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Pritz claims American title

August 21, 2010

PARKERSBURG — Molly Pritz wasn’t sure that she wanted to run the 24th annual News and Sentinel Half Marathon.


After placing fourth overall on Saturday with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 37 seconds and, in the process, claiming the American title, the 22-year old is glad she didn’t follow her guts.


“I’m right in the middle of training for a marathon,” said the Williamsport, Pa. native. “I’ve been putting in 110 miles a week and I picked this race as part of that training.”


But after learning of the 13.1-mile course’s drawbacks — hills, humidity and heat — she nearly elected not to run.


“Everyone I talked to told me this would be a tough race because all of the hills — especially that last one (13th Street),” explained Pritz. “Then they warned me that I would need to take a lot of water during the race because of the heat and humidity.”


The hills did not prove as difficult as she expected and she listened to the water advice to beat out a talented American field, which included the Storage twins — Tara and Kara — from Beavercreek, Ohio as well as former Doddridge County standout and WVU All-American Clara Grandt.


“I never really saw the other runners until we came down that last street (Market Street),” continued Pritz. “For most of the race, I was just trying to run the pace that I had set for myself and hope that I would be somewhere near the leaders.”


Second place went to Tara Storage, who finished with a time of 1:18:41, while Grandt placed third in 1:18:47, despite having to overcome the misfortune of making a wrong turn.


“It was a little confusing,” said Grandt. “I was following behind another runner and when she went the wrong way, I followed her. By the time we had figured out that we had made a wrong turn, there wasn’t enough time to catch back up to the leaders.”


Like Pritz, Grandt was making her half-marathon debut back in the area where she dominated cross country and track during her days with the Bulldogs.


“It was fun,” added Grandt. “I felt pretty comfortable out there and it was nice having people who supported me when I ran here in high school come back out and cheer for me today.”


Pritz wasn’t the only runner taking home first-place money on Saturday as Russian Ramilia Burangulova returned to Parkersburg for the first time since 2003 and captured the Masters Division with a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 59 seconds. The 49-year old set the course record of 1:17:09 in the division on her last visit.


Repeating her championship in the Grandmasters Division was 52-year old Lee Dipietro (1:32:27), who edged out Vincent, Ohio native Jocelyne Majoy (1:34:20).


 

 
 

 

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