Hager, Benes and Sterchy Log Area's Best Times at Kemah Olympic Triathlon

           While the professionals were busy collecting checks totaling $32,000 from the City of Kemah for their effort in today’s Kemah Olympic Triathlon, The Woodlands’ Kim Hager began to lay the foundation for this October’s trip to the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

            In her first competition as a masters’ triathlete, Hager, the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trialist, easily won her division by more than eight minutes over Houston’s Carolyn Murihead with a 2:22:35 performance over the 1,500-meter swim, 25-mile bike and 10-kilometer run course.

            The 40-year-old’s time was only bettered in the non-local elite field by fellow The Woodlands resident Grace Benes, 28, the 2010 CB&I Sprint triathlon winner, who won her age group by more than 11 minutes in 2:19:40.

            And Hager was even in striking distance of 40-year-old Becky Paige and 44-year-old Ann Rial Smith, who both competed in the amateur elite division and finished in 2:21:23 and 2:22:32, respectively.
            Outrival Racing-coached athlete Sarah Gray, 28, of Houston was third in that same amateur elite division with a 2:18:47 finish.

            Hager and Outrival's Benes weren’t the only winners.

            The duo shared division winning performances with five other area triathletes.

            Spring’s Jonathan Sterchy (Outrival) led the way with a time of 2:16:56 to take the 30-34 age group.

            Finish Strong Racing teammates Ed York and Kent Morris (Conroe Triathletes) captured the 45-49 and 50-54 divisions with respective times of 2:20:08 and 2:21:09.

            Conroe Triathletes’ Michael Dwyer easily defeated The Woodlands’ Phillip DePrang (Finish Strong) for the 60-64 age group title with a 2:31:21 showing while perennial CB&I Clydesdale champion Stephen Daniel, 53, of The Woodlands won the 40-and-over Clydesdale division in 2:33:24.

            FSR’s Scott Pinkston, Team Strive’s Brian Perry and Outrival’s Blake Henning went 2-3-4 behind Daniel.

            Cinco Ranch High School’s Rodrigo Abascal, coached by Finish Strong, won the boys 15-19 division by a little over a minute – in 2:25:17 -- versus 15-year-old Steven Emerson.  This coming a day after a second place finish in the sprint triathlon where he outlegged Outrival’s Connor Barry to the line by just 27 seconds.

            Area women only produced one other podium spot when Finish Strong’s Linda Trinkle, 44, of The Woodlands finished third in her division in 2:34:24 behind Carolyn Muirhead and Wendy Hammerman.  Trinkle was the first female finisher across the finish line at January's USAFit Half Marathon in Sugar Land.

            Spring’s Debra Castell, 27, finished fourth in 2:38:39 while Finish Strong's Kristie Chandler and Outrival's Cassandra Mays went fifth and ninth, respectively, in the 45-49 division in 2:57:16 and 3:01:11.

            The men were very well represented with podium spots – and three or more top 10 positions – in five other age groups.

            FSR-coached Scott Peterson of Sugar Land, Montgomery’s Daniel Grube (Team Strive) and The Woodlands’ Ronnie Delzer (FSR) finished third, fourth and tenth in the 30-34 division.

            Peterson led the way with a 2:18:56 performance while Grube – a two-time Ironman and 2010 Ford Ironman Florida finisher – followed in 2:24:03 as Delzer, the former East Carolina University harrier, crossed the finish line in 2:29:13.

            The Woodlands’ Patrick McLendon, 36, was just ten seconds off the heels of Brett Blankner to settle for third in the 35-39 division by stopping the clock in 2:19:19.

            Finish Strong’s Michael Collins of The Woodlands and Outrival-coached Adam Currier of Houston chased each other to fifth and sixth place finishes in 2:25:39 and 2:26:30, respectively.

            And then the performances got even hotter.

            Three of the five top 10 finishers from Montgomery County in the 40-44 division competed in the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona.

            2009 participant - and former University of Denver swimmer - Timothy Monk of The Woodlands grabbed a Kemah podium spot with a second-place showing of 2:17:02.  Outrival's Tate Wright was close behind for a third place finish in 2:17:25.

            Three-time Kona participant in the early 1990s, fellow The Woodlands resident Guillermo Maldonado, 44, was no more than four minutes behind Monk in 2:20:35, but was seventh in the tough division.

            Team Strive and The War on ALS' John Laskowski, who competed at Kona last October, and FSR's Casey Clark finished ninth and tenth, respectively, in 2:22:27 and 2:24:04.

            The 45-49 men’s division was a battle royale between the Boys of Montgomery County (and Spring) and the Shama Cycles team from Houston.

            Cross country scoring would say score a win for The Woodlands.

            Ford Ironman Florida finisher Todd Cooper, 49, who will be competing in the inaugural Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas with his son, Derek, was third in 2:22:27.

            The Shamas saw Houston's Greg Colvin slip in a fourth-place finish, but The Woodlands struck back with a 2:25:02 showing from Laskowski’s neighbor, Dick Wolbers, 46, who also got his first career Ironman finish in Florida last November.

            Shama’s Fred “Boom Boom” Johnson and Nigel Willerton of Sugar Land, who ran 250 miles across Ethiopia in late January, went sixth and seventh in the division, while The Woodlands’ Kyle Mays and Spring’s Steve Hardy took eighth and tenth in 2:27:41 and 2:28:03.

            And then the northern part of the greater Houston area added a 3-4-5 behind Morris’ win in the 50-54 division.

            Yielding second place to Beaumont’s Stephen O’Neil, the locals added a Willis-Magnolia-The Woodlands haymaker to go 3-4-5.

            Conroe Triathletes’ Mark Haas of Willis was three minutes behind O’Neil while Outrival’s Ed Wandell of Magnolia and The Woodlands’ William Blackbird were within a minute of each other in the last two positions.

            Three-tenths of a second is all that kept Conroe Triathletes’ Bob Bullard out of a podium position in the 60-64 division.  His 2:56:26.3 kept him behind the namesake of one of the Boston Marathon’s greatest pair of runners – both who were also named John Kelley.

             Maybe the running Gods have now gotten into triathlons.