Northpinellas: Teats, Maguire get bang out of early holiday run

The first celebrators of Independence Day in Dunedin on Wednesday morning were the 1,276 runners who crossed the finish line of the 22nd annual Kiwanis Mease Midnight Run.

Although heavy rainfall in Pinellas between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday might have discouraged some others from venturing out, there were over 1,300 registered for the major fund-raiser of the Dunedin and Countryside Kiwanis Clubs.

Repeat winners were the order of the night. Tony Teats of East Lake won for the second time in four years, and Clearwater's Judy Maguire took the women's division an unprecedented 10th time in 11 starts.

Teats, 24, a Tampa accountant, ran an even 5:10 per-mile pace the first 4 miles before easing off slightly for a comfortable victory in 32 minutes, 35 seconds.

"I could see at the turnaround in Honeymoon Island Park I had a sizable lead, so I felt I didn't have to push the pace all the way in," said Teats, who collapsed after winning this event in 1998.

"It was hot out there," he said of Wednesday's race, "but I was better prepared this time -- more acclimated to the heat of Florida compared to my native Indiana."

Mike Greiwe of Tampa, a medical student at USF, was the runner-up in 33:34. He was followed by Rikki Hacker (34:17) of Riverview, Jim Vitale (34:41) of New Port Richey, Torrey Teats, Tony's brother, in 34:51, and St. Petersburg's Steve Wilcox (35:07).

After Maguire, 42, reeled in Christa Benton at about 1 1/2 miles, the only runners she had to key on were a small pack of men in front of her. Maguire went after them just to stay focused and to get a decent time.

"I try to make a game of it with the men," said Maguire, a member of Team Dianetics. "Otherwise, I get lazy and won't get a good time. I always want to be around a 6 minutes a mile pace in a 10K."

She finished in 37:27, a 6:02 pace, and in 16th place -- just behind Jim Burgasser of St. Petersburg. Liane Rae of Belleair took second (37:56), Benton third (39:43), followed by Celia Dubey (44:00) and Erin Wilson (44:03).

The men's course record in the second event of the night, the 3K (1.86 miles), was eclipsed by Tallahassee's Ryan Deak, who logged an 8:58. The old mark, 9:11 and set in 1999, was shared by former USF harriers John Bowden and Jeremy Edge. Deak is a 15-year-old incoming sophomore at Maclay High School who finished second in the State Class A cross country meet last fall and in the 3,200-meter event last spring.

Keith Batten of Clearwater was the runner-up in 9:11, followed by Kevin Lyons, 16, of Palm Harbor in 9:16.

Vicki Stum, a teacher at Bardmoor Elementary School, took the women's lead just before the turnaround point and went on to win in 11:06.

"It feels awesome to be running well again," said Stum, who competed collegiately at the University of West Virginia. "This was an awesome sight with so many people and lots of spectators cheering us on."

Jessica Forrester, 13, of Brandon held on for second in 11:48. Trailing her was Jenifer Dodson-Ganster (12:03) of St. Petersburg.

OTHER RACES: Mary Ann Protz of St. Petersburg found herself in a duel with Forerunners teammate Amy McClenathan for first place among women in Saturday's New Tampa 5K Run at Hunter's Green.

Protz prevailed, clocking in at 19:28 -- a 6:16 per mile pace. McClenathan finished in 20:25, holding off Tampa's Rosanna Garrish, who logged a 20:44.

The three daughters of Amy and Dan McClenathan pulled off an age-group sweep, taking the first three places in the 14-and-under division.

Kelly, 13, won in 27:03, followed by Shannon, 8, in 29:40, and Erin, 10, in 33:10.

Their brother, Patrick, was just ahead of the girls in the boys 14-and-under division with a time of 26:20.

There was a strong family connection up front in the men's race. A son/father duo captured first and third. Ryan McLeod, 16, of Elswick, England, was the winner (17:10), and his dad, Mike, took third-place honors in 17:51 -- good for the 45-49 title.

Mike distinguished himself in the 1984 and '85 Gasparilla races with victories. He clocked in at 42:54 in 1984, 7 seconds off the world record, and in 43:02 the following year.

That's back when the event offered $70,000 in prize money and drew and international field. Last February's winning time was 48:50, posted by Muchapiwa Mazano of Tampa.

RESULTS: Protz was a member of the Forerunners traveling team that ventured to Daytona Beach two weeks ago to run in the annual Firecracker 10-miler along the hard-packed beach.

Not only did she win her 45-49 age division handily in a time of 1:05:51, but she finished fourth overall among women.

Coach Joe Burgasser of the Forerunners won his 60-64 division in 1:01:51. More significantly, he finished 10th overall in a field of 250.

Burgasser said of Protz: "Mary Ann trains very hard and is steadily improving. She hasn't yet reached her fastest times at any distance."

Jim Duncan was a third Forerunner to bring home a first-place trophy. He won the 25-29 class in 1:03:27.

Wendy Burgasser, 45-49, was fifth in 1:19:42. Other area finishers were Jim Massengill (1:20:32) of Seminole and Jeff Blake (1:47:00) of St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg's Steve Wilcox moved into the lead in the Sunsets at Pier 60 series at Clearwater Beach with his second-place performance in the June 21 event.

Wilcox was runner-up to Rikki Hacker (16:31) of Riverview. Coupled with his 16 points and third-place finish in Race 1, Wilcox takes over the lead.

Andrew McSwain of Seminole took third in Race 2, followed by Danny Bauer of Largo.

In age-group competition, the Spicer triplets duplicated their 11-12 division sweep of the first race. Matt, Tim and Brandon finished 1-2-3.

It was another runaway victory for Maguire in the women's division. This time she finished seventh out of 196 runners in 18:08 -- well ahead of runner-up Liane Rae (18:47) of Belleair and USF-bound Christa Benton (19:12).

Melissa Kotchman, 13, of Seminole, the next high school phenom on the horizon, was fourth in 20:37.

The third race in the series will be Friday at 7 p.m. The event is preceded by a free kids mile run at 6:45.

QUARTERLY RANKINGS: These rankings primarily are based on head-to-head competition of Pinellas runners, with comparative 5K times a secondary factor.

MEN

1. Tony Teats, Oldsmar; 2. Steve Wilcox, St. Petersburg; 3. Keith Batten, Clearwater; 4. Jeff Delie, Palm Harbor; 5. Tom Adamich, South Pasadena; 6. David Meri, Seminole; 7. Mike Ferriera; St. Petersburg; 8. John Woodruff, St. Petersburg; 9. Jim Burgasser, St. Petersburg; 10. Kevin Lyons, Palm Harbor.

Masters -- 1. Dan Nolan, St. Petersburg; 2. Royston Dillon, South Pasadena; 3. Joe Burgasser, St. Petersburg; 4. Victor Yeager, Dunedin; 5. Roger Sweeney, Palm Harbor.

WOMEN

1. Judy Maguire, Clearwater; 2. Laure Blume, Pinellas Park; 3. Lisa Valentine, Tierra Verde; 4. Amy McClenathan, St. Petersburg; 5. Jeanne Lesniak, St. Petersburg; 6. Melissa Kotchman, Seminole; 7. Kim Donaldson; 8. Sandy Shelton, St. Petersburg; 9. Liane Rae, Belleair; 10. Donna Nesslar, Largo.

Masters -- 1. Kathleen Kaye, St. Petersburg; 2. Mary Ann Protz, St. Petersburg; 3. Lisa Kothe, Clearwater; 4. Annette Frisch, St. Petersburg; 5. Ethel Lehmann, Largo.

TV ALERT: ESPN will delay televise the Golden League track and field meet from Paris on Friday at 9 p.m.

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