The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Michigan runner blazes past FNL field
Klinger wins in 14:18; Akin of Hudson wins women’s division
Maybe if the Friday Night Lights race in Mentor was held a little earlier in the day, the rest of the field might have had a chance.
But as Mitchell Klingler stepped to the starting line for the 9 p.m. start at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium, he felt the warm temperatures had cooled considerably — and he liked his chances. Boy did he ever.
A 28-year-old from Coldwater, Mich., Klingler blew away the field of 500-plus runners and finished with a time of 14 minutes, 18 seconds in the 5K race.
Nathaniel Orndof, 25, of Akron was second with a 14:34, while Joshua Park — the friend who suggested Klinger come to town to run the race — was third with a 14:40.
“On the warmup, I could feel it a little bit,” said Klingler of the day’s heat and humidity. “I knew once it got later, it would get much cooler. Walking over for the start, I could feel the temperatures had dropped.”
So that was his opportunity to turn up the heat.
The former national qualifier in the 5K at Albion College sprinted out of Jerome T. Osborne and established a big lead fast.
To the point the rest of the field waved bye-bye.
“He pulled past us around 200 or 300 meters in,” said Orndof. “(The pace) was a little quicker than I wanted, so I let him go and hung on with the other guy with me.”
Orndof signing up for the race was a last-moment decision. Because of the pandemic, he hadn’t trained much because he didn’t anticipate many — if any — races his summer.
The former 10K national qualifier at Grand Valley State was still happy with his time and finish.
“I knew it would feel like a sprint from the beginning, and that’s pretty much what it was.”
Speaking of sprints, that’s what Emily Akin of Hudson used to slip past Mentor’s Savannah Dennison with about 300 meters left in the race to take the women’s crown.
A 20-year-old on the Miami (Ohio) track and cross country team, Akon ran a 17:45. Dennison, 15, came in three seconds later at 17:48.
“It wasn’t me pulling away. It was a last-second kick. (Dennison) is a great competitor,” Akin said. “Honestly, the whole time, I was pretty far back. I didn’t see (Dennison) until the very end. I was like, ‘Hey, it’s the end. I’ve got to go for it and go for the win.”
Dennison, the star-studded sophomore-to-be at Mentor, said she heard someone tell her that Akin was right behind her. The college runner simply outkicked the high-schooler this time.
“I gave it everything I could,” Dennison said. “I got through the second mile at 11:16. I fell off a little after that. The last mile didn’t matter. I gave everything I could.”
Because of social distancing efforts, the 500-member field went off in five waves. Many runners wore masks as they ran. All runners and spectators were asked to wear masks and remain socially distanced as much as possible before and after the race.
“We had a lot of compliments and thank yous,” said race coordinator Bill Dennison. “Thank you for putting on the race. We needed some sort of break from everything going on in the world. It was a great night.”