Correspondent – Kwame Colecraft
Conner Mantz shattered a 27-year old course record by more than a minute to win the 20K at the 48th Faxon Law New Haven Road Race Monday in 56 minutes, 16 seconds.
The 28-year-old Mantz from Utah outlasted defending champion Hilary Bor of Colorado Springs, who finished in 56:32.
The previous men’s course record of 57:37 was set in 1998 by Khalid Khannouchi.
After the race, Mantz said that Bor and Isai Rodriguez of Durham, N.C. were keeping pace with him for most of the race, with all three racers taking the lead at different parts of the race.
When Mantz reached the final turn, that is when he made his move. He took the lead in the final stretch, but he still had work to do.
“I made a really hard push for about 60 seconds, but a little after 60 seconds, I could tell that Hilary [Bor] was still there, so I pushed for another hard 30 seconds,” Mantz said.
Bor continued to pressure Mantz down the stretch, but Mantz kept going until he was able to create some space at the finish line.
“I pushed and I pushed,” Mantz said. “I looked back and I saw that Hilary was gone, so I knew at that point I could win.”
Mantz said that it was a pleasant surprise to break the American record for the 20K. He said that this was among his best races.
“It might be up there,” Mantz said. “I was hoping that I would feel really good throughout this whole [race], but man, this was tough.”
With the victory in New Haven, Mantz claimed the USATF national championship in the 20K.
Nine minutes after Mantz finished his race, Aubrey Frentheway of Provo, Utah crossed the finish line in a close race with Biruktayit Degefa and Ednah Kurgat of Colorado Springs. The women’s race came down to a sprint at the end with three runners finishing within .10 seconds of each other.
Frentheway won a close women’s division in 1:05:36 to capture her first USATF national title. Degefa placed second in 1:05:42 and Kurgat was third in 1:05:46. Maggie Montoya of Lafayette, Colo., was fourth in 1:05:57.
Frentheway said that she did not like how her race began, but that is just how she normally feels for most of her races.
“Honestly, I wasn’t feeling awesome in the beginning, but I never am,” Frentheway said. “I joke that I hurt from mile one.”
According to Frentheway, she found her tempo nine miles into the race, and she was able to carry that to the finish line.
When Frentheway made her move at 9 1/2 miles into the race, she worried that she might have committed too early.
Degefa and Kurgat were on her tail for the last mile of the race, and Frentheway said that she just had to keep going.
“The whole last mile, I was like ‘just don’t look back. Don’t look back,’” Frentheway said. “It was a fun race. Definitely really challenging.”
Rodriguez was third in the men’s division in 56:34.
New Haven’s Travis Martin, a former standout at Wilbur Cross, Trinity College and UConn, was the top runner from Connecticut, placing 17th in 59:54.