New Year’s Eve race winners are impressive athletes

Liam Steyn and Anna Bosse were crowned champions in the Race Into the New Year last week, so I thought I would take a look at their running background. Steyn, 15, attends Council Rock North in Newtown, Pa., and is halfway through his freshman year. At the PIAA State Cross Country Championships in the AAA Division, Steyn’s team finished fourth overall with 133 points behind North Penn (115), State College (123) and LaSalle College (131). There were 21 teams in the division. Steyn was the No. 6 runner on a team that put three runners under the 17-minute mark. There were only 12 freshman in the field. It was a nice run up front, as Travis Furmanski, a senior at Cedar Crest, split 4:41 at the mile, 9:55 at the two mile and won the championship in 15:34. Liam also won the Hair of the Dog 5K in Bethany Beach on New Year’s Day. I will look for him to challenge for a state title before he graduates from Council Rock.

Bosse is a 32-year-old Loyola graduate from Rockville, Md. She attended Walter Johnson High School, where she helped her Wildcats win the Maryland State 4A West title and Montgomery County title in 2009. Bosse won state titles in the 3,200, both indoors and outdoors, in 2011 and was county champion in the 3,200 in 2011. Bosse was a state and regional champion in cross country in 2008, and a three-time first-team all-state selection by Running Maryland. She was named 2008 Maryland Runner of the Year by Washington Post and Running Maryland. Bosse also earned the Athletic Award for Academic Excellence for carrying a 4.0 GPA in the fall of 2008. When looking back at the top 10 performances all-time at Loyola, Bosse is in the No. 10 slot in the 6K with a performance of 21:45.5 from 2013.

Bosse goes back deep with the Seashore Striders and Rehoboth Beach running and racing, as she is the granddaughter of longtime Strider Series runners Warren and Priscila Prunella. I remember Anna tagging along at the races and placing in the 9U age group whenever she was in town. I received an email from Bosse at 6:35 a.m., Nov. 11, asking if there was any way she could still get into the Rehoboth Half-Marathon. Because I know the race director and the race organizer, she was in by 9:30 a.m. Anna logged a personal best, running 1:26:12 to average 6:35 per mile, winning the 30-34 age group and a fifth-place finish among female finishers. She was first of 109 in her competitive age group. 

Finish chute - Runners from 21 states participated in the Race Into the New Year 5K, including 236 from Delaware, 89 from Maryland, 50 from Pennsylvania, 40 from Virginia, and 12 from West Virginia and New York. An interesting stat: The field was split exactly 50% male and 50% female. Another interesting fact is that the largest age group was the 50-64 group with 129 runners. That made up 26.43% of the field. The smallest division was the 30-39 group with 48 runners for 9.84%.

Cape’s 1,000-meter school record fell this past weekend, as talented Maile Godwin ran 3:13.80 to easily break the 3:17.10 record held by Katie Kuhlman. Taylor Johnson held the record before that (3:18.6), while Meredith Lockwood held the record before Taylor (3:19.2). Godwin, who finished 25th overall, closed in 37.11 seconds on her final lap, which was impressive, as only five girls in the field of more than 100 closed faster and they were all in the top 10.

There were some impressive performances in the elite Red Division, as a time of 2:51.16 won the 1,000 meters, while 5:02 won the mile. Relays were quick too. South Lakes ran 1:44.41 in the 800-meter relay and also won the 3,200-meter relay in 9:22.69. Central Bucks East won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:02.04. South Lakes would have had the sweep, but they finished second in 4:03.14.

Sussex Academy will head north to the second Tower Hill quad meet in Wilmington. Many Delaware teams will head south to the Virginia Beach Relays, including Cape and Sussex Central.

For runners looking for a warm challenge, the Disney events will be this weekend, which include a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon, or challenge yourself and complete the Goofy Challenge. The ultimate fairy tale feat is finishing all four Walt Disney Marathon Weekend races for a total of 48.6 miles and six medals!