Runners Hot on Cool Day in DeKalb

With temperatures in the 60s, it was not your typical sticky conditions for the 28th Corn Fest 10K in DeKalb on Saturday. As usual, the field was superb with 18 men getting in under 35 minutes and six women coming in under 38 minutes. The men's race was close to a photo finish as Jeff Jonaitis, 28, of Tinley Park just beat Matt Thull, 34, of Milwaukee, 30:53.82 to 30:53.89. They led an impressive pack that included third-place finisher Lars Juhl, 32, of Chicago, in 31:00.47; fourth-place finisher Emisael Favela, 32, of Cicero, in 31:07.29 and fifth-place finisher Chad Ware, 24, of Deerfield in 31:26.37. Besides the top 18 going under 35:00, the top nine dipped under 33:00! On the women's side, Melissa Todd, 34, of Kansas City, MO, won in 35:09.48 with Amanda Domich, 24, of Crystal Lake, a distant runner-up in 36:26.65. Olivia Aranda, 30, of Rockford, was third in 36:53.26 with Columba Montes, 30, of Chicago, fourth in 36:56.10 and Suet-Fei Li, 33, of Schaumburg fifth with a 37:11.18. CARA age-grade scorer Doug Pearson e-mailed me that Nancy Rollins, 62, of Evanston, had the top score with a 941.3 after running a 43:19.69. Lois Gilmore, 78, of Beloit, WI, was next with a 918.2 off of her 58:00.85. They had a really strong race today in DeKalb. On a personal note, I'd like to thank everyone who cheered me on. It was my first Runners' Choice race of the year, and I enjoyed every minute.