Sports: Jacksonville man pulls away

ST. PETERSBURG -- In the St. Anthony's Triathlon amateur race, with the multiple-wave start, it can be difficult to determine if you are in contention to win.

Daniel Domingo and Marty Gaal made it easy, however, in Sunday's men's race. Since they are almost the same age (27 and 29, respectively), they went off in the same wave. And since they finished second and third, respectively, last year -- and winner Brian Fleischmann since has turned professional -- Domingo and Gaal figured they were racing each other for the win.

They were.

After swimming (.9 miles), biking (24.8 miles) and running (6.2 miles) next to each other for virtually the entire event, Domingo pulled away in the final half-mile to win in 1 hour, 56 minutes, 57 seconds. Gaal was second in 1:57:12.

"We kind of figured we were competing for the win. I know Dan's an excellent competitor," said Gaal, who lives in Orlando. "We swam together, we rode together and we actually ran the whole way together except the last 800 (meters), when he pulled away and took the race. He just had that little extra. Hats off to him, he's an awesome athlete."

Domingo, who lives in Jacksonville and won an amateur race in Clermont on April 7, beat his time from last year by 1:27. Gaal improved by 1:45 despite rough swimming conditions because of blustery weather for the 7:30 a.m. start at Spa Beach.

"It was one of those days where everything comes together," Gaal said. "The swim was rougher (than last year) and the bike was windier, but whatever you lost on the swim and bike you could make up on the run because the (temperature) was so cool."

In the women's race, the leaders were unaware of their position relative to each other. A few hours after they finished, Susie Stark, 24, a Marine based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Amber Mounday, 26, a medical student at Kansas -- two St. Anthony's rookies -- discovered they had finished first and second.

Stark's time of 2:11:15 was 1:02 ahead of Mounday's 2:12:17.

"I had no idea I was in the lead. Dumb luck," said Stark, a former collegiate swimmer at South Carolina who has been a triathlete for 11/2 years. "Today was the best triathlon of my life. I felt very strong in all three events."

Mounday, a former heptathlete at Kansas in her third year as a triathlete, struggled in the swim but excelled in the bike and run on the flat course.

"This is my first open-water, sea-water swim, so that was kind of an adjustment, and with the choppy water on top of that, I had a difficult time," Mounday said. "After the start I told myself, 'Just have fun.'

"I had no idea I was just a minute behind, which is too bad. A minute apart? I would have really gone after it. But it's kind of one of those things where after the race, you always say that. But I would like to believe I could have pushed a little harder on the run."

Kasey Carroll-Basso, 31, of Lutz, the runner-up to Laura Drake last year (Drake since has turned professional), was third Sunday in 2:14:15.

John Brockenbrough, 42, of Murrysville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, was the men's masters winner and placed third overall.

"I knew I was doing well in my heat, because mine was the first bike back on the rack in that area," Brockenbrough said. "I had no idea what the course (route) was before the race, so it was non-stop excitement, basically. I liked it a lot."

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