Carrigan, Druien Lead Strong Naperville St. Paddy's

The St. Paddy's Day 5K in Naperville on Saturday (March 12) had a large field with 1,784 finishers, and the men and women were led by some mid-season performances as Ryan Carrigan, 22, of Naperville, won in 15:20, and Amber Druien, 25, of Woodstock, paced the women in 18:17. Runners-up were Luke Demmel, 21, of Aurora, in 15:58, and Lydia Wong, 22, of Chicago, in 18:31. Finally, the third-place finishers were none other than former Olympic Marathon Trials runner John Weigel, 37, of Naperville, in 16:31, and Heather Hillman, 40, of Naperville, in 20:57. That's some nice runnin', and here's a special salute to John Weigel, who has been to the mountaintop a few times. If you look at the results sections from Chicago Athlete and Race Time, you'll see there were some other strong races last weekend. One notable performance was in the Spring Sprint 5K in Lisle, where Lois Gilmore, 80, of Janesville, WI, ran a 30:52. She would have won several much younger age groups. Way to go, Lois!