SPRINGFIELD - Springfield's Savannah Brannan, a former Glen Carbon resident and Edwardsville High School graduate, was the overall winner of the women's race at the Abe Lincoln Half-Marathon (13.1-mile) race held recently in downtown Springfield. Taggart Vanetten of Morton won the men's race.
Vanetten and Brannan were able to record very good times. Vanetten won the men's race with a time of 1:12:38.9, with Emmons King of West Lebanon, Ind. second at 1:13:51.9, in third place was Kaiden McCormick of Nixa, Mo., who was in at 1:14:45.1, fourth place went to Dan Plunkett of Springfield at 1:15:04.7 and fellow Springfield resident Mike Smith rounded out the top five at 1:15:52.2.
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Brannan dominated the women's race from wire-to-wire, coming in at 1:27:39.2, with Julia Wykoff, also of Springfield, finishing second at 1:33:58,4, Springfield's Alexa Thomson was third at 1:34:44.0, in fourth place was Anna Newell-Beck of St. Louis, coming in at 1:36:37.7 and rounding out the top five was Springfield's Patricia Schaefer at 1:36:55.7.
Vanetten said after the race he was very pleased to walk away with the overall title. Brannan said she was also pleased with her finish as conditions were cold on the day of the race. Brannan will represent the USA in her age group in September at the 2023 World Triathlon Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. She was selected after the national championships in Milwaukee, Wisc., this past summer. She is a student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Medical School in Springfield.
She was the overall female champion at the 10-mile Great River Road Race this past November in Alton.
In the men's race, the top Riverbender.com area finisher was Rich Luers of Collinsville, who came in at 1:26:30.0, with Travis Bosich of Alton in at 1:40:58.2. Zoe Weiss of Edwardsville was the top local female runner with a time of 1:59:28.1, Madison Boente of Carlinville had a time of 2:02:01.5, with another Carlinville runner, Paige Vinyard, was in at 2:02:02.1 and Jacquelin Anderson of Glen Carbon came in at 2:02:07.7.
In the age categories, the Master's winner was David Wortman of Springfield, who had a time of 1:25:56.1, while the 15-19 winner was McCormick, KIng took the 20-24 category, Plunkett won in the 25-29 age group, Smith won in the 30-34 group, Jared Cullen of Springfield won the 35-39 grouping at 1:20:43.0, Luers was the winner in the 40-44 age group, Chris Sweisegood of Springfield took the 45-49 group at 1:29:37.0, Chatham's Greg Turk won the 50-54 division at 1:34:50.4, in the 55-59 age group, the winner was Blake Scranton of Springfield at 1:35:49.0, William Owens, also of Springfield, was the 60-64 winner, coming in at 1:36:31.9, David Floyd of Chatham was the winner in the 65-69 age group at 1:39:30.2, Glen Phillips of Jacksonville was the winner in the 70-74 group at 2:28:48.4, the 75-79 group winner was James Alexander of Chesterfield, Mo., at 3:00:34.2 and the 80-and-over winner was Jim Wright of Glencoe, Mo., who was in at 2:49:57.0.
The women's age group winners start with Schaefer as the Master's champion, while the 14-and-under winner was Josie Hodel of Roanoke at 2:39.17.4, with the 15-19 winner being Hannah Nation of Sherman, who was in at 1:37:08.6, Thomsen won the 20-24 age group, Lindsay Cook of Chatham won the 25-29 division at 1:40:56.5, the 30-34 age group winner was Wykoff, while Newell-Beck took the 35-39 division, Emily Smith of Springfield won the 40-44 group at 1:47:57.2, Lexington's Michele Heller won the 45-49 group at 1:41:19.6, Tracy Dowell of Springfield was the winner of the 50-54 division at 1:47:15.8, Pamela Stevens of Petersburg won the 55-59 race at 1:49:11.2, the 60-64 group winner was Sonya Clark of Kirksville, Mo. at 2:01:06.4, the 65-69 winner was Helen Claver of Danvers at 2:21:58.3, Rosalie Saffell of Shipman won the 70-74 race at 2:18:20.6 and the 75-79 group winner was Marilyn Kushak of Springfield at 3:05:10.1.
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