Youth rules the day at Spit Run

Homer and Anchor Point’s speedy young adults took over the top 10 in the runners division of the 6-K Homer Spit Run on Saturday, June 25.

Pedro Ochoa, a 19-year-old Homer High School alumnus, crossed the finish line first. Ochoa was nearly two minutes ahead of the second place runner, 16-year-old Homer High School junior Jacob Davis, with a time of 35:12.58. Davis came in at 37:00.81, just a second past his goal time of 37 minutes, he said.

“It feels amazing and it hurts,” Davis said. “I was going for the big improvement this year.”

Despite his overwhelming victory, Ochoa was humble at the finish line. He said if Homer resident Jake Moe had been racing, he wouldn’t have taken first.

“I would have been second, like my bib,” Ochoa said, gesturing to his race bib that had the number two on it.

However, this was hardly Ochoa’s first race. In high school, Ochoa ran cross-country and track for the Mariners with outstanding results. He has run the Spit Run four times, finishing first in 2014. He beat his 2015 Spit Run time of 35:44.00 by about 32 seconds.

Ochoa, a member of the National Guard, plans to run the Army 10-Miler race for the National Guard in Washington, D.C. this summer as well.

Homer resident Marlin Schuster, 31, ran across the finish line at 37:24.56, a time that put him in third place for his first Spit Run. Schuster said he was aiming for first, but Davis and Ochoa got ahead of him.

“I had to go pretty hard to beat these high school kids, and then one of them beat me,” Schuster said.

Other youth in the 15-19 category overwhelmingly made up the top 10 finishers, including 15-year-old Anchor Point resident Luciano Fasulo, 17-year-old Homer resident Jared Brant, 16-year-old Homer resident Charlie Menke, 15-year-old Homer resident Dexter Lowe, and 16-year-old Homer resident Denver Waclawski.

Tara Schmidt, 25, was the first woman to cross the finish line, with a time of 42:44.32. She was closely followed by 17-year-old Homer High School athletes Megan Pitzman and Lauren Evarts, who finished with times of 42:22.90 and 43:40.99, respectively.

The youth even swept the walkers category’s top three places, with 9-year-old Beatrix McDonough, 12-year-old Fiona Hatton and 12-year-old Kira Milne finishing in first, second and third. McDonough came in at 1:08:00.52, while the pair of 12-year-olds came in 5 minutes late at 1:13:44.69 and 1:13:45.94.

Ralph Broshes, finishing his 40th Spit Run, came in 112th with a time of 57:18.66.

A total of 235 runners and 49 walkers competed in the Spit Run.

Anna Frost can be reached at anna.frost@homernews.com.

Homer Spit Run

Male 9 and under: 1.Sammy Anders; 2.Lukas Renner; 3.Landen Showalter; 4.Liam Bass

Male 10-14: 1.Ian Simmons; 2.Alex Degray; 3.Ben Post; 4.Jacob Ross; 5.Lance Seneff; 6.Niko Sukzynsi; 7.Thatcher Lowney; 8.Parker Lowney; 9.Nathan Overson

Male 15-19: 1.Pedro Ochoa; 2.Jacob Davis; 3.Luciano Fasulo; 4.Jared Brant; 5.Charlie Menke; 6.Dexter Lowe; 7.Denver Waclawski; 8.Gregory Trail; 9.Elan Carroll; 10.Kane Graham

Male 20-24: 1.Peter Brewer; 2.Jonathan Seneff; 3.John Roedl; 4.Jay Harris; 5.Philip Scott; 6.Aria Paxton; 7.Keith Coddington; 8.Miles Cleary

Male 25-29: 1.Clayton Custer; 2.Wilfrid Roedl; 3.Eric Blevins

Male 30-34:; 1.Marlin Schuster; 2.Nick Bicandi; 3.Michael Sloth; 4.Tom Anderson; 5.Nick Lavrakas; 6.Paul Tornow; 7.Zack Hicks

Male 35-39: 1.Frederick Dickerson; 2.Jordin Keintz; 3.Benjamin McGarry; 4.Nathan Elerick; 5.Jeremiah Bergevin

Male 40-44: 1.Brian Shumaker; 2.Matt Dudley

Male 45-49: 1.Kent Peterson; 2.Thomas McDonough; 3.Greg Lincoln; 4.Bill Jirsa; 5.Peter Hilts

Male 50-54: 1.Thomas Degray; 2.Dean Ravin; 3.Thomas Brewer; 4.L.j. Davis; 5.Alan Goins; 6.Geoff Coble; 7.John Hill

Male 55-59: 1.William Steyer; 2.Andy Haas

Male 60-64: 1.Bud Johnson; 2.Mike Ostrom; 3.Michael Rearden

Male 65-69: 1.John Chapple; 2.Jeff Smith; 3.Gary Lyon

Male 70-74: 1.Ralph Broshes; 2.Bill Wagner

Female 9 and under: 1.Kya Stokes; 2.Frida Renner; 3.Nevaeh Gregoire

Female 15-19: 1.Megan Pitzman; 2.Lauren Evarts; 3.Haley Knott; 4.Katelyn Davis; 5.Alison McCarron; 6.Brenna McCarron; 7.Samantha Draves; 8.Mary Bowe; 9.Anahi Ochoei; 10.Alexis Trombley

Female 20-24: 1.Gabriella Sonnenberg; 2.Rachel Cisek; 3.Georgia Lucas; 4.Josephine Sloyan; 5.Abigail Shealy; 6.Sarah Andrews; 7.Veronica Stephens; 8.Natalee Finley; 9.Miranda Beach; 10.Jaclyn Lucas

Female 25-29: 1.Tara Schmidt; 2.Mackenzie Burns; 3.Hanna Young; 4.Melanie Mach; 5.Amanda Cherak; 6.Brianne Steed; 7.Nichole Dojka; 8.Alyssa Carey; 9.Hailey Imlach; 10.Danielle Mohr

Female 30-34: 1.Rena Anderson; 2.Ashley Van Hemert; 3.Airlia Pang; 4.Elizabeth Roedl; 5.Lia Calhoun; 6.Robyn Ellison; 7.Emily Sloth; 8.Laura Kay; 9.Brynn Moe; 10.Carrie Pulliam

Female 35-39: 1.Brooke Dudley; 2.Julie Ross; 3.Roberta Graham; 4.Amber Riggs; 5.Laura Kirk; 6.Bobbi Lay; 7.Denise Carl; 8.Jenifer Kumfer; 9.Sara Bundy; 10.Amanda Miotke

Female 40-44: 1.Joolee Aurand; 2.Nadia Anders; 3.Heather Renner; 4.Tara Smith; 5.Kristie Gummer; 6.Dana McDonald; 7.Tiffanie Story; 8.Jennifer Bass

Female 45-49: 1.Emilie Otis; 2.Johnna Degray; 3.Laura Peek; 4.Sheilah-Margaret Pothast; 5.Betsy McKitrick; 6.Karen Nelson; 7.Susan Oliver; 8.Denise Demetree-Trombley; 9.Kelly Lincoln

Female 50-54: 1.Elizabeth Hardie; 2.Sue Mauger; 3.Linda Shaw; 4.Rebecca Ravin; 5.Tracy Kalytiak; 6.Darla Bacher; 7.Camelle Bickish; 8.Tara Schmidt; 9.Joan Nelson; 10. Vinia Haskell

Female 55-59: 1.Heather Johnson; 2.Terri Mach; 3.Judith Steyer; 4.Pamela Obrien; 5.Christine Anderson; 6.Rachelle Gruenberg; 7.Kelly Hicks

Female 60-64: 1.Sarah Kleedehn; 2.Mary Ann Renkert; 3.Ann Marie Bailey; 4.Polly Prindle-Hess; 5.Maria Sweppy; 6.Ruth Lavrakas

Female 70-74: 1.Leone Wagner

Female 75+: 1.Barbara Leichtung

Robert Letson, 68, of Anchor Point laughs as acquintances cheer him on from across the street on the Spit. Letson finished 45th out of 49 in the walkers division of the Saturday, June 25 Spit Run with a time of 1:55:09.64.

(left to right) Joan Ryan of Anchorage and Fabiola Urbina of Chile run down the Spit as they strive to reach the finish line of the June 25 Spit Run. The two women finished in 205th and 206th place.

Ashley Van Hemert bites into an orange slice after completing the Spit Run on June 25. Hemert came in 33rd place in the runner’s division with a time of 0:46:46.45

Alison McCarron, 15, finishes the Spit Run in 65th place with a time of 0:51:16.26.

(left to right) Marlin Schuster, who took third place, Pedro Ochoa, who took first place, and Jacob Davis, who took second place, pose for a photo after completing the Spit Run on Saturday, June 25.