(Courtesy: Con Marshall, Special Contributor)
Three age-group records were set during the 36th annual Colter Run during Fur Trade Days in Chadron on Saturday. Two were in the 10-kilometer race and the third was in the 5-kilometer competition.
Shawna Jones of Raleigh, N.C., broke the women’s 40-49-year record in the 10k race. She ran the course in 43 minutes and 42 seconds, breaking the old mark of 46:58 set Mary Donahue of Chadron in 2007. Jones, who is the assistant cross country coach at a Raleigh high school, was in Chadron visiting her sister, Jen Galbraith. She was the first woman and the third overall runner to finish the 10k race.
The other 10k record was broken by Bill Watts, a Chadron native who now lives in Littleton, Colo. He finished second overall in the 10k race in 40:32 and broke the 50-59-year age group record that was set by Rick Reeves of Gordon in 2005.
The 5k record was broken by Trevor Ramsdell, who completed the course in 19:21 to break the broke the 14 and under record of 20:40 set by Jeremy Wright of Colorado Springs last year. Ramsdell, who will be a freshman on the Omaha South cross country team this fall, was one of 12 runners from the school to enter the Colter Run.
The Packers’ coach, John Tripp, was the third finisher in the 5k race in 18:11. Omaha South runners also were first in the 5k girls’ 14 and under category and both the boys’ and girls’ 15-18-year races.
The overall 10K winner was Chadron State College cross country runner Dylan Stansbury of Crawford. His time was 37:06. Watts was second and Jones third, followed by Drew Pope, a Chadron native.
The overall 5k winner was the Eagles’ cross-country coach, Brian Medigovich, whose time of 16:30 was just eight seconds off the overall record. One of his CSC runners, Phil Duncan of Chadron, was second in17:32, followed by Tripp and Andre Ditsch, an Alliance native who now lives in Texas.
The first woman to finish the 5k race was another CSC cross-country runner, Chadron native Nicky Applegarth Banzhaf, who completed the race in 20:55. Her teammate, Becca Volf, was second.
There were 182 runners in the 5k race and 22 in the 10k race. The 204 total is the second highest in the race’s history, exceeded only by last year’s 221.