At the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersey Invitational at UCLA, in the invitational 1500 Meter, Ayisha Mitchell ran an impressive time of 4.23 taking 1st place. This time not only proves to be a season best, but a life-time personal best and qualifies Ayisha for the upcoming All-Africa Games. This also gets Ayisha one step closer to representing her country of Ghana in the Olympics. Ayisha shared company on top of the winner’s podium with the likes of Allyson Felix, Jenny Powell, Michelle Perry, Tyree Washington, Kellie Willie and other world class athletes. Way to go Ayisha!
Closer to home, at the Weber State Wildcat Open, Mary Ann Schauerhamer got a season best today as she won a close 800 Meter race in an NCAA altitude adjusted time of 2:11.82 (2:12.49 unadjusted), 3-tenths of a second ahead of Weber’s Haley Reeves.
She came back a couple hours later to win the 5000 M in an adjusted 18:23.44 (18:49.14). Idaho State’s Chelsea Kropushek finished 14 seconds later in second.
This morning at the Utah Valley Marathon & 5k, Sojourners took many of the top places in both races, male and female. In the Marathon, Josse Tobiasson took 1st in the Overall Women’s (and a nice cash award ) with a great time of 3:15:40. Teammate McKenzie Montague was a close 2nd with a time of 3:15:51. Both ran great times for a hard course throughout the valley! In the mens marathon, Ryan Gurr took 2nd Overall with a time of 2:56:45!Bruce Miller also showed well for the Sojourners with a time of 3:33:15. Great job to the Sojourners marathoners! In the 5K, Amber Andrews placed 1st Overall for the women with a time of 20:01. Teammate Samantha Slight was 2nd Overall with a 20:16. For the men, Tyson Andrews was 2nd in the hardest division (19-24), and 8th Overall. Great job to the 5K racers on a hard winding uphill course (also the last 3 miles of the marathon…. ugh!) Props for all the amazing performances by Sojourners this weekend!
The Murdock Canal is arguably the best flat place to run off road in all of Utah County. The nice dirt trail next to the flowing water makes for a relaxing place to run that is a cooler, easier place to run than on the roads of the city.
The powers that be want to put the canal in a pipe and cover it and from our understanding, pave it. Let your voice be heard! Please attend the public Open House and Scoping Meeting this Thursday, April 10th from 4-7pm at Pleasant Grove High School (810 North 100 East, PG). This meeting is Open House style so you may come and go anytime and children are welcome, light refreshments will be served.
It is proven that running on soft surfaces/uneven ground provide multiple benefits to runners and drastically decrease injuries. Read the article on benefits of off road running here .
Here are the issues we would like to raise and have people keep in mind:
1) Will piping and covering the canal will be an unnecessary use of our tax dollars?
2) Will It will make it less scenic and paving the whole thing will add danger and destroy peace by encouraging boarders, roller bladers, etc.?
3) Running next to open water is about 10 degrees cooler and more enjoyable in the summer
4) Will piping the canal will change the habitat for summer water foul?
5) Soft Surface is the best for anyone to walk or run on. (Injury prevention, arthritis, joint recovery, less pounding, etc. One can run more miles off road with better recovery and far less injury.)
We would like to see runners everywhere support this meeting (bring your friends and neighbors) and also encourage the opinion that we prefer the canal to be left soft surface, and if possible, not piped. Remember we were originally told the Provo River “trail” would be left unpaved, but they paved the whole thing…let’s not let that happen again.
It may be wise for us to include a proposal that if paving is absolutely necessary, that half of the trail be left unpaved for runners, walkers, etc.
To gain more knowledge on the benefits of natural surface running and why the government should listen, read this article.
Four Sojourner’s placed in the top 8 in the 1500 meter races at BYU April 4, 2008.
Ayisha Mitchell won the women’s race well under the regional qualifying time of 4:27.8 with her time of 4:25.26 (all times are NCAA altitude adjusted). Only 16 women in college have run faster than her this year, which would rank her 17th in the NCAA so far this year if she had eligibility. Mary Ann Schauerhamer placed 2nd with a personal record of 4:29.47. Rena Chesser finished 8th in 4:38.66 out of 27 women from 6 colleges. The top finishers from local colleges were UVU’s Karinne Bentley (5th), and BYU’s Laura Taylor (6th.)
Jared Keller placed 6th in the men’s race out of 20 men with a time of 3:56.69, beating all the BYU and SUU men. Considering that he has only been back from his LDS mission for two months makes this achievement even greater! Jared works at Runner’s Corner.
Runner’s Corner Employees Amber Andrews, Danny Moody, Derek Moody, Mike Vick, Amelia Troutner, Golden Harper and Sojourners Racing Team Members: Ayisha Mitchell, Rena Chesser, Devra Vierkant, Ty Andrews, Darcy Gribble, and Ryan Gurr are gearing up for the 2008 Wasatch Back Relay to hold their title of Mixed Team Champions for the last two years. With a few teams put together to chase them, it’ll be an interesting year and a great relay. The relay starts in Logan, UT and winds through mountains and back road passages to end up in Park City, UT. Over 178 miles and 12 team members, this team looks like it could dominate the field once again as they work together to show the strength of a Sojourners Running Club and Runner’s Corner team! Good luck team! Hold onto that Championship Title!
Over the weekend, the Sojourners were seen all over Utah County running road races and doing great! In Provo Canyon, Ty and Amber Andrews had fun battling through a 3.7 mile half road, half hilly trail race in the freezing cold and strong canyon winds. Amber finished 1st for the women in a time of 22:38, and Ty was 6th overall for the men. Great job Andrews! Also, Sojourners were seen dotting the crowd at the UVSC Green Fever 5K, and the Boys & Girls Club 5k and 10k. If you have any results to share from your race, please post a comment, and we’ll get it up. Unfortunately, results from all three races are unavailable online yet, so we have no times/names. But great job Sojourners on getting out there and running well!
We’d just like to give a shout out to our Sister team, the Runner’s Corner Ultra Team. They are starting the year on a tear. Some notable performances:
On January 5th, Marc Sanderson was 3rd at the Running from an Angel 50 miler.
On February 16th, Karl Jarvis was the 2nd place overall male at the Moab 33K.
At the Moab 50k, which Brian Beckstead said is the most competitive race field he’s ever seen (Karl Meltzer ran the same time he ran last year when he won and got 7th this year!) there were 3 ultra team members in the top 30: Shane Martin, Dave Hunt, and Shaun Christian.
Last but not least, Karl Jarvis was 3rd with a time that would’ve won last year and Shane Martin was 5th at the Antelope Island 50K on March 22nd, while Shaun Christian was 3rd and Marc Sanderson 4th in the 50 Miler.
Ayisha Mitchell and Mary Ann Schauerhamer placed 1st and 2nd overall in the 800 M with times of 2:10.85 and 2:12.69 in the Willie Williams Classic college outdoor track meet in Tucson, AZ. BYU and UVU women competed in the 3-heat event as well including BYU’s Sandra Mazan (4th, 2:13.9) and UVU’s Alise Lindsey (7th, 2:17.01). 28 women were in the race.
They also placed well in other events:
Mary Ann placed a close 2nd in the 3000 M Steeple Chase only 1 second behind Utah State’s Stacie Lifferth with a time of 10:47.66, which would have qualified her for NCAA Regionals if she still had eligibility.
Ayisha placed 3rd in the 1500 M with a time of 4:30.69, only 6-tenths of a second behind the Team China Aei winners. Among other colleges, several BYU and UVU runners were in her race including BYU’s Carolyn Quebe (5th place in 4:32.99) and UVU’s Chelsea Loss (4:43). 31 women were in the race.
Schauerhamer, Mitchell, and 3rd place Whitney Gebert
This last weekend, Saturday March 15th, Sojourners placed well in both the 10k and 5k for mens and womens.
In the Womens 5k Sojourners took 1st, 2nd, and 4th with Ayisha Mitchell (18:11), Mary Ann Schauerhamer (18:27), and Amber Andrews respectively. Ayisha and Mary Ann also placed 13th and 17th overall out of 1517 men and women in the event.
In the mens 10k Ryan Gurr took the overall spot with an awesome time of 32:23, running away from BYU Mens Cross Country runners.
The Sojourner Women’s Racing Team has been racing well in the past few weeks.
Ayisha Mitchell, 2007 Cross Country National Champion, won the 800m at the BYU indoor invite and ran the 800m at the Idaho State Indoor Invite with a time of 2:13.
Mary Ann Schauerhamer won three races: The Weber State indoor 3000m with a time of 10:12 (Alt. Adj.), the BYU Running Club’s Frigid 5k (19:05), and The UVU Freekin’ Freezin’ 5k (18:43). Sojourner Rena Chesser finished closely behind in 2nd at UVU.
In the Provo Run for Red 5k (actually 3 miles), Schauerhamer placed second overall (18:00), beating all 110 men in the race!
) with a great time of 3:15:40. Teammate McKenzie Montague was a close 2nd with a time of 3:15:51. Both ran great times for a hard course throughout the valley! In the mens marathon, Ryan Gurr took 2nd Overall with a time of 2:56:45! Bruce Miller also showed well for the Sojourners with a time of 3:33:15. Great job to the Sojourners marathoners! In the 5K, Amber Andrews placed 1st Overall for the women with a time of 20:01. Teammate Samantha Slight was 2nd Overall with a 20:16. For the men, Tyson Andrews was 2nd in the hardest division (19-24), and 8th Overall. Great job to the 5K racers on a hard winding uphill course (also the last 3 miles of the marathon…. ugh!) Props for all the amazing performances by Sojourners this weekend!
