Ben Lippen graduate Graham Tribble and Spring Valley graduate Kate Niehaus sealed overall wins earlier today in Columbia at the Cold Winter's Day 5K.
"I decided to run the Cold Winter's Day 5K Wednesday or Thursday," said Tribble. I was thinking about it some before that."
Tribble, a junior at University of Virginia, finished 15 seconds ahead of 2007 champion Eric Ashton in 15 minutes, 15 seconds.
Photo left: Graham Tribble and Kate Niehaus during the Cold Winter's Day awards ceremony. Photo courtesy of Strictly Running.
"Getting the win was great. I showed up to win the race and to get a good workout before heading back to school," Tribble said.
The race was good. I saw some familiar faces at the start and knew who would push the pace. I hung back for a couple of minutes and then went up to the leader to keep it faster. The course was pretty flat so it was easier to keep it faster. Eric Ashton and I were together at the mile, which we hit in 5:01. After than, I picked it up a little. It seems like a gap opened up just before or soon after two miles (9:54). We finished about 15 seconds apart. I like to win, so finishing in first place was good."
Tribble said he returns to Virginia this Saturday to join the team for practice and "some solid training before school gets underway (Jan. 13)."
The Cavalier says training without his teammates has been different.
"My training has gone well this break," he said. "It is different not having teammates to run with everyday. The last few weeks I have been upping my mileage to a decent amount. I haven't done workouts except for some core work and plyometrics type stuff. My long runs are faster and are a harder effort."
Tribble also noted the weather is different in South Carolina and he had to adapt a little.
"The weather is pretty different at home too. The warmer weather has given me a nice break from the colder weather in Charlottesville. When I first got home, I had to get used to it a little bit. Some of my teammates live in much colder places and have much tougher training conditions, so I feel blessed to come back home and train in South Carolina."
Niehaus, a junior at Stanford University, finished 23rd overall in 18 minutes, 25 seconds. Kathryn Ashton (age 26) was the second female across the line (31st, 19:16).
"I was just running the race as a way to get in a workout with some company," said Niehaus. "I think it worked well for this purpose, and it was fun to see some runners who I haven't seen in awhile."
Tribble, running with Niehaus and Strictly Running groups over the break, said this about her race, "I thought Kate would run the race. I have run with her some over the break with the Strictly Running crowd. Her win did not surprise me. She is on a much higher level than most people."
The people organizing the race were welcoming," said Tribble. "I saw some different people I met running at Ben Lippen High School and in the Columbia area. Some of the race organizers like Mark Bedenbaugh and Selwyn Blake are friends of mine. They have run with me and inspired me since I was a sophomore in high school. Hopefully high school and college runners in the Columbia area will continue to meet at their Strictly Running store for good training."
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