By John C. O'Connell
The first-place finisher in the men's division was Daniel McGrath, 20, of Lynbrook, with a time of 20 minutes, 23.4 seconds. The first-place woman was Susan Skidmore, 45, of Bellmore, who finished in 24:51.4.
"It was a nice course -- fast," said McGrath, a Molloy High School graduate now attending LaSalle Collage. He said that he came in third in the 4-miler two years ago. "I'm happy with my performance in this run," McGrath added. "It makes me feel good about my summer training."
Skidmore was also pleased with her performance. "This is my best on the 4-mile," she said moments after crossing the finish line and seeing her time. Last year she finished third, with a time of 25:42. This year she improved to 24:51.4.
"I'm happy we got a larger number of runners to turn out," said Boris Klerer, Rotarian and co-chairman of this year's run. "I would have liked to see even more runners sign up. We raised a net amount of $1,600, and that will all go to Valley Stream scholarships and other Rotary beneficiaries in the Valley Stream community."
The first three male Valley Stream finishers were Kevon Carter, 13, with a time of 26:24.7; Vincent Conti, 42, in 26:29.4, and Jaime Silva, 42, in 27:53.3. The first three Valley Stream females to cross the finish line were Nicole Gallo, 16, in 33:41.5; Anne Russo, 34, in 35:07.2, and Dorothy Russo, 50, in 39:18.8.
"I went out too fast," said Peter Costa of Malverne, who will be a senior at Valley Stream North High School, where he's on the cross-country team. "This is good training for me."
Chris Jimenez of Flushing and Mary Gallo of Lynbrook took first place in the male and female 13-to-19 age groups. Anthony Petrone of Valley Stream and Melissa Procida of Wantagh were the 20-to-24 winners, and Miguel Rodriguez of Freeport and Michelle Restivo of Levittown finished first in 25-to-29. The other winners: Michael Thornton of Arvada, Colo., and Coleen Byrne of Massapequa, 30-to-34; John Glancy of Hicksville and Patricia Duggan of Albertson, 35-to-39; Thomas Garcia of New York City and Leslee Feldman of Rockville Centre, 40-to-44; Angel Olivo of New York City and Wendy Silverstien of Flushing, 45-to-49; Jay Hildebrand of Bayside and Ronnie Josephs of Roslyn Heights, 50-to-54; Tom Carras of Fairfield, Calif., and Maureen Frisone of New Hyde Park, 55-to-59; Tim Ferrigina of Middle Village, Queens, and Sarah Pettinato of Wantagh, 60-to-64; Mickey Newman of Brooklyn, 65-to-69, and Bert Jablon, 70-and-over.
Complete results may be found on the Web site of The Big Finish, the company that provided the race management services and times for the Rotary Run, at www.thebigfinish.com.
