Open Women
The women's open division, with 28 ranked women, is the largest group included in the 2002 year-end rankings. It was also a very competitive group, making it tough to make calls on exactly who belonged where. In the end, we decided to award the top spot to one of our southern Virginia runners, Alison Holinka of Williamsburg. Holinka spent one ranking period at the top--the spring, where she ran 57:34 at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, good enough for the fastest time run by a woman ranked in that season. Holinka got her second ranking in the winter, where she finished third in the rankings by placing well at the Colonial Half Marathon (1:18:43) and the Pomoco Running Crab Half Marathon (1:22:18).

Naoko Ishibe is no stranger to the top of the rankings pile; however, for 2002, she must settle for runner-up. Ishibe held the top spot once, in the summer rankings. She earned her top slot by beating Cathy Pugsley at the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K, where she finished second overall with a time of 28:06. Ishibe got her second ranking in the fall, where she finished second behind Casey Smith, a title she earned with fast running at the Kensington 8K (28:14) and the 3M 5K (17:27).

A young runner at only age 24, Heather Hanscom of Alexandria is our third place finisher this year. Though she failed to make it to the top slot in 2002, she did have a very consistent year, finishing in the top three in three ranking periods, and in the top ten in the fourth. Hanscom had two runner-up showings this year, in winter and spring. In the spring, she was on hand at the Cherry Blossom race, finishing behind Holinka in 58:09, still good enough for a top 20 showing. She also won the Potter Homes Turkey Trot during the winter ranking period and the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis.

Casey Smith won the fall rankings, had two top five finishes this year, enough to earn her the fourth place ranking for the year. Smith's best ranking period was the fall, where she earned the top slot by winning the Army Ten Miler, one of the biggest races of the year. Her 58:21 run at the Army race was also the fastest time run in the fall by any woman included in the rankings. In the spring, she won the St. Patrick's Day 10K and beat Holinka in head-to-head competition at the Sallie Mae 10K. She also ran 58:49, not far behind Holinka and Hanscom, enough to earn her the fourth place ranking. Her fifth place ranking in the summer was highlighted by an age group victory (and top 50 overall) finish at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, running 1:20:00.

Cathy Pugsley grabs the fifth slot for 2002. Her best ranking was second, ahead of Hanscom, in the summer rankings. She also finished fourth behind Hanscom in the winter rankings. Since Hanscom beat her in head-to-head competition during the winter ranking period at the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis, we decided that Hanscom deserves the third slot, and Pugsley must settle for fifth.

 Pl	Name              	Hometown
  1	Alison Holinka    	Williamsburg, VA
  2	Naoko Ishibe    	Silver Spring, MD
  3	Heather Hanscom 	Alexandria, VA
  4	Casey Smith     	Arlington, VA
  5	Cathy Pugsley     	Annandale, VA
  6	Elizabeth Scanlon	Alexandria, VA
  7	Kristin Barry     	Arlington, VA
  8	Lauren Burawski 	Harrisonburg, VA
  9	Marjan Huizing    	Montgomery Village, MD
 10	Delores Ware      	Virginia Beach, VA
 11	Lory Gray       	Alexandria, VA
 12	Desiree Ficker    	Potomac, MD
 13	Denise Knickman 	Baltimore, MD
 14	Susannah Kvasnicka	Great Falls, VA
 15	Aurora Scott      	Portsmouth, VA
 16	Lisa Thomas      	Alexandria, VA
 17	Hilary Cairns     	Washington, DC
 18	Kris Wilson       	Newport News, VA
 19	Liz Boyer         	Woodbridge, VA
 20	Kristin McCann     	Stafford, VA
 21	Julia Smith       	Tappahannock, VA
 22	Mary Davison     	Alexandria, VA
 23	Sherry Esposito 	Westminster, MD
 24	Margaret Polcawich	Derwood, MD
 25	Julie Seymour     	Virginia Beach, VA
 26	Katie Filipczyk    	Chevy Chase, MD
 27	Vicki Lang        	Columbia, MD
 28	Kerrie Bowes       	Columbia, MD

Women 35 - 39
The women's sub-masters division is generally a small group, but this does not take away from the talented women who earn rankings in this division. Only eleven women managed to earn rankings in this group during 2002. Leading the charge is Patty Fulton, who had the top ranking three times this year--winter, spring, and summer. With these results, it would be hard to award top honors to anyone else in this group. The Silver Spring resident had a great year, finishing in the top five at the St. Patrick's Day 10K, and sixth at the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K.

Second place goes to Virginia Beach's Kendall Tata, who managed to climb as high as second place in the summer rankings. During the summer period, she earned this honor by beating Maria Kozloski at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, where she ran 1:30:05, to Kozloski's 1:30:22. Tata was also ranked fourth in the spring and seventh in the winter. Kozloski grabs the fourth slot, on the strength of her showing in the summer rankings, where she was third; her best position of the year. Kozloski's other ranking was a sixth place finish in the spring.

Close behind Tata, and just ahead of Kozloski we find Columbia's Julie Thienel, who ran nicely in both the winter and spring rankings, where she finished fourth and third, respectively, enough to earn third place for 2002. In the winter, her best race was a 19:20 at the Carraba's 5K. In the spring, she was in top shape at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, where she finished just out of the top 50, with a time of 1:05:49. Thienel was also seventh in the summer rankings.

Finally, rounding out the top five is Alisa Harvey, who had her best ranking period in the summer, where she grabbed the fourth slot with strong performances at the Twilight 8K and the Lawyers Have Heart 10K, where she finished just behind Kozloski both times. Her second ranking was a ninth place finish in the spring.

 Pl	Name              	Hometown
  1	Patty Fulton      	Silver Spring, MD
  2	Kendall Tata    	Virginia Beach, VA
  3 	Julie Thienel     	Columbia, MD
  4	Maria Kozloski   	Washington, DC
  5	Alisa Harvey      	Manassas, VA
  6	Christy Prillaman	Newport News, VA
  7	Maureen Hall      	LaVale, MD
  8	Robyn Humphrey    	Ellicott City, MD
  9	Jane Wikman       	Germantown, MD
 10	Laeticia Warring	Reston, VA
 11	Lana Marsh        	Fredericksburg, VA

Women 40 - 44
The women's masters division is always large and quite competitive. It was no easy task to rank the 25 women that earned the required rankings in two periods to get a slot in the year-end rankings. At the top for 2002, we have Towson's Lee DiPietro, who earned her rankings in the fall and summer periods. DiPietro was also number one in both these seasons, making her a clear choice for the year-end crown. DiPietro is one of the very few women over age 40 who can still run sub- 38:00 10K equivalent times, and that was essentially what earned her both her top rankings. A few highlights of her year included a top 15 finish at the Baltimore Marathon and a fourth place showing at the Georgetown Classic 10K

Our second ranked runner in the masters division is Maria Spinnler, who grabbed the top slot in the spring rankings on the strength of a 37:14 run at the Sallie Mae 10K. Spinnler was also second to DiPietro in the fall season, where she had her best race in Georgetown, running 38:34, two minutes behind DiPietro. Spinnler also had a third ranking, a seventh place finish in the summer.

Third place this year belongs to Laura Freix, who was ranked third in three ranking periods, and fourth in the remaining one. This makes her one of the few women to earn a ranking in each period this year. Some of the highlights of Freix's very consistent and impressive year include a 1:05:15 at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, a 19:05 at the Kentlands 5K, and a 38:41 at the Georgetown Classic 10K. Jeanne Grillo of Potomac is our fourth ranked runner in this division, an honor she earns by taking two fourth place rankings during the year--spring and summer--showing her consistency whenever she competed. At the Preakness 5K in the spring, she ran 18:57 for her best race of the season, and at the Annapolis Ten Miler, she beat age group rivals Pat Wilkerson and Gloria Santarpia, who coincidentally are also our fifth and sixth ranked runners for 2002.

 Pl	Name             	Hometown
  1	Lee DiPietro      	Towson, MD
  2	Maria Spinnler    	Hagerstown, MD
  3	Laura Freix     	Centreville, VA
  4	Jeanne Grillo     	Potomac, MD
  5	Pat Wilkerson     	Columbia, MD
  6	Gloria Santarpia	Odenton, MD
  7	Debi Bernardes    	King George, VA
  8	Sherry Volk       	Williamsburg, VA
  9	Win Persina      	Washington, DC
 10	Sheri Segal      	Virginia Beach, VA
 11	Julie Caprio    	Columbia, MD
 12	Brenda Averette 	Midlothian, VA
 13	Marjorie Boyd     	Annapolis, MD
 14	Sarah Buckheit    	Reston, VA
 15	Beth McCann     	Falls Church, VA
 16	Deborah Barnett 	Columbia, MD
 17	Carole Rosasco    	Arnold, MD
 18	Jennifer Lundeen	Port Republic, MD
 19	Valerie Plyer     	Newport News, VA
 20	Karen Koffler     	Severna Park, MD
 21	Bernadette Flynn	Fairfax, VA
 22	Robin Goodwin      	Timonium, MD
 23	June Ciuba      	Arlington, VA
 24	Dorothy Beckett 	Columbia, MD
 25	Wendy Ponvert    	Bethesda, MD

Women 45 - 49
The women's 45-49 division is generally fairly small. However, we see the same women over and over again, often turning in times competitive with women a decade younger. Linda Wack spent half the year at the top of the division, coming away with the top ranking in both the winter and fall seasons. In addition, she was second in the summer ranking period. The highlight of Wack's year included a very fast 40:21 at the Georgetown Classic 10K, good enough for 12th place overall, as well as a 33:07 performance at the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K.

Falls Church's Betty Blank very rarely misses a race, and her strong consistent running this year was enough to earn the runner-up title in this division for 2002. Blank managed a top- five ranking in each of the ranking periods this year, rising as high as the number one slot in the spring, where she earned her spot with five qualifying times, including a 41:35 at the Run vs. Row 10K. Blank finished second in the winter rankings, behind Wack, and she was third in the summer, and fourth in the fall.

Dorothy Winn and Sharon White both provided strong competition for Blank in terms of achieving individual rankings. In the end, White is awarded third place for 2002, and Winn fourth place. We made this decision based on the fact that in the fall rankings, the only ranking period in which these two women were both ranked, White was ranked third, while Winn was fifth. White's best show was the third place finish in the fall, a title she earned by beating Blank in head-to-head competition at the Ntelos 8K. White's other ranking was a fourth place finish in the summer rankings. Winn's highest ranking was a second place finish in the spring, a title she earned by sharing the fastest time of the ranking period with Blank. Winn ran 41:35 at the Elizabeth River Run 10K. In the fall rankings, she garnered the fifth place slot, with a 20:05 at the Norfolk Toys for Tots 5K.

Finally, the last spot in the exclusive top five is awarded to Carol Talley who had three rankings this year. Talley grabbed fifth place in the spring and summer, and was sixth in the winter, making for an overall successful and consistent year for the Toano resident.

 Pl	Name             	Hometown
  1	Linda Wack        	Germantown, MD
  2	Betty Blank      	Falls Church, VA
  3	Sharon White      	Langley AFB, VA
  4	Dorothy Winn      	Norfolk, VA
  5	Carol Talley     	Toano, VA
  6	Mary Siemann      	Frostburg, MD
  7	Ellie Murphy      	Baltimore, MD
  8	Jean Lauzon       	Spotsylvania, VA
  9	Katharine Daragan	Wheaton, MD
 10	Debra Harber       	Fredericksburg, VA
 11	Linnell Smith     	Baltimore, MD
 12	Liz Recto          	Lexington Park, MD
 13	Mary Beth Marshall	Chesapeake, VA

Women 50 - 54
There is no doubt that Winchester's Sandra Adams is the victor in this division, as she held the number one slot for all of 2002. There was really no debating the winner in any ranking period this year, as Adams was simply the fastest woman over 50 running in the area. The year started with Adams running the Reston Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 8K in 33:55. In the spring, she carried on, running 1:11:42 at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler for the best time among the ranked women in the spring. Her summer was then highlighted by a seventh place finish at the Leesburg 10K, where she ran 43:09. Finally, she finished off the year with a 1:11:53 at the Army Ten Miler, and second in division finish at the Marine Corps Marathon.

There was a tough battle for the second and third slot in these year-end rankings between Jeanne Kruger-Williams and Karen Erb. Runner-up in this division actually aged up midway through the year. Norfolk's Jeanne Kruger-Williams was second in the winter and summer rankings, and third in the spring, so we have chosen to giver her runner-up honors for 2002, while Erb, who was ranked in only two seasons, must settle for third. To her credit, Erb was third in the summer, just behind Kruger- Williams; however, in the spring, she finished second, just ahead of Kruger-Williams.

Adelphi's Deb Gebhardt, who was ranked in all but the winter rankings, grabs our fourth place spot for 2002. Her best performance was a third place finish in the fall rankings, based on a very strong race at the United We Stand 10K, where she finished the course in 45:31. She had another top five finish as well; a fourth place showing in the summer rankings, where she finished the Annapolis Ten Miler just behind Erb for her best showing of the season. Gebhardt was also ranked ninth in the spring rankings. Finally, rounding out the top five we have Ann Rose of Frostburg, who had two rankings this year; a fourth place finish in the fall rankings, and a sixth place showing in the summer rankings.

 Pl	Name              	Hometown
  1	Sandra Adams       	Winchester, VA
  2	Jeanne Kruger-Williams	Norfolk, VA
  3	Karen Erb          	Alexandria, VA
  4	Deb Gebhardt       	Adelphi, MD
  5	Ann Rose         	Frostburg, MD
  6	Maria Shields     	Crofton, MD
  7	Esther Buchser    	Abingdon, MD
  8	Sandy Salazar     	Columbia, MD
  9	Alice Franks     	Rockville, MD
 10	Marjorie Marque 	Alexandria, VA
 11	BJ Derring        	Virginia Beach, VA
 12	Leslie Stanfield	Reston, VA
 13	Linda Rose        	Baltimore, MD
 14	Christy St. Clair	Glen Arm, MD
 15	Lynn Salvo         	McLean, VA
 16	Sandra Burton     	Port Republic, MD

Women 55 - 59
Jeanne Kruger-Williams, who aged up midway through 2002, dominated the women's 55-59 division in the second half of the year. Kruger-Williams turned 55 during the summer ranking period, in which she grabbed the top slot by winning her age division at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in a time of 1:40:37. A little more settled into the division in the fall, she managed to maintain her top ranking by heading north for the Marine Corps Marathon, where she ran 3:32:22 for the fastest 10K equivalent time (45:24) run by a woman in this division.

Before Kruger-Williams aged up in the middle of the year, Hideko Pirie managed to earn herself a top ranking in the spring, where she ran the two fastest times run by women in this division. She turned in a 45:16 at the St. Patrick's Day 10K, and a 46:49 at the Sallie Mae 10K. In the fall, where she was running in the same group with Kruger-Williams, Pirie still managed to earn a second place finish, a spot she earned with gutsy running at the Army Ten Miler and Georgetown Classic 10K, where she beat out strong age group competition from other age group regulars like Dee Nelson and Lynn Hayes.

Our third ranked runner for 2002 in this division is B.J. King, who earned two rankings in the winter and summer. King started out the year in second place, a rank she earned by consistently turning in sub-50:00 10K equivalent times at small area races like the Washington's Birthday 5K and the RRCA Ten Miler. In the summer, King was back in the rankings, this time in third place on the strength of her running at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, where she was behind Kruger-Williams.

Dee Nelson, often one of the most prolific women in this division, is our fourth place finisher this year, a spot she earns with consistent strong running, earning a ranking in each of the four ranking periods. She had two top five rankings this year; third place in the spring rankings, and fourth in the fall. Nelson used big races this year to justify her rankings, taking her place in the spring rankings on the strength of a 1:19:59 show at the Cherry Blossom, and in the fall rankings, on the strength of a 1:22:21 run at the Army Ten Miler.

Finally, grabbing the last slot in the top five for the year is Mary Ellen Gonyea, who had three rankings in 2002, including a top ranking in the winter. In the winter, Gonyea was strong at some big races, the Colonial Half Marathon (1:50:16) and the George Washington Birthday 10K (47:56), as well as a couple of smaller races such as the Red Ribbon 5K and Rudolph's Red Nose 10K. Gonyea was also ranked fifth in the spring, a spot she earned with her Cherry Blossom time of 1:23:22, and ninth in the summer.

 Pl	Name              	Hometown
  1	Jeanne Kruger-Williams	Norfolk, VA
  2	Hideko Pirie       	Leesburg, VA
  3	BJ King           	Annapolis, MD
  4	Dee Nelson        	Gaithersburg, MD
  5	Mary Ellen Gonyea	Alexandria, VA
  6	Barbara Ivey      	Hampton, VA
  7	Lynn Hayes       	Arlington, VA
  8	Judith Gilbert    	Stevenson, MD
  9	Andrea Hess       	Midlothian, VA
 10	Betty Brothers     	Virginia Beach, VA
 11	Mary Kuta        	Rockville, MD
 12	Priscila Prunela	Rockville, MD
 13	Lucia Davidson    	Arlington, VA

Women 60 - 64
The queen of the women's 60-64 division is, without a doubt, Gaithersburg's Sharon Dolan. Dolan earned the top ranking twice this year, in the spring and summer, which were the two ranking periods in which she ran the required two qualifying races. In the summer ranking period, she ran the five fastest qualifying times run by women in her division, including a 21:01 at the Kentlands 5K, for her best showing of the year. In the spring rankings, she was on top again, a feat she accomplished with strong performances at the St. Patrick's Day 10K (45:02), the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler (1:14:28), and the Pike's Peek 10K (44:35).

In the spring, Joan Coven of Williamsburg was extremely sharp, earning a third place ranking with strong performances in the southern part of our region. She had her most impressive race at the Shamrock 8K, where she ran 38:34, beating considerable age group competition. Coven also had a second place ranking in the summer, where she was just behind Dolan in the rankings, earning the next four fastest times run by women in this group. These performances, highlighted by a 22:58 at the Coast Guard Day 5K and a 22:57 at the Women's Distance Festival 5K, were enough to make her our runner-up for the year.

Washington's Barbara Szoradi had a top ranking this fall, and also finished the summer rankings in fifth place, a good enough showing to make her the third ranked runner for the 2002 Year- End Rankings. Szoradi earned her top ranking by beating out considerable head-to-head competition at the Georgetown Classic 10K in the fall, where she finished in 52:44. In the spring, Szoradi had a fifth place ranking, based on her 1:25:21 showing at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler and a 52:49 at the St. Patrick's Day 10K.

Nancy Linck had her best ranking in the fall, where she finished in third place, a result of her willingness to go the distance at the Comcast Baltimore Marathon, where she ran 4:07:07. Linck got her second period ranking in the very competitive spring season, where she finished in seventh place.

Judith Brennan sneaks into the last slot in our top five for the year 2002, due to two strong rankings this year. In the winter rankings, she was third, a title she earned with a great show at the B&A Trail Half Marathon, where she ran 2:03:08. She was also sixth in the spring, perhaps the most competitive period of all.

 Pl	Name              	Hometown
  1	Sharon Dolan      	Gaithersburg, MD
  2	Joan Coven        	Williamsburg, VA
  3	Barbara Szoradi 	Washington, DC
  4	Nancy Linck       	Alexandria, VA
  5	Judith Brennan     	Mt. Airy, MD
  6	Betty Munden      	Norfolk, VA
  7	Arlowene Garland	Warsaw, VA
  8	Jill Mottus       	Baltimore, MD
  9	Brenda Murray     	Chevy Chase, MD
 10	Linda Simpson     	Annapolis, MD
 11	Janet Newburgh    	Rockville, MD
 12	Sylvia Boecker     	Williamsburg, VA

Women 65 - 69
Despite the fact that the women's 65-69 division had competition throughout the year, only two women managed to earn rankings in two periods. One of those women is age group standout Tami Graf of Lusby, who is, without a doubt, the top runner in this group. In 2002 she was the top-ranked runner in all four ranking periods, a result she created for herself by not only being fast, but also prolific. During 2002, she ran more than 30 qualifying races, including many of the big ones, like the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler (52:30 10K equivalent), George Washington's Birthday 10K (53:18), Fair Lakes 8K (43:01), and the Lawyers Have Heart 10K (54:52), to be undefeated for the year by other runners ranked in this division.

The other woman earning a place in these year-end rankings is Fredericksburg's Betty Dameron, who was also ranked in all four ranking periods during 2002. She was second behind Graf in three of the four periods, and was fifth in the summer rankings. Dameron spent a lot of time trying to chase down Graf, finishing behind her at the Fair Lakes 8K in the fall, the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in the summer, and the St. Patrick's Day 10K, and Cherry Blossom Ten Miler in the spring.

Pl	Name      	Hometown
1	Tami Graf	Lusby, MD
2	Betty Dameron	Fredericksburg, VA

Women 70 - 74
The women's 70-74 division is generally fairly small, however, three women have still managed to earn spots in the year-end rankings. Severna Park's Yvonne Aasen was the top ranked woman in three of the four ranking periods, so she is clearly our best runner for 2002 in this division. Aasen was missing only from the spring rankings. In the summer, the largest ranking period of the year for this division, Aasen was first out of six, a title she earned by being the fastest woman out there, turning in a 29:41 at the St. Agnes Labor Day 5K. In the winter, she had her best race at the Glen Burnie Jingle Bell Run, where she ran 47:36; her fall was highlighted by a 48:51 at the Dawson's Five Miler.

In the spring, when Aasen failed to earn a ranking, Lee Glassco of McLean grabbed the top slot by beating Jacqueline O'Neil at the St. Patrick's Day 10K, which is evidence enough that she is the runner-up for 2002, while O'Neil is the third place finisher for the year. Glassco finished third in the winter rankings and second in the summer rankings, while O'Neil was second in the fall rankings for her second ranking period inclusion.

Pl	Name              	Hometown
1	Yvonne Aasen      	Severna Park, MD
2	Lee Glassco      	McLean, VA
3	Jacqueline O'Neil	Washington, DC

Women 75 & Over
Two women over the age of 75 earned rankings in the two ranking periods necessary for garnering a year-end ranking. Rockville's Kay Morrison managed to earn the top ranking in each of the four ranking periods; therefore, she is undisputedly the division champion for 2002. Morrison ran consistently all year, turning in strong showings at big races such as the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler (1:48:14), the Annapolis Ten Miler (1:53:17), and Georgetown Classic 10K (1:06:02).

Alexandria's Hedy Marque is the other woman in this division to earn a ranking in two ranking periods. Marque finished second in the division in the spring, a spot she earned with three qualifying times, including a 1:54:03 at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler. She was back in the rankings in the fall, finishing in third place, an honor she earned largely on the strength of her 1:11:13 finish at the Georgetown Classic 10K.

Pl	Name      	Hometown
1	Kay Morrison	Rockville, MD
2	Hedy Marque	Alexandria, VA

See the Men's Best of 2002 WRR Runner Rankings