitzer, 31, Alexandria, Va. 39:52

16. Margaret Cooper, 36, Bel Air 39:55

17. Karen Osada, 23, Hagerstown 40:04

18. Dolly Ginter, 27, Columbia 40:10

19. Dianna Miller, 38, York, Pa. 40:15

20. Allison Thomson, 21, Churchville 40:20

21. Cheryl Conrad, 33, Greenbelt 40:30

22. Natalie Updegrove, 29, Silver Spring 40:51

23. Karen Firestone, 39, York, Pa. 41:00

24. Linda Mills, 41, Salisbury 41:05

25. Kristin Doyle, 22, Wheaton 41:06