For the first time since 1980, the first woman across the finish line of the Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon was a former Tribe track runner, as Cheryl Bauer Anderson (24) of Richmond, VA ran a very impressive debut half marathon time of 1:17:34 to win by almost two minutes over the other pre-race favorite, Canadian Heather Lee (25) of Boiling Springs, NC, a Campbell University graduate who finished second in 1:19:22.

This drought was particularly noteworthy as the W&M men and women's track and cross-country teams organize the prestigious 13.1-mile event (now with the assistance of the Special Events Department of the W&M Athletic Department), and W&M is considered a traditional collegiate distance running power.

In recent years W&M has had Olympians (Brian Hyde), near Olympians (Matt Lane, Paul Vandegrift), World Track Championships participants (Hyde, Steve Swift in the marathon), U.S. Olympic Trials track qualifiers (Sonja Friend-Uhl, current W&M women's coach Kathy Newberry, Sean Graham), members of the U.S. team to the World Cross Country Championships (Lane and Newberry for seniors, Christo Landry and Matt Maline for juniors) and the World Junior Track Championships (Keith Bechtol), and U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon qualifiers (Megan Holden in 2004). Just last week, 2004 graduate Jacob Frey qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon with an impressive 2:17:37 debut at the Austin (TX) Marathon.

Yet despite all that talent, there were no female Colonial Half Marathon winners since Kathy Ellen Scherer won the 1980 event (its second year), and there still have been no male winners since 1981 (Jim Shields) and 1982 (Ira Meyers).

It is not that former W&M runners do not participate in the event--many return to run, but few have done so as serious competitors. And in recent years, as with most prize-money races on the U.S. road racing circuit, the prize-money winners tend to be international-level runners. The last U.S. winner for the men was Mark Andrews of Chapel Hill, NC, who won the inaugural version of the current Carter's Grove Country Road/Kingsmill course in 1998. Since then, the men's winners have been from Kenya (four times, including this year), Canada, Morocco, Russia (the Kapitonov twins in 2004) and Belarus (the 2005 winner Azat Rakipov, who broke Andrews's former course record of 1:05:46 with a 1:05:22).

For the women, the last U.S. winner had been Alison Holinka in 2001 (in 1:17:34, coincidentally the exact time as Bauer this year). Holinka took graduate level classes at W&M, but ran for Notre Dame as an undergraduate. While here, she was also the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix champion and still holds seven CRR course records. Holinka had planned to return to Colonial this year, but had an injury a week before, and had to cancel. Since then, Europeans dominated, with Anna Pichrtova of Waynesboro, VA and the Czech Republic (the only female three- time winner) winning from 2002-04, including a course and race record 1:15:02 in 2002, and Tetyana Hladyr of Ukraine winning last year.

In Holinka's absence, it was a two-woman race, with Anderson and Lee running together through a five-mile split of 29:11. Anderson pulled away in the sixth mile and extended her lead relentlessly to the finish. This was surprising, considering that before Colonial her previous longest road race was last April's Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond. With a goal of six-minute pace, Anderson averaged 5:54 per mile to run her impressive 1:17:34. Only seven of the 27 Colonial Half winners have gone faster.

From Rockaway, NJ Anderson ran a 4:56 for the 1,600 meters her senior year, and was one of 32 qualifiers to the Footlocker National High School Cross Country Championships. At W&M, she was on the W&M team that qualified for the 2002 NCAA cross- country championships, then qualified individually for the 2003 NCAA 5,000 meters with a time of 16:19. After graduation, she improved to 16:16 for the 5,000M, but was well off the Olympic Trials qualifying time of 15:50, and never tried the 10,000M . Anderson and Lee were well aware of each other as they were part of an interesting foursome at last November's nTelos 8K. Cheryl was running with her husband Dave (another former W&M distance runner), while Lee was running with her fiance Patrick Shaw. It came down to a kick, but Cheryl beat Lee for the fifth and final prize-money spot, although both were timed in 27:04. "I figured she would be my competition," said Anderson. Besides running with her, Dave provides training advice. "Dave is my coach," said Cheryl. "He tells me what to do. We call it the Dave Anderson Training Plan." Dave learned from his high school coach, the legendary Jan Merrill, a former Olympian.

After graduating from W&M in 2003 (major in biology, minor in chemistry), Anderson said, "I'm going to come back here and run this [the half marathon] someday." However in 2004, she was sick, and in 2005 she had an exam the next day, so 2006 was her first chance. Anderson is in the second of four years at VCU's Medical College of Virginia. She plans to become a sports medicine doctor, and hopefully return to Williamsburg to live and practice after she graduates in 2008, then puts in one year of internship and two years of residency. She and Dave moved up to Richmond in August 2004. While in Williamsburg, Dave worked in the James City County planning department, and now does planning and budget in Richmond.

About her race, Anderson said, "I felt really good. I'm used to 5Ks and 10Ks, where it hurts. This one I was more drained [than in pain]." She plans to return next year, "as long as I don't have an exam the next day. I feel like I'm coming home almost."

The other pre-race favorite from W&M did not have quite the same success as Anderson. Matt Lane, the 11-time All-American while at W&M, met two talented Kenyan runners from Chapel Hill, NC, who took off from the gun. Lane hung with them for about a mile, but even though Lane was at sub-five-minute pace through two miles (9:55), the Kenyans were almost 20 seconds ahead. The more experienced one, 31-year-old Paul Bor pulled away from his countryman around six miles to win in 1:06:27, while 19-year-old Jynocel (Jay) Basweti was second in 1:07:04. Lane finished third in 1:07:58. The top three men and women received $500, $300 and $200 in prize money. Indicative of the tough, hilly Carter's Grove Country Road course is that Bor had run a 1:02:37 for the Austin Half Marathon just a week before, albeit on a course with an aiding 255-foot elevation drop.

There were a total of 1,806 entrants between the half marathon and the accompanying on-campus three-mile event. There were 1,146 finishers in the half marathon and 257 finishers in the three-mile. Temperatures were cold (upper 30s to lower 40s) under sunny skies, but with 20-30 mile per hour winds.

The top local runners were William Tarantino (22) of Gloucester Point (1:09:57 for fourth), and W&M students Tommy Antenucci (7th, 1:13:09), George Ingham (9th, 1:13:53) and Bert Jacoby (10th, 1:14:52). John Piggott (40) was 11th overall and the first Master in 1:15:11, just six seconds slower than the Masters record on the current course (1:05:05 by Lanny Doan in 2000). For the women, the Masters winner was Tammy Slusser (40) of Monroeville, PA (5th in 1:26:01), while the first local finisher was Jennifer Quarles (8th, 1:28:46), just ahead of former W&M runner Jackie Kosakowski (10th, 1:29:02).

For complete results.