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Suncoast Classic champ no stranger

By DAVE THEALL
Published February 8, 2007

The runner who had the fastest 10K women's time in the state last year visited St. Petersburg on Saturday to stake claim to the No. 1 ranking again in 2007.

Sonja Uhl of West Palm Beach prevailed over a strong field, winning the women's division of the Suncoast Classic 10K from St. Petersburg's BayWalk area in 34 minutes, 44 seconds, slightly off her 2006 state-best 34:30 she ran in Parkland.

The former William & Mary track standout had stiff competition Saturday in the form of Gainesville's Firayh Sultanovah (35:01) and St. Petersburg's Christa Benton (35:21), fully recovered from her first marathon at Disney last month.

Uhl met her match, however, at January's Naples Daily News Half-Marathon where she narrowly finished fourth in an international field.

A prize purse of $5,000 helped attract a strong field to the fifth annual edition of the St. Petersburg race sponsored by Pediatric Services of Florida. The top three won $600, $500 and $300, with $200 going to fourth and.

Ryan Woods of Daytona Beach narrowly won the men's title in 30:23 among the field of 363. Tyrone Bell of Lakeland finished second in 30:24.

Tampa's Lee Stephens (15:54) and Jacki Wachtel (17:54) of Tarpon Springs were the 5K winners. Second place was secured by John Emerson (16:03) and Maria Ghizzoni (18:08) and third by Keith Batten (16:19) and Brigithe Moreno (18:09).

In-depth results can be found at altavistasports.com.

MIAMI MARATHON: Wachtel, 27, was coming off a strong race at Miami on Jan. 28 where she finished sixth woman and second American in 3:02:51. Among a mixed field of 9,100 she was 31st.

Melanie Peters of St. Petersburg, a graduate student at USF St. Petersburg seeking a PhD in Marine Science, returned to Miami, where she ran collegiately, to run her first marathon and get together with her vacationing family from Davison, Mich. She finished first American woman and fifth overall in 2:58:01.

"Despite only getting in about four weeks of solid training the race was much, much easier than I had expected," Peters said. "I truly enjoyed myself the whole time and never felt any real difficulties during the race, which is, perhaps, a sign that I should have been going faster."

Peters said she went out too fast, catching up with the lead pack by Mile 2, which told her she had better slow down.

"Thankfully I bumped into them early enough to correct my mistake and never felt any effect from it later in the race," she said. "The Miami Marathon is very well put on. The course was beautiful and it truly felt like a homecoming for me as I was able to catch up with all my college teammates, coaches and many locals who recognized me from my years running in and around Coral Gables."

Peters declined to predict how low she could go in future marathons, but is anxious to run others better prepared than the mere four weeks she put in getting ready for this one.

"I hear that women marathoners peak around their mid 30s to early 40s so while that's intriguing, it also gives me something to look forward to," she said.

Her short-term goal is a good race at the Gasparilla 15K on Feb. 17.

Peters has a mile time best of 4:46.81 run at Notre Dame and Miami records for 1,500 meters (4:24.26) and 5K (16:44), set at FSU in '05 helping the Hurricanes win the ACC Championship. The highlight of her cross country career at Miami was competing in the NCAA Championships, the only Hurricane, female or male, to do so.

MORE MIAMI RESULTS: Other top results from Pinellas include Jennifer Flory, Clearwater, sixth of 116 women 40-44 in 3:41:09; Pam McCann, Treasure Island, 3:54:07; and Diana Parady, Clearwater, 4:05:32. Among women 30-34, Suzanne O'Neal (Clearwater) finished 20th in 3:50:46. Flora Cook of Seminole finished 14th in the 45-49 bracket in 4:04:08.

Ilhan Bilgutay of Clearwater finished third of 14 men in the 65-69 group in 4:21:45. And Jill Voorhis of St. Petersburg passed her husband, John, with 1.5 miles to go, finishing in 4:19:42 to his 4:22:32. "It was just a training run for me," said John, 52, who will run his 153rd 26.2-miler in Austin, Texas, next weekend, halfway toward his pursuit of running one in all 50 states.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Pinellas runners captured first-, second- and third-place age-group standings for 2006, as compiled by USATF and used by Running Times in its March issue.

Winter resident Bill Riley, from Marstons Mills, Mass., is ranked No. 1, 70-74, and also earned honorable mention honors for 65-69. His birthday is in May. Joe Burgasser of the Forerunners earned another top-three place in the standings, second, 65-69, in part due to his 48:36 effort at March's Bay to Bay 12K. Mike Coyne, another Forerunner (via Newfoundland) forged into the third spot, 55-59, for his strong year including a 16:53 5K at the Edison Festival last year. Coyne won (55:03) his age division at last year's Gasparilla 15K by more than six minutes. Burgasser (1:02:06) and Riley finished 1-2 in the 65-69 bracket by more than three minutes.

DOWN THE ROAD: The popular Flatlanders Challenge 10K in Brooksville has been postponed to April 7. More details to come.

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 23:11:54]