Youthful Yellowjackets build baseball future
Minnesota-Duluth finished first in the Northern Sun baseball race, while Wisconsin-Superior has only two remaining doubleheaders in which to lift themselves out of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate baseball cellar. So it wasn’t a big surprise that UMD’s Bulldogs spanked the Yellowjackets 9-5 Tuesday afternoon at Superior’s Ted Whereatt Field.
The Bulldogs used six pitchers in the nine-inning game, which served as a tuneup for their trip today to Morris, Minn., for the Northern Sun conference tournament. Ryan Skubic and Matt Joesting, UMD’s top two hitters all season, went 5-for-6 and 3-for-6 respectively to lead the way for UMD.
The UWS Yellowjackets, meanwhile, face doubleheaders at Platteville Friday and Whitewater Saturday if they are to lift themselves from a 1-7 last-place standing. But, at 11-19 overall, coach Jim Stukel sees only the silver lining ahead for his Yellowjackets.
First, the ‘Jackets battled all the way to the finish, with Brad Scott whacking a home run in the last of the ninth to finish 2-for-4 for the game. And Luke Giacomini, who yielded five runs in the first three innings pitching, went 2-for-5. That brings up the second matter of optimism for Stukel — Scott and Giacomini are two of only four juniors on the club, with Rob Pierce and Anthony Bush the others, and there are no seniors in the lineup.
“Zeke Doornek was our only senior,” said Stukel. “He’s a great kid and a good player, and we were looking up to him, but he broke his thumb five innings into our first game of the season.”
The good news is that Doornek will get to replay his senior season next year.
Stukel, who is in his sixth year, admits that he may have misfired on his original plan to rebuild the Yellowjackets with a quick-fix. “At first, I tried to bring in a whole lot of community college players, looking for a quick-fix,” he said. “But quick fixes don’t always work.”
So Stukel has gone with the more patient, building-block approach. He has put together a pitching rotation that consists of Superior sophomore Chris Vendela and three freshmen. Their youthful enthusiasm can’t compensate for opposing experience, which is why Stukel and the ‘Jackets are looking forward to the future.
Because Wisconsin teams all play nine innings, and use wood bats, UMD accomodated the ‘Jackets for the return match, after having whipped UWS 11-1 and 19-2 last week. The game was pretty well decided in the third and fourth innings, when UMD scored seven runs. In the top of the third, Kiel Kreidermacher doubled to lead off, and Dave Tafelski’s wind-aided pop fly fell in for a hit. Skubic’s hard bunt to third reslted in another hit, loading the bases. Joesting was safe on an error, with one run scoring; Rob Rothe’s pop-up turned into another wind-aided single for another run; Jed Meyer grounded into a double play, with a third run scoring; and the fourth run came in on a wild pitch.
Superior rallied back for two runs in the last of the third, but a potential big inning was snuffed when right-fielder Brett Spaeth made a spectacular diving catch along the right-field line to strand two base-runners.
UMD got three more in the fourth to gain an 8-2 lead, when the first three hitters walked, and Superior native Tafelski drew a walk that forced in a run, Skubic drove in another, and the ‘Dogs scored again on a fielder’s choice.
Skubic drove in the ninth UMD run in the seventh, while UWS countered with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Freshman Marcus Besonen was the most effective Yellowjacket pitcher, going three innings without yielding a run, but Jamie Swenson started and pitched two innings for UMD, and Bryan Jensen, Brent Gerten, Rick Sichta, Nick Olmsted and Jeremy Bloomquist took turns on the mound. UMD wound up outhitting the ‘Jackets 13-11.
“We weren’t tough enough,” said Stukel. “They made about four wonderful plays in the field, and we didn’t answer.”
Still, it was another dose of experience for the youthful Yellowjackets, who still have 36 innings to go in the doubleheaders against Platteville and Whitewater. And then, there’s next year.
Bulldogs gain split to win baseball title
UMD lost a wild but tough 5-4 game to Southwest State Saturday, but the Bulldogs bounced back behind ace righthander Chris Swiatkiewicz to claim a 5-1 victory in the nightcap, giving them the Northern Sun conference championship in the last regular-season game of the season.
The stage was set for the last day drama when UMD lost 9-2 and won 4-3 against the same Southwest State team on Friday, leaving UMD 15-5 atop the Northern Sun with Southwest 14-6. With the Mustangs claiming the first-game victory Saturday on UMD’s field — after one of those once-in-a-million baseball controversies — the two were left tied with identical 15-6 league records to leave the title on the line in the nightcap.
The victory sends UMD into this week’s conference tournament week for a couple of interesting tuneups. First there is a doubleheader at home against Lakehead University of Thunder Bay on Monday at 1 p.m., then a doubleheader at Wisconsin-Superior at 1 p.m. Tuesday. The Bulldogs, 25-11 overall and 16-6 in the Northern Sun, should be looking at an NCAA regional tournament invitation if they can win their way through the conference tournament at Morris.
In the deciding second game Saturday, Swiatkewicz, with his fastball popping and his high-speed slider confounding the Mustang hitters, yielded only a run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. The Bulldogs had staked him to a 2-0 lead in the last of the first when Matt Joesting hooked a line drive double past Southwest’s diving right fielder. The hit would have driven in two runs, but the ball rolled under the right-field fence and Joesting was held to a one-run, ground-rule double. Rob Rothe followed with a sacrifice fly for the second run.
The game stayed 2-1 until the last of the fifth, when Southwest had an uncharacteristic bad inning. A hit batter and a walk prompted Southwest coach Paul Blanchard to pull ace starter Jeremy Hebl with two out in the fifth. Bryan Francis relieved, but walked brothers Bryan Spaeth to load the bases and Brett Spaeth on four pitches to force in a run. Bill Richter, a sidearming righthander, came in next, but hit Marty Spanish with a pitch to force in another run, and Bryan Spaeth scored on a wild pitch.
“That made a heckuva difference,” said UMD coach Scott Hanna. “To have Swanny going out there with a 5-1 lead instead of 2-1. They hadn’t given us an easy run all weekend, so it was unusual for them to have that little lapse in the fifth. But we’ve got some gutty kids, and we haven’t been swept by anybody since the first weekend at the Metrodome [by St. Thomas].”
Swiatkiewicz, who relieved in the last inning of Friday’s doubleheader to nail down Jamie Swenson’s 4-3 pitching victory, was smacked around a little in the early innings. “When I came in yesterday, I threw one fastball, and 10 sliders to strike out the side,” Swiatkiewicz said. “Today they came in looking for the slider and got to me early by slapping the sliders to the opposite field. So today, I threw a lot of sliders, but in the last couple of innings, I just went at them with fastballs.”
Hanna was in a jovial but appreciative mood after winning the title, before a strong turnout of fans who filled the seats and sat on the hillside in perfect 75-degree weather and under a cloudless sky. His mood was a big change from the first game, when a weird play left everybody confused.
The Bulldogs trailed 3-2 in the last of the third when Superior’s Dave Tafelski led off by ripping a double down the third base line. After a strikeout, Joesting walked. Rob Rothe then hit a long, slicing drive to right-center. Joesting ran at half-speed, almost to second base, while Tafelski came back toward second to tag up in case the ball was caught.
When the ball fell in, both runners sprinted in close order for third, and came around third base headed for home looking a lot like the Kentucky Derby leaders coming around the final turn at Churchill Downs. Tafelski, less than 10 feet ahead of the speeding Joesting, barreled toward the plate as the throw arrived, but up the third baseline about five feet. The Southwest catcher moved up the line to catch it, and Tafelski crashed into him at the same instant the ball arrived.
There is a college baseball rule that says a runner must avoid contact, but that was nullified by the fact the catcher was up the baseline. Still, while the ball skipped to the backstop, Tafelski — already playing second base with painfully bruised ribs — fell to the dirt short of the plate. Joesting, right behind him, hopped over Tafelski and then stepped on home plate.
With Tafelski still down, umpire Pat Milinovich called Joesting out for passing up Tafelski, and it appeared both runners were being called out. Hanna ran out for a heated argument with the umpires, as the Southwest players ran off the field to their dugout. Rothe, meanwhile, who hit the ball, was standing on third base.
After a lengthy argument, the umpires huddled, then Milinovich declared that both runners were not out, that one run counted and one was out. Tafelski’s run was declared valid, tying the game 3-3, but Joesting was called out. It was uncertain that the dazed Tafelski ever actually touched home plate, but in any case, one run had to count.
“The second runner was out for passing the first one,” said Milinovich. “I never really called the first runner [Tafelski] out, but it took us a while because of all the confusion to get it straightened out. I just wanted to make sure we got it right.”
Had Tafelski been called out for bumping the catcher, obviously Joesting’s run would have counted, because there wouldn’t have been anyone for him to pass up. Strangely enough, Rothe probably could have snuck home from third and also scored amid the confusion. It didn’t seem that the play would matter when pitcher Andy Dooley’s support faltered a bit and Southwest gained a 5-3 lead with single runs in the fourth and sixth. But Skubic lined a two-out home run over the centerfield fence in the last of the seventh to make it 5-4 and again make the curious third-inning scenario pivotal.
“That was some nail-biting baseball,” said Hanna. “They’ve got a great team, and those were two of the better games you could see.”
UMD’s Swiatkewicz makes pitch for off-campus housing
It’s popular for college students to choose off-campus housing these days, but Chris Swiatkewicz takes the concept to extremes. Never mind Chester Bowl, the East Hillside, or even Woodland or Lakeside. While finishing up his accounting degree as a senior, Swiatkewicz is living in Spring Lake Park.
His 2 1/2-hour trips Up North from the Twin Cities suburb usually are twice a week, whenever UMD has a baseball game that he’s scheduled to pitch. If it seems like special treatment, Swiatkewicz — pronounced “Swan-ka-vitch” phonetically, and “Swanny” to his teammates — he IS something special.
Swiatkewicz will stride out to the mound at UMD’s baseball field on Saturday to take on Southwest State in the Bulldogs doubleheader at high noon, and he will be trying to clinch the Northern Sun championship for the Bulldogs, as well as pushing the school’s career strikeout record to more secure status.
Going into the weekend, UMD stands 14-4 atop the Northern Sun, and Southwest State is 13-5 in second place. Wayne State, already finished, is 15-7, and Winona State 11-6.
“It’s down to us and Southwest,” Swiatkevicz said. “Our team really hits the ball well, and I’m figuring if we can win one of the first two this weekend, it’ll be really fun to pitch Saturday with the title on the line. Then we can go to the conference tournament next week, and hopefully win there and get a berth in the NCAA regional.”
The UMD career strikeout record was broken by Swiatkewicz two weeks ago, when he reached 194. Last week, he drove to Duluth to strike out 11 against Bemidji State, went to Aberdeen to fan nine against Northern State over the weekend, and struck out eight more in five brief innings of a 12-2 victory at Bemidji on Tuesday. That raised his record career total to 222, even though, remarkably, he never was a starting pitcher for the Bulldogs until last season.
He won 11 games a year ago to break UMD’s school record. This year, with UMD standing 21-9 overall and 12-4 in the Northern Sun, he is 7-0, with a 6-0 record in conference games. Overall, he has a 1.32 earned-run average and has walked only 16 while striking out 76 in 55 innings.
Swiatkewicz came to UMD from Fridley High School but it was for the school, not for baseball. “I wasn’t all that concerned about playing baseball in college,” said Swiatkewicz. “Baseball was definitely secondary. I was something like 6-3 with a 1.1 earned-run average my senior year in high school, but I hit .485, so I walked on as an outfielder.”
Coach Scott Hanna recognized his walk-on’s hard-throwing capability and dispatched him to the bullpen for relief pitching duty as a closer. It didn’t really work out, and he insists he was ineffective.
“I always liked to start, and I wasn’t doing too good as a closer, so I talked it over with the coach,” Swiatkewicz said.
Hanna let him try it, in a nonconference early-season game last year at the Metrodome. Swiatkewicz doesn’t even remember the opponent — “Some team from Iowa,” he said. But he remembers the game well.
“The first hitter got a single on a turf hop, where he hit the ball down and it bounced so high that by the time it came down he was already on first,” Swiatkewicz said. “The next guy got on on an error. Then I got 21 straight outs. I struck out 16 — 12 in a row at one point, and walked none.”
Hanna, in his 21 years of coaching, didn’t need any more convincing that he had found a new regular for his starting rotation, and the Bulldogs went on to finish second by one game in the Northern Sun.
“We’ve had some good pitchers over the years, but I’d have to say Swanny is probably the best I’ve ever had,” said Hanna. “He’s 18-1 over the last two years, and I’m sure he’ll get a pro tryout. Some major league teams have scouted him, and I’ve heard the Dukes are interested in him.”
That would be just fine with Swiatkewicz. “My job is just what I want to do right now, but I’ve always thought about getting the chance to play pro ball, and I’d love to give it a try,” he said.
He has a good, live fastball, which has been clocked at 91 miles per hour. He also has a fast slider, which he throws at 79 or 80 mph. He can throw a curveball at varying speeds, and could use it as a changeup, but he said he rarely throws curves, because the fastball-slider combination works so well.
When he was a kid, growing up in Fridley, he played youth baseball for Dave Keding, who selected him for a 13-year-old team. “He was tiny,” said Keding, “and he would shy away from the ball a little in the infield, so I put him in the outfield. He’d get a great jump on any ball hit out there, and he could throw rockets. He could throw hard, but he wasn’t very accurate, so he never was our best pitcher. I used him in relief when he was 14, but he didn’t become a pitcher until he grew a lot as a junior and senior in high school.”
Keding said he heard the story about a kid who stood on the 50-yard line and threw a football through the goalposts, which would mean at least a 75-yard pass. He knew, right away, who it had to be. And he never missed a high school game to watch him pitch. This week, he drove to Bemidji to watch Swiatkewicz pitch.
“I played basketball and football as well as baseball in high school,” Swiatkewicz said. “When I was a junior, I grew eight inches. I never worked out, but I always had a good arm, so I just tried to throw the ball by people. I never had a pitching coach, because UMD just added one this year, and I haven’t been able to be at practice.
“I’m taking a 3-credit course in advanced income tax accounting to finish my accounting degree, and I got a really good computer job to work as a webmaster for American Express in the Twin Cities. So I’ve worked it out to live in Spring Lake Park and get the day off whenever I have to pitch. Then I also go up on the weekend to pitch.”
With UMD’s heavy schedule of games — 10 this week, eight last week with doubleheaders on four consecutive days — Swiatkewicz admits he might have gotten a little arm-weary after pitching three straight times on only two days rest. He noticed it up in Bemidji, where he went only five innings, but he got the benefit of a fast start by his teammates. After rallying from a 10-8 deficit for a 13-10 victory in the first game of the Tuesday doubleheader, UMD blasted off for seven runs in the top of the first in the second game, and Swiatkewicz took the mound with a smile on his face
because he knew he could just throw moderate speed.
He drove directly from Spring Lake Park to Bemidji for that doubleheader, then drove back home by midnight, and was at work at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday morning. That means after watching Friday’s doubleheader against Southwest State, he should be rested and ready for Saturday’s league-ending second doubleheader.
With the excitement of the final weekend showdown, Swiatkewicz still has one regret. “I haven’t even gotten to bat yet,” he said. “I’ve only talked the coach into letting me bat five times. I’ve got two hits, so I’m hitting .400. I love to hit.”
Kallio comeback key to UMD softball success
One of the astounding things about girls or women’s fast-pitch softball is that those windmilling pitchers seem to be able to pitch all day, all through doubleheaders, and then come back and do it again the next day, with no appreciable harm to their arms.
Kari Kallio, UMD’s senior star pitcher, used to be evidence that the above theory was true. Then, a year ago, she became evidence that it isn’t true.
Thankfully, Kallio is supplying her own happy ending. More accurately, the senior from Menomenie, Wis., is hoping to put a happy ending on her college career and UMD’s season with a busy final week.
The Bulldogs faced a key Northern Sun conference doubleheader at Moorhead State Friday, then is scheduled to face North Central Conference powers Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota State and North Dakota, all on Saturday in Fargo, at the North Dakota State Invitational tournament. On Sunday, UMD faces Minnesota State-Mankato and Moorhead State again. On the way home, UMD plays at Minnesota-Crookston on Monday, then returns home for a season-ending doubleheader against Minnesota-Morris at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Northern Sun conference tournament is next weekend at Aberdeen, and with success at Moorhead Friday and against Morris, the Bulldogs could go to the conference tournament as regular-season champion.
Kallio prepared for the final week by being named Northern Sun pitcher of the week, while teammate Jill Trachsel was named player of the week for getting 14 hits and batting .415 last week. Kallio was 6-0 with one save in seven games last week, striking out 24 hitters while yielding 1.3 runs per game. She has won eight straight games for a 14-4 season mark, with 83 strikeouts in 107 innings and a 1.96 earned-run average.
She did not pitch on Wednesday, when the Bulldogs suffered 6-1 and 5-0 losses to St. Cloud State on the UMD campus. Kallio watched the games, which was difficult. “It was actually boring for me to watch, because we didn’t score enough to win,” she said.
In her heart, Kallio would like to pitch ’em all. But in her head, she knows that’s not a good idea.
“From the time I was in sixth grade, I pretty much pitched all the time,” said Kallio. “In high school, we were pretty good at Menomenie. We had a senior pitcher when I was a freshman, so I only pitched part of the season and played shortstop or second base the other games. I pitched every game as a sophomore, junior and senior, and we won the conference every year. In high school, I had a fastball and a good rise.
“At UMD, I’ve worked with assistant coach Don Olson, who is from Superior and is a pitcher himself. I’ve learned to throw a curve and a drop and a changeup while I’ve been here.”
Not that she struggled to pitch as soon as she showed up on the campus atop the hill. As a freshman, she had a 13-4 record and broke the school strikeout record with 107, making first team all-region while leading the Bulldogs to a regional tournament berth.
The Bulldogs repeated as conference champs in her sophomore year, and she continued as the team’s dominant pitcher last year, although her record slipped to 12-9 with some nonconference struggles against North Central Conference powers.
But then it happened. Her arm started to give out.
“I suppose it was from overuse because I had pitched so much for 10 straight years,” Kallio said. “I had to have rotator-cuff surgery. As much as I have pitched over the years, I guess it was torn and frayed and causing an impingment.”
Surgeons arthroscopically cut out the frayed tendons and cartilage, and shaved some of the one away where the shoulder bone meets the humerus bone of the upper arm, allowing the two bones to slide again. That surgery was done at the start of June last summer, and Kallio was unable to use her right arm until September. When she could, she threw gently overhand and only tossed underhand. She admits that her own apprehension was her biggest obstacle to returning.
“I didn’t actually throw again until November, and then only after I got over the fear,” she said. “When I threw hard, I was surprised at how effortless it felt.”
In January, Kallio began pitching in the gym during UMD’s usual 2 1/2 month indoor training. Coach Bill Haller was reluctant to expect too much from Kallio or the team, but when he took the team to Florida March 20-27, they went 6-4 and Kallio was 5-1. Freshmen Korrin Ketchum and Jen Reinitz have shared the pitching duties, and gained valuable experience, but there is no question that Kallio is the ace of the staff, and she was relieved when her return went so smoothly in Florida.
“Everything was back in place,” she said. Everything except her all-out speed. But that’s made her a better pitcher. “I throw a rise, drop, curve and changeup now, and I’ve totally learned them since I’ve been here. In high school, I threw mostly just fastballs, but in college you NEVER throw just a straight fastball. The hitters are too good.”
As a senior majoring in physical education with a minor in coaching, Kallio would like to stay in Duluth, she said, and teach, preferably at the elementary level.
“I’m not much interested in going on to play more,” she said, noting that the opportunities for women’s fast-pitch players are scarce. “I’m figuring I’m pretty much done after this season. I’ve got one more year of college to go to complete my degree, and I love the Duluth area. I’d like to stay here and teach and coach. I’d even like to coach a 12-and-under team this summer, if it works out.”
Musuva wins Grandma’s; Makolova wins race and SUV
Andrew Musuva of Kenya surprised everybody but himself Saturday morning with a concerted finishing charge past the three race-long leaders to win the spectacularly close 23rd annual Grandma’s Marathon. Meanwhile, women’s winner Elena Makalova from Belarus surprised herself most of all by breezing to a record-setting victory, and was even more surprised to learn afterward that she had won a Toyota RAV4 for breaking the event record.
Makolova drove herself to victory, but now she may have to learn how to drive a car, as well.
Makolova’s winning time was 2 hours, 29 minutes, 12 seconds, shattering by 24 seconds Lorraine Moller’s 1981 record run of 2:29:36. She also crossed the finish line 50 seconds ahead of runner-up Albina Galliamova, from Russia. Women from countries from the former Soviet Union dominated, as last year’s winner Yelena Plastinina from the Ukraine was third and Lyubov Belvina fro Russia was fourth.
Musuva, who is from Machakos, in the east end of Kenya, surprised leaders and spectators alike to win in his first try at Grandma’s, after he had dropped out of his only previous marathon this year, in Cleveland. His winning time of 2 hours, 13 minutes, 21 seconds was only a minute off his personal best, but not close to Dick Beardsley’s race record of 2:09:37, also set in 1981. The men may have missed a record, but they dazzled a cheering, raucus crowd at the Canal Park finish line, as the top four runners finished the 26.2 miles only 19 seconds apart. It seemed it must be the closest finish ever at Grandma’s, but race officials wouldn’t confirm that.
At the start, it seemed destined to be close, as a three-man battle persisted among Fedor Ryjov of Russia, and Kenyans Patrick Kiptum and Elly Rono. Ryjov pulled away from his two chief pursuers, and appeared to have the race in hand with two miles to go. But by the time the runners made the final turn into Canal Park, instead of the lanky white Russian Rykov, black runners Musuva and Tesfaye Bekele of Ethiopia came around ahead of him, and they finished 1-2 only three seconds apart. Ryjov, faltering from his own strong pace, was third in 2:13:31, and Benedict Ako of Tanzania was a close fourth at 2:13:40.
The race was run from its 7:30 a.m. start in 50-degree temperature and solid overcast in Two Harbors, and finished amid scattered sunshine. It drew a capacity and record turnout of 8,450 runners, but conspicuous by his absence was defending men’s champion Simon Peter, from Tanzania, who had been promoted as race favorite right up through Saturday morning, but was a surprising no-show.
The women’s race had none of the men’s drama, because, after a throng of women ran evenly from the start in Two Harbors through the first seven or eight miles, Makolova put on a burst and immediately opened a 30-second lead.
“I decided to take a risk, and I felt comfortable with the pace,” said Makolova, 31, who had raced in only one other marathong this year, in Hong Kong, where she finished fifth in 2:43. “I was hoping somebody might join me, because then we could push each other to run faster.”
Nobody could keep up with her pace, including Plastinina, who said her training was disrupted by an allergic reaction to a bee sting on her neck that left her with a high fever for 10 days in the last three weeks.
Makolova ran away to a lead that was over a minute and a half at some points, before Galliamova closed it up to within a minute. She said she was surprised by her winning margin but she had no idea. “This is the first time I’ve ever been so far ahead in a marathon,” said Makolova, who last won a marathon two years ago in Macao. “I didn’t know how far ahead I was, because I never looked back.” Both the men’s and women’s winners received $7,500 for their victories, but a bonus of $10,000 and a new Toyota RAV4 were awarded to Makolova for breaking the event record. That news seemed puzzling to Maklova, who needed an interpreter to be interviewed.
“I had no idea there was a vehicle to be given,” she said. “I have no driver’s license, and I’ve never driven. I have a husband, but he has no driver’s license, either.”
Score one for public transportation.
The men’s race was a rarity among marathons for its closeness. At the start, a large clot of runners ran up front, and a lead pack of 19 runners evolved as they covered the first five miles in 26 minutes. By the halfway point, the leaders had thinned out considerably as they made their way down Hwy. 61 along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Ryjov, Kiptum and Romo put on an outstanding show for the thousands of spectators and water-station workers lining the course, and they often ran three abreast and clocked some sub-5-minute miles as they reached Duluth’s East End. A half-minute back, another group of four runners jogged along, almost anonymously. But that group included Musuva and Bekele.
“I was in the second group, but I knew that even though there was a gap between me and the leaders, I could close it,” said Musuva. “I was feeling comfortable with my pace, and I was confident I could catch them.”
Bekele said: “I wanted to stay behind, to focus. I never worried that I was leaving too big a gap to the leaders, I just waited to run.”
As the runners covered the long straightaway from 40th Av. E. to the abrupt rise of Lemon Drop Hill, Ryjov and Rono pulled away from Kiptum. The second group had closed to within 15 seconds of the leading duo, and the race appeared to have crystalized as a two-man duel up front, with a four-man race for third place.
As the two leaders reached downtown Duluth, Ryjov pulled out to a 25-foot lead on Rono, and appeared to have the race under control. But Musuva thought otherwise.
“When I came to the last four miles, I knew I’d catch the leaders,” Musuva said. “I went up Lemon Drop Hill, and didn’t even feel it. I was about 25 yards behind when we got to the downtown area, and when we turned down the hill (5th Av. W.), I knew I had extra time to catch those guys.”
As the struggling Ryjov circled the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, Musuva moved up steadily, with Bekele right behind him, both passing Rono and closing on the leader. They turned northward, past the moored William A. Irvin ore freighter museum, and both Musuva and Bekele passed Ryjov in the final mile, before they got to the clock tower to turn onto Canal Park Drive for the final 500 yards.
Bekele, who has been training in Cambridge, Mass., for three years, said he had promoted this race to many other runners and was dismayed when he couldn’t get the race promoters to pay his air expenses in return for his impromptu promotion work. “I was running for my plane ticket back to Boston,” he said.
Saul Mendoza of Mexico won the men’s wheelchair bracket at 1:31:06, and, just like in the regular marathon, the women came up with the event record, as Candace Cable of Sacramento, Calif., rolled in at 1:46:31, well under the old 1:50:29 standard. Ryan Meissen, of Hudson, Wis., won the men’s half-marathon preliminary in 1:08:14, and Mary Button, Glendale, Calif., 1:20:53.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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