University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Excel at Collegiate Half Marathon Championships
11/30/2015 | Cross Country
NORFOLK, Va - The first ever Collegiate Half Marathon National Championships was held Sunday morning in Norfolk, VA as part of the Harbor Lights Half Marathon. Three current Spiders competed finishing in the top 10 and two alumni who are currently in graduate school also finished among the top competitors.
Matt McKenna, a 2015 Atlantic 10 Conference All-Conference performer, led a Spider trio with his third place finish (1:08:12) in the inaugural Collegiate Running Association Half Marathon Championships. He was followed by sophomore teammates Alex Lucking, who also earned 2015 Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors and Johnny Hogue who finished fifth (1:08:52) and seventh (1:10:24) respectively. It was the first half marathon for all three.
“This was an awesome opportunity to come out here and mix it up with these guys,” said Matt McKenna. “We have a huge base from the fall season and this provided an avenue to use that and close out the NCAA cross country season. It's just a great opportunity for any college student to come out here and try to make some money.”
“It felt a lot better than I thought it would,” said Alex Lucking. It was a lot more pacing than the cross country races. We treated it more like a long Sunday run and got more aggressive over the last 5K.”
Senior McKenna was the leader for the Spiders at the tail end of the cross country season where he was the Spiders top finisher in the last three meets, including his sixth place finish at the A-10's with a time of 24:48.7. Along with picking up an Atlantic 10 All Conference award with his top 15 finish, McKenna picked up an individual victory by winning the Cross Country Only Invitational five-mile.
“I'm really happy for Matt, Alex and Johnny,” said head men's coach Steve Taylor. “This was a great way to end the season. They ran really well in tough conditions against excellent competition. It's great for them to compete in the first ever collegiate half marathon championships and they took advantage of the opportunity running tough well executed races, especially given this is their first ever half marathon.”
Along with the current Spiders a couple of alumni competed in the collegiate championships as graduate students. In the women's race, Spider alumnae and program record holder in the 10K, Julie Patterson (UR '11) immediately went to the front in the women's race. By 5k she had already established a nearly 30-second lead and at 10k Patterson had a nearly 1:00 lead on second place. Patterson separated from the competition over the second half of the race to win in a time of 1:24:32.
Spider Alumni Andrew Benford (UR '11), who was an All-American in the 3K steeplechase, placed ninth among college men running 1:10:40. Benford is running professionally for Team Run Flagstaff along with pursuing graduate work at Coconino College in Flagstaff, AZ.
Held as part of the Blue Moon Harbor Lights Half Marathon presented by J&A Racing, collegiate runners from 20 states and dozens of colleges and universities competed for a $10,000 collegiate-only prize purse.
Though the weather was rainy and at times windy, it certainly did not have much of a negative impact on the competition. In addition to the Half Marathon which ran through historic downtown Norfolk and finished along the picturesque Hampton Roads Harbor, runners were treated to a weekend full of wonderful events. Thousands of runners worked their way through the race expo on Friday and Saturday, where they were treated to the first CRA Elite Athlete Runner Forum on Saturday afternoon. Nearly 30 people attended the forum, during which five elite college athletes talked about their experiences, offered their advice, and answered questions from the audience. Saturday night was the 31st annual Grand Illumination Parade which attracted thousands of people, and both Saturday and Sunday had great post-race parties with live music, food and drink.
For all the latest news and coverage on Richmond cross country and track & field, be sure to go to RichmondSpiders.com.
More in-depth coverage can be found by following head coach Steve Taylor on Twitter and by reading his blog. The Spiders also have their own Facebook and Instagram pages and have also launched their own YouTube Channel.
2015 Collegiate Running Association Half Marathon Championships - Results
About the Collegiate Running Association
The Collegiate Running Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded November, 2013 with a mission to promote healthy lifestyles among college students by providing and expanding opportunities in the sport of running. Our vision is to offer national championship events in road racing, mountain running, and trail running with prize money specifically reserved for college students that will be open to all college students enrolled in at least one class.
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