Middle schooler is first back-to-back champ

Mentor native Dennison wins women’s race by three minutes

Savannah Dennison signed up for the 2017 Journal Jog ready for back-to-back medals after unexpectedly taking first place in last year’s race.

In fact, last year Dennison hadn’t even known she was racing until the night before.

But sure enough, the 12-yearold Mentor native became the second-ever two-time winner and first back-to-back winner in both the men’s and women’s categories with a time of 19:12.9 — almost a full five seconds better than last year’s finish and over three minutes faster than the women’s second overall finisher.

Ludmila Stepanova became the first two-time winner in 2013 at 16:35 after winning the inaugural race in 2010 with a 16:36 finish.

“Today was just kind of like get out there, run hard,” Dennison said. “My main goal was to win today.”

“I’m very happy with a 19:12 because knowing that I haven’t been doing any speed (running), just long distance, it’s really amazing what I can do without any speed workouts.”

This year, the Dennisons turned the Journal Jog into a family affair. Along with dad, Bill, who ran with Savannah last year, her brother, Billy, joined in while the rest of the family cheered from the sidelines.

Bill finished 10th overall and first in the men’s 40-44 age group at 20:53.8, while Billy finished 12th at 21:00.1.

“We were on vacation and we just came back,” Savannah said. “My dad was like, ‘Hey, the Journal Jog’s on Sunday,’ so we just got up and came out here and ran.”

This is Dennison’s second 5K of the summer after placing second in the Friday Night Lights 5K July 14 in Mentor with a time of 18:26, and though she has had faster finishes in the past, with a time trial race coming up on Aug. 1, Dennison said this was a perfect tune-up for races to come.

“I was OK with it knowing that I have a race on Tuesday,” she added.

And if you’re wondering the secret to becoming a back-to-back medalist, according to the Memorial Middle School seventh-grader, there’s not much to it.

“I just warm up and do my thing,” Dennison said.

Other medalists in the women’s category included: Mary Van Almen, second overall at 22:26.5 and Lorain’s Rachel Landis who took third with a 24:21.1 finish.

“My dad was like, ‘Hey, the Journal Jog’s on Sunday,’ so we just got up and came out here and ran.”

— Journal Jog women’s champion Savannah Dennison

RANDY MEYERS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Women’s winner Savannah Dennison, of Mentor, strides across the finish line on July 30.