Photo by Carter Sherline, Frog Prince Studios.
GRAND RAPIDS (5/11) - If there were any doubts before, there aren't now. Jeanne Hennessy is for real. A novice runner just learning the tricks of the trade on the road-race circuit, Hennessy won the USA Track & Field 25K national championship at the 25th annual Fifth Third River Bank Run. Hennessy and Teresa Wanjiku of Kenya traded surges over the first 14 miles before one last move, with a mile to go, broke it open for the Kenyan. Wanjiku, who finished in 1:26:57, won $4,000 in the open division: the same amount Hennessy, 21 seconds back, earned for claiming the U.S. crown.

It was a record day in Grand Rapids. Wheelchair racer Krige Schabort, a South African living in Georgia, shattered wheelchair 25K world record, men's open champ Ronald Mogaka of Kenya missed a world record (and $5,000 bonus) by one second, and the event set all-time entry standards in both the 25K (4,711) and the 5K (3,015). Schabort wheeled the 15.5 miles in 51:30, breaking the 52:02 mark set here last year by his countryman and training partner, Ernst Van Dyk. The two went out together with the record in mind, but Van Dyk - feeling the effects of a marathon six days before in Pittsburgh - fell off the pace over the hilly last half of the out-and-back course along the Grand River. Cheri Blauwet of Tucson, Ariz., was women's wheelchair winner in 1:11:38.

The USATF men's 25K title was claimed by David Morris, who nearly decided not to run here at all. The Albuquerque resident raced the Sunday before in the world team half-marathon championship in Brussels, and after six straight weekends of racing felt dead-legged. At the starting line, Morris thought he might very well end up a DNF. "I was sore and tired all week, but once we started, it felt good," he said. "I'd committed to Grand Rapids before I made the U.S. team for Brussels, but I was tempted to pull out."

Morris won with help from a tactical error by Michigan native Todd Williams, a multiple state champion at Monroe High School in the mid- '80s before going on to a stellar college and pro career.

Just before the last turn, a fan hollered out that the finish was just around the corner, and Williams began to kick. Unfortunately, the finish was three blocks past the turn. "At that point, my booty went, 'Whew!'" joked Williams. "I knew he (Morris) was going to pass me. Oh well, if you run 15.5 miles and only 100 yards is bad, you've had a good day." Morris finished in 1:17:15, with Williams taking runner-up money of $2,000, five seconds back.

It was no surprise to see these two veterans contesting the U.S. title. But watching Hennessy duke it out for the women's open crown with a Kenyan, was amazing. Hennessy, 25, from Mahopac, N.Y., was a soccer player at Villanova University, but never ran competitively until after she finished school. She began training in 1999 after she and her brother agreed to try running the New York City Marathon that fall. The two failed to win spots in the lottery for that race, so Jeanne tackled the 2000 Jersey Shore Marathon instead. She finished in 3:26 and decided she liked the sport.

Hennessy, training alone and without a coach, just kept getting better. She ran a 2:39 (fourth American) at last fall's New York City Marathon. In December, she picked up fabled coach Joe Vigil - "I feel blessed to have him," she said - and debuted on the U.S. pro circuit.

Last year, in addition to her NYC finish, Hennessy was second at the New York Road Runners Club Championship and sixth in the Tufts 10K. The River Bank Run was her first win and first big payday: $4,000 for the U.S. title and $2,000 more as overall runnerup. "Until last year, my fastest mile was seven minutes," she said. Not now.

At Fifth Third, things weren't settled until the last mile. "I spotted a guy ahead of me and tried to catch him," said Wanjiku, explaining her move at 14-1/2 miles. "She (Hennessy) wasn't able to go with me."

"I got hit by a head wind and couldn't cover her move," said Hennessy. Admitting "the distance is new to me, and I'm so new to racing," she nonetheless had the audacity to throw in surges of her own during the race, all of them covered by the tiny Kenyan.

Beth Olds of Douglasville, Ga., was second American and third overall in 1:29:30. Former Stanwood resident Lori Stich Zimmerman, who now lives in Austin, Tex., was the third American in 1:32:23. Laura Murphy of Rochester led the Michigan women's contingent, crossing in 1:37:42. As for the men's world-record of 1:13:55, set on this course by Joseph Kariuki in 1998, Mogaka came about as close as you can. Though Rodgers Rop ran a pending world-record 1:13:44 a year ago in Berlin, organizers here were set to pay a $5,000 bonus to anyone breaking Kariuki's standard. Mogaka fell just short, crossing in 1:13:56.

Perhaps the searing start - he and Gabriel Muchiri ran the second mile in 4:28 and the third in 4:29 to leave four countrymen in the dust - drained Mogaka of his kick as the clock ticked off on the three-block- long finishing straightaway.

Mogaka and Muchiri raced stride for stride until midway, when Mogaka pulled away on a series of hills. Mogaka would open a gap on the inclines, Muchiri would reel him in on the downhills. Mogaka led led by five meters at eight miles, by 20 at 8.5, by six seconds at 9.5, and by 16 seconds at 11.

"The start of the race was difficult for me because I was not warm enough," Mogaka said of 40-degree May morning. "But at halfway, I decided to go for the world record." He won $4,000, with Muchiri (1:15:37) earning $2,000 for second, and Kariuki (1:16:11) $1,500 for third.

Two other runners with local ties finished as third and fourth Americans. James Jurcevich and Kyle Baker were both on the first Team Hansons elite squad, sponsored by southeast Michigan running store owners Keith and Kevin Hanson. Jurcevich got married and moved to Columbus last October, while Baker is now an assistant track coach at Michigan State University. Jurcevich, who pushed the pace much of the race, won $1,500 for his U.S. third-place time of 1:17:23. Baker finished four seconds back and collected $1,000.

Andre Kuznetsov of the Ukraine won $1,500 as the masters (over-40) men's champion, finishing in 1:20:20 and beating Phil Bedford of Midland by 35 seconds. (Bedford won the national master's 10K snowshoe title last winter in Traverse City.) Mike Scannell of Grand Blanc placed third in the division with a 1:21:41.

Kim Jones, of Fort Collins, Colo., had an easy win in the women's masters race, running 1:36:07 to beat Jane Welzel, also of Fort Collins, by 3:38. Laurie Decker of Cadillac was third in 1:41:05.