Puskedra, Hall Set New PRs to Lead Americans

By Scott Bush

What started as a tight-knit lead pack in the women's race Sunday at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, desolved over the final miles of the race, as World Half Marathon silver medalist Mary Wacera (KEN) ratcheded up the tempo to where it was only she and countrywoman Cynthia Limo (KEN) running stride for stride over the final few miles of the race. 

The honest early pace increased substantially over the second half of the race, with Wacera getting a step on Limo past the 12 mile mark, only to increase her lead and finishing in 1:06:29, the fastest women's half marathon ever run on American soil. Limo finished second in 1:06:41, marking the two as the ninth and eleventh fastest women half marathon performers in history. 

Behind Wacera and Limo, Mare Dibaba (ETH) held tough after being dropped around the ten mile mark, placing third in 1:07:55, edging countrywoman Rita Aga (ETH), who finished fourth in 1:08:07. 

From there, there was a large gap back to American Sara Hall, who ran by herself much of the second half of the race. Hall, who's training for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in less than a month, ran a gutsy race, pushing the pace and finishing in a top 15 all-time American mark of 1:10:07, two minutes behind fourth place, but over a minute ahead of sixth place. Needless to say, it was a fantastic tune-up performance by the California-based runner and was a 42 second personal best.

On the men's side, uneven pacing early on kept the lead men from pushing the one hour barrier, but Lelisa Desisa (ETH) and Mosinet Geremew (ETH) made sure that the finish was still thrilling. Desisa and Geremew pulled away from the lead pack of five with around 5k to go. The two ran stride for stride the remaining miles until the finish line came in sight. As Desisa started his kick, Geremew tried his best to pull up alongside Desisa. The two elbowed each other and Desisa kept the line, breaking Geremew's step with 400 meters to go. 

As Desisa continued to push, Geremew accepted defeat, falling back to a jog. Desisa sprinted to the line, crossing victoriously in 1:00:37, while Geremew finished second in 1:00:45.

Behind those two, American Luke Puskedra tried valiantly to edge Samson Gebreyohannes Gezahai (ERI) over the final 100 meters of the race, but came up just short, as the Eritrean won the battle 1:01:28-1:01:29. For Puskedra, his fourth place finish represented a new half marathon PR by seven seconds and gave the Oregon-based athlete plenty of confidence as the US Olympic Marathon Trials near.

Men's Top 15 Finishers

1:00:37 Lelisa Desisa (ETH)
1:00:45 Mosinet Geremew (ETH)
1:01:28 Samson Gebreyohannes Gezahai (ERI)
1:01:29 Luke Puskedra (USA)
1:01:55 Terefa Delesa (ETH)
1:02:26 Jim Spisak (USA)
1:02:30 Shadrack Biwott (USA)
1:02:40 Nelson Oyugi (KEN)
1:02:45 Ismail Ssenyange (UGA)
1:02:53 Aron Rono (USA)
1:02:54 George Alex (USA)
1:03:00 Patrick Smyth (USA)
1:03:25 Sean Keveren (USA)
1:03:28 Diego Estrada (USA)
1:03:28 Abbabiya Simbassa (USA)

Women's Top 15 Finishers

1:06:29 Mary Wacera (KEN)
1:06:41 Cynthia Limo (KEN)
1:07:55 Mare Dibaba (ETH)
1:08:07 Ruti Aga (ETH)
1:10:07 Sara Hall (USA)
1:11:30 Nazret Weldu Gebrehiwet (ERI)
1:11:49 Hillary Montgomery (USA)
1:12:05 Lindsay Flanagan (USA)
1:12:25 Katie Matthews (USA)
1:12:27 Sarah Pagano (USA)
1:12:39 Serena Burla (USA)
1:12:48 Alia Gray (USA)
1:12:56 Susanna Sullivan (USA)
1:14:03 Anna Weber (USA)
1:14:07 Juliet Bottorff (USA)