FLINT (8/28/04) - Neither driving rain, nor day-turned-night by a fearsome squall line, nor thunder and lightning could stop Brian Sell from shocking himself, fans and more than a few competitors with his fourth-place finish at the Crim Festival of Races 10-miler.

Sell, 26, a member of the Hansons-Brooks team from Rochester Hills, had a breakthrough performance in his first Crim. It was also the first Crim in 27 years delayed by bad weather, a brief-but-furious storm that forced a half-hour delay.

Sell, who led for much of the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February, had no fade in him in Flint, finishing in 48:38, the first top-five performance by an American here since 1991.

The rain delay and Sell's high U.S. finish may have been rarities. What wasn't rare was a win by - who else? - a Kenyan. Linus Maiyo, 21, threw in a withering surge with a mile and a half to go to claim his first U.S. road-racing circuit win.

While the men's race started out with a large pack, the women's competition was between two runners from the gun. Galina Alexandrova, 28, of Russia, led most of the way, with last year's runner- up, Leah Malot, 32, of Kenya, right behind.

At the nine-mile mark, Malot picked up the pace. Alexandrova tried to match her but couldn't.

"In the beginning I was cold and started slow," said Malot of the drizzle that lasted the first few miles. "After that, it was perfect." She won $5,000 for her 54:35, with the Russian 10 seconds back.

Maiyo, tailed by countryman Isaac Arusei for several miles, didn't wait quite as long to make his decisive move. The two may be Kenyans, but have different agents and are fierce rivals. Maiyo snaked repeatedly from one side of the road to the other, trying to get Arusei to quit drafting on him, adding numerous meters to the official 10 miles of the race. Finally, he threw in a straight-ahead surge on the last major hill and pulled away.

"I was trying to drop him so I could compete by myself," said Maiyo of his conga-line tactics. He finished in 48:06, the slowest winning time here since 1987 - of course, he ran farther than any past winners - to bring home $5,000. Arusei, who finished 13 seconds back, won $2,500.

Greg Meyer, Crim's elite-athlete coordinator and still U.S. record-holder at 10 miles, loved every minute of the conga weave from his vantage point on the press truck.

"That's racing! That's great!" he said, watching Maiyo play with his followers, giving them the choice of running extra distance if they wanted to draft, or setting off in the lead. Meyer remembered leading the River Bank 25K in his prime, with newcomer Mark Smith of Cadillac on his heels, when he came to a near-stop and basically told Smith to do his blankety-blank share of the work.

Smith, startled at getting chastised by a legend, took off like a bat out of hell, won the race and set an American record at the distance. For Meyer, it was a case of being careful what you wish for.

But back to the present, Crim and the hard Sell, or rather, the hard- charging Brian Sell.

"I felt terrible the first two miles. Josh (Eberly), our new guy (for the Hansons team) was gapping me and I was worried," said Sell, who won $1,500 in open-division and $800 in Michigan-only prize money. By four miles Sell found his rhythm, and from there he ran powerfully and smoothly. Eberly eventually finished 11th in 49:42.

"It was fun out there," said Sell. "We were doing a lot of racing. They (the Kenyans) seemed faster on the downhills, and then I'd be stronger on the uphills.

"It was funny. At one point we passed a bunch of black dudes on the side of the road, and they hollered to me, 'Go, white dude!'"

Sell said he doubted what his eyes told him - that he was battling for a top-three finish. He could see the two front-runners 125 meters ahead of him, "but I kept thinking, maybe there's another two out ahead of them."

The only ones ahead were riding on the press bus, and their finish didn't count.

Sell ran in third place the last few miles, but was outkicked by a second over the last 100 meters by Patrick Nthiwa, 21, of Kenya.

"I didn't have any wheels left," said Sell. "I tried to take it out of him (Nthiwa) on the last hill, but it didn't work."

Clint Verran, 29, a Hansons team member who finished fifth at the Olympic marathon trials, placed ninth in 49:39 to win $250 in open- division and $400 in Michigan-only prize money.

Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 49, of the Ukraine, turned in one of the day's top performances. She was fourth overall and first in the master's (over age 40) division, winning a total of $2,700 for her 56:31.

"My body and mind are young. I don't worry about my age," she said, doing double duty, as she does each year, translating for the Russian and Ukrainian women who invariably do well here.

American Chris Toepfer, 41, was the top male master in 56:48.

The top American woman was Betsy Frens, 29, of Kalamazoo. Frens placed seventh overall in 58:58, winning $600 in open and $800 in state prize money. Denisa Costescu, 28, a Romanian living in Wixom, was the next state resident, finishing eighth overall in 59:47, good for $800. Another Hansons runner, Monica Hostetler, 28, was ninth overall in 1:00:03, winning $500.

Tony Iniquez of Bolingbrook, Ill., was an easy winner of the men's 10- mile wheelchair race in 40:06, earning $1,000 for his effort. Miriam Nibley of Champaign, Ill., led the women wheelers in 51:13.

The 10-mile road race drew more than 6,000 entrants. Close to 14,000 participated in one or more of the day's events, which included a first- ever hand-cycle race on the 10-mile course, a mile run, a 5K run and walk, an 8K run and walk, plus a series of shorter trots for kids. MR