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Jenny Brewer wins her 3rd women’s half

By Kerry Patrick 3 min read

PARKERSBURG - The women's field for Saturday's Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon road race welcomed back a familiar face, who left her mark on the 13.1-mile course with a result typical of recent years.

For the third time in four years, 32-year-old Jenny Brewer from St.Marys won the overall women's title by finishing in a time of 1:24:08. She won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004 before an injury kept her on the sidelines last season.

"It was like a year-long injury, but I feel like myself when I was in college," said Brewer, who also won a road race in Wheeling this past summer. "There's nothing like a hometown race. Everybody knows you are here. It's just so special. This is a great starting point."

The course experienced a few changes from years past. Yet, that didn't faze Brewer, who pulled away from a pack of three to four girls four miles into the race.

"You just have to respect the weather when you race here, so I just wanted to be in the lead pack and see where I came out," Brewer said. "This race is just so unforgiving because of the heart. It's not much different than running a marathon."

Alina Boshchuk from Ukraine, who competes for the University of Cumberlands, placed runner-up in a time of 1:26:03.

Julia Harris and her running partner Zane Keppler, both from Worhtington, Ohio, made their debut at the Half Marathon event and helped one another with updates where one another stood in relation to the lead pack.

Harris finished in the money with a third-place time of 1:20:03.

"We are training for the Columbus Marathon in October, so this was a good test," Harris said. "The course was a challenge, especially getting up that hill on mile seven. But after that, it was kind of nice just to cruise down and come into town the second half of the race."

Keppler just missed out on a Top 3 finish for the men's division after placing fourth in a time of 1:11.24.

"I could see Julia at mile three when I was at mile six," Keppler said. "We were able to ask each other, yelling our places. She did the same for me."

Since Harris received $500 for placing in the top 3, Keppler laughed making the suggestion dinner was on her.

"That means a nice dinner tonight," Keppler said.

As for the injury which interrupted her streak of consecutive championships at the Half Marathon road race, Brewer said she returned to training last October.

"You just got to go through the injury bug and then you can focus on racing again," Brewer said.

Half Marathon Run

Female Division

Overall: 1. Jenny Brewer 1:24:08; 2. Alina Boshchuk 1:26:03; 3. Julia Harris 1:28:03

Grandmasters: 1. Kristi Wheeler 1:47:33; 2. Jennifer Burton 1:57:45; 3. Tiffany Epperly 2:09:52

Masters: 1. Abbie Eagan 1:31:11; 2. Angela Hill 1:46:54; 3. Stephanie Crum 1:50:08

Senior Grandmasters: 1. Tammy Slusser 1:44:27; 2. Robin Radcliff 1:55:53;3.Carolyn Morgenstern 1:58:47

15-19: 1. Alyssa Crum 1:47:58; 2. Laine Spindler 1:51:35; 3. Aubree Larrison 2:37:49

20-24: 1. Abby Anderson 1:35:27; 2. Marimo Akita 1:38:59; 3. Taylor Kennedy 1:51:29

25-29: 1. Allison Currey 1:53:57; 2. Dorothy Harris 2:02:56; 3. Sierra Hays 2:04:17

30-34: 1. Christina Stevens-Jones 1:33:44; 2. Jaclyn Stamile 1:52:25: 3; Alanna McDaniel 1:56:49

35-39: 1. Kayla Ward 1:59:00; 2. Sarah Hendrix 2:05:09; 3. Rachael Butcher 2:09:20

40-44: 1. Stephanie Crum 1:50:09; 2. Ashley Becker 1:54:31; 3. Lisa Hall 2:02:03

45-49: 1. Kistina Smith 1:53:13; 2. Bethany Schunn 2:14:36; 3. Jennifer Floyd 2:22:42

50-54: 1. Jennifer Buxton 1:57:46; 2. Tiffany Epperly 2:09:52; 3. Sonja Schmidt 2:11:45

55-59: 1. Miranda Collins 2:13:01; 2. Elke Schnabel 2:36:02; 3. Lisa Thackrah 2:41:07

60-64: 1. Robin Radcliff 1:55:54; 2. Cariolyn Morgenstern 1:58:47; 3. Pamela Addis 2:10:19

65-69:1. Deborah Callahan 2:02.24; 2. Sheri Nemeth 2:03.55; 3. Jill Conroy 2:35:46

70+: 1. Kathy Barton 2:35.57; 2. Janie Marks 2:50.56; 3. Vickie Hendershot 3:27.15

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