Keeping it close until the end

Elias Gonzalez pulls away in the final half-mile to win the 10K.

By BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer
Published November 23, 2007

CLEARWATER - A mile into the men's 10K Turkey Trot, Elias Gonzalez and Daniel Matena were clear of the field.

Four miles after that, the race was undecided.

Matena hung on Gonzalez's shoulder, refusing to take the lead and set the pace. Gonzalez tried several times to shake his opponent, gaining a slight advantage, only to see it quickly disappear.

In the final half-mile heading into Clearwater High's Jack White Stadium, Matena finally drew even with, then slightly ahead of, Gonzalez, but this one surge was not enough. He did not have a sufficient kick.

"At first I thought I was done," said Gonzalez, who missed last year's race because he was stationed with the Army in Iraq. "But then I saw I was real close to the finish line. I knew I still had something left."

Gonzalez answered with yet another move, and this time Matena could not counter. Running with a pained expression, Gonzalez broke Matena's determination and reached the finish line farther ahead of his toughest challenger than at any other point in the 6.2-mile race, winning in 32 minutes, 7 seconds.

Matena, a cross-country coach from Australia who was in town visiting his girlfriend, finished second in 32:14.

In the women's 10K race, former Keswick Christian and USF standout Christa Benton dominated, winning her third straight title in 37:10, more than a minute ahead of Kimberly Fagen 38:56.

Jacki Wachtel won the women's 5K (3.1 mile) Wingding in 17:25 to beat last year's champion, Christina Woytalcwicz (18:16).

In the men's 5K, Tyrone Bell took a commanding lead early on and never relinquished it, winning in 15 minutes. He knocked off defending champion Kevin Lyons, a former Clearwater Central Catholic star, who finished in 15:25.

Lyons also won last year's 10K but decided not to run it this time.

Bob Putnam can be reached at putnam@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4169.

[Last modified November 23, 2007, 10:58:11]