Herren, Woolf capture 5K titles

Chris Herren turned 23 in style Tuesday with a dominating performance in the Jackson Parks and Recreation Department Homecomers 5-kilometer race at the Jackson City Park.

The event, which included a 1-mile youth run, marked the first day of the annual Homecomers festival that concludes Saturday.

Herren completely pummeled the field on his way to setting the course record. He finished in an overall first-place time of 15 minutes, 54 seconds. The second overall finisher, Brian Whitehead, was more than 1 1/2 minutes behind at 17:35.

"It feels great," Herren said about claiming the title on his birthday. "I wanted to win coming into the race, and I knew if I just ran my race I'd win."

Herren, a Harrisburg, Ill., native, is entering his senior year at Southeast Missouri State, where he has run on both the cross country and track squads since transferring from Rend Lake College a couple years ago.

"It was my best road race," he said, "but it's not my best overall."

Tuesday's contest was the first Homecomers 5K experience for Herren.

"It was a great setup," he said. "The course was all rolling hills, and it doesn't get any better than that.

"There was really no competition today," he added, acknowledging that the margin of victory would've been slimmer had one of his primary competitors in the race not been battling an illness. "I had it won after the first mile."

Kris Woolf, a former Southeast cross country and track athlete who completed her eligibility this year, was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 19:16.

Adela Sams was the second-place woman at 21:26.

Roy Leighton claimed the one-mile title in 6:14, and Alexa Kelpe was the first female finisher in 7:29.