PARKERSBURG-It was a day of seconds for area females during the 25th News and Sentinel Half Marathon.
Setting the tone for the day was 23-year old Vienna resident Brittany Schob's runner-up finish to 16-year old Sami Harris in the Overall American division. The former Ohio Valley University cross country runner, who now teaches in the Marietta School system, covered the 13.1-mile race in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 7 seconds.
Her time was better than the one she posted in 2010, but more than three minutes behind Harris (1:23:02), who will be a junior at Charleston Catholic High School and will run cross country for the Fighting Irish this fall.
"I did OK," said Schob. "My only goal this year was to do better than I did last year and I did."
Schob wasn't the only local that had to settle for second place as Williamstown's Amy Eddy placed second in the Master Division while Vincent's Jocelyne Majoy finished behind Russia's Ramilia Burangulova in the Grandmasters race.
"That's typical," explained Majoy. "It wasn't my best run, but I'm glad I got it done."
Moving up the Grandmasters' Division was two-time Masters champion-and record holder-Burangulova. The 50-year old Russian, who won Masters titles in 2003 and 2010, was never challenged as she crossed the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 25 minutes and 26 seconds-13 seconds better than the Grandmasters' record of 1:25:39 set by Maryland's Lee DiPietro in 2009.
"I did not know who I would do," explained Burangulova. "I injured my leg in my last race and I was afraid today this race would be very difficult for me."
The 52-year old Majoy covered the race in 1 hour, 36 minutes and 5 seconds.
Capturing the Masters title for the first time was 47-year old Tammy Slusser. It was the Monroeville, Pennsylvanian's second victory in the division. Her first came in 2005 when she crossed the Market Street finish line in 1 hour, 23 minutes and 14 seconds.
Saturday's time (1:31:34) was more than 10 minutes off, but Slusser will take it.
"I ran about the same time that I ran at Wheeling," explained Slusser. "That's pretty good for Parkersburg. I've ran this race about 20 times and the one thing that I have learned is that you can't worry about the other runners. You just have to run your own race and hope that is good enough."
It was on Saturday as the 45-year old Eddy finished with a time of 1:33:06.
"Everywhere we go, I think we (the local runners) represent our club and our area well," said Majoy. "We have a good, competitive running group in this area and it shows when we go to these kind of races."