Memorial Hospital hosts annual half marathon

Published 6:21 pm Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Top Bainbridge High School Bearcat cross country and track runner Poncherella Leonard won the 5000-meter run and Roger Schmidt won the half marathon at the 5th annual Bainbridge Memorial Hospital and Manor’s 5000-meter run and half marathon sponsored by the Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Leonard finished a time of 18:19.80 almost a full minute ahead of second place finisher Efran Diaz who finished in 19:12.18.

Leonard previously broke the school record in the 1600 with a time of 4:29.26 and this past fall he set the new school cross-country record with a time of 15:56.

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Ryan Muller finished third in the 5000 in a time of 20:29.27, Alexander Coleman finished fourth in 21:32.70 and Haydn Coleman finished fifth in 22:44.36.

Uriyah Davis was the top female finisher in the 5000 and she placed sixth overall in a time of 23.29.15. Jim Tully finished seventh and Mabry Briss finished eighth in times of 24.06.18 and 24.06.26 respectively.

Cathy Jones finished ninth in 26:36.02 and Emilee Poppell finished tenth in 28:16.45.

Schmidt won the half marathon in a time of 1:16:44.1 a full seven minutes ahead of his closest competitor Myles Gibson who finished in 1:23:57.0.

Matthew Phillips and Mark Tombrink were third and fourth with times of 1:30:32 .9 and 1:32:21.2. The top female finisher was Anna Busby who was fifth overall with a time of 1:32:26.8.

Trevor Marshall finished sixth in a time of 1:34:35.9, Pauncho Hufstetler finished seventh in 1:35:37.0 and Philip Sura finished eighth in 1:37:06.5. Grant Dautel finished ninth and Harold Allen finished tenth in 1:37:46.8 and 1:39:41.4 respectively.

The run, which started and ended on the Memorial Hospital grounds, proceeded through downtown Bainbridge and followed the Flint River. It then proceeded back to Shotwell St. before heading to the Lake Douglas residential area and the oak lined campus of Bainbridge State College. Finally the course looped back into the Lake Douglas area and finished at the hospital.