Houck Has Strong Finish in Grandmas Marathon

June 22

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Jennifer Houck, a native of Wright, had a strong showing last Saturday during Grandma’s Marathon weekend. Running in the 19th annual Garry Bjorklund half marathon, Houck finished in 11th place with a stunning time of 1:22:08. The winner was Belainish Gebre who registered a time of 1:11:57.

Houck led a strong contingent of local runners in the women’s division of the half marathon. Finishing 54th was Molly Pennings of Culver, while Samantha Smith of Wright finished 61st and Liz Palkie was 66th. Palkie, an All-American at UMD in track and cross country, was making the move up from the 800 meters which she ran in college.

Pennings also finished in 11th place in the women’s 30-34 age division, while Esko’s Jody Zeleznkiar finished seventh in the women’s 35-39 year age group.

In other women’s age divisions, it was Carlton’s Shari Lindquist taking eighth in the 45-49 year old age group. Linda Stevens of Moose Lake was 16th in the 60-64 year old division and Cloquet’s Cartherine Castellano was third in the women’s 65-69 division.

Matt Kramer was 27th in the men’s half marathon with a time of 1:14:00 which was also good enough for a 16th place finish in the men’s 20-29 year old category.

Esko high school runner Jackson Lindquist was 9th in the 13-19 year old division. Doug Juntine of Esko was 16th in the 40-44 year old group. Art Santi of Cloquet was 17th in 60-64 and James Ames was 9th in the men’s 70-and over division.

The area’s lone top finisher in the marathon was Moose Lake’s Walter Lower who took 8th place in the men’s 70-and over division.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com