California Track & Running News Jan-Mar 2013, VOLUME 39 NUMBER 2 | Page 26

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26 ct&rn • Jan–Mar 2013

At the Santa Monica
5000, Nike Team
Run LA’s Luis Ibarra
(M32) captured the
SCA USATF 5K title,
finishing second
overall/first SCA
member in 14:30.6.

everyone was greeted with a clear, cool morning
and perfect race conditions. The well-attended
Dino Dash was the last chance for the 5K and 10K
runners to put the pedal to the metal and add to
their 2012 Road Running Grand Prix scores. This
competition was also special in that the runners
were given the option to run either the 10K or the
5K to earn age-graded points. The format was
well received, with a sizable USATF turnout. This
is traditionally a large race to benefit the Tustin
Schools, and more than 187 SCA USATF S members
participated, along with the top five road running
clubs fielding teams: Cal Coast TC, Junior Cal Coast,
Club Ed Running, Equalizers, and The Janes Elite
Racing.
The 10K was off first, and ran along parts of
the 5K course before traveling into the neighborhoods of Tustin. In the open division, the winners
were USATF members Robert Olivera (M26) with
a time of 31:14 and Erika Aklufi (F36) from The
Janes Elite Racing, with a time of 36:13. The second-place finishers were Juan Morales (M32,
35:17.7) from Cal Coast TC and Jenni Johnson (F32,
37:45.6), followed by Dave Withers (M38, 39:56.3)
and Andrea Palacio (F30, 38:13.3) from The Janes.
Freshly minted masters runner John Gardiner (M40)
from Cal Coast TC raced a hard 32:41.3, and Ingrid
Walters (F40) from The Janes ran 39:30.7, setting
a new personal record. They were followed by
Mark Steyvers (M42, 34:50) from Cal Coast TC and
Sherri Ellerby (F48, 39:53.1) of A Snail’s Pace Running Club, followed by third-place finishers Juan
Ramirez (M41, 35:46.5) from Team Runners
High and Jennifer Lazio (F44). Outstanding youth
runners included brother/sister duo Daniel (M17,
36:21.7) and Maily Wong (F14, 39:44.4), both members of the Equalizers. The Wong family boasted
the fastest times among the 18-and-younger
USATF competitors in the 10K competition.
Next up was the 5K, with more than 155
USATF members ready to dash through the streets
of Tustin. The open division winners were Roosevelt Cook (M33) from Cal Coast TC, with a time
of 15:10, and Lilyana Morejon (F23), with a time of

17:33. The second-place runners were Sergio Olivarrias (M22, 15:24.0) and Leilani Rios (F32, 17:54.1)
from A Snail’s Pace Running Club, followed by
Adam Vega (M20, 15:28.5) and Ashley Teran (F26,
19.08.02) from Cal Coast TC. Top spots in the
masters division were claimed by Cal Coast TC’s
Christian Cushing-Murray (M45) with a time of
15:34 and Nathalie Higley (F42) from Club Ed Running with her time of 17:36. They were followed by
Jon Megeff (M49, 16:30.2) from Club Ed Running
and Kirsten Leetch from The Janes Elite Racing in
17:43.4, in second place and Dan Arsenault (M49,
16:38.7) from Cal Coast TC and Kathleen CushingMurray (F47, 19:37.0) from Cal Coast TC in third.
A large part of the active USATF participation
at the Dino Dash came from the youth contingent.
Orange County is home to some of the most active
USATF youth clubs, and both the Equalizers and
Cal Coast Juniors brought teams to compete in the
5K race. Here are the top finishers in the 18-andyounger USATF categories. Sub-Bantam: Noah
Lindo (M8) 21:17.1; Hayley Bloch (F7) 25:20.5; Bantam: Jonathan Manara (M9) 20:27.0; Devin Ito (F9)
19:44.9; Midget: Daniel Bautista (M11) 19:05.2; Chloe
Arriaga (F11) 19:13.8; Youth: Colby Penn (M14)
16:25.7; Hannah Hall (F12) 19:06.8; Intermediate:
Sydney Gidabuday (M16) 15:17.1; Emily Gibson (F16)