University of Tennessee at Chattanooga connections replaced Bryan College runners at the head of the BlueCross Chattanooga Chase road race Monday morning.
The Memorial Day race based at Riverview Park also featured a Marines officer from Camp Lejeune, N.C., back in his hometown and finishing No. 42 overall, matching his age. Lt. Col. Wade Priddy was born just months before the first Chattanooga Chase.
Patrick Hall became the 13th first-time Chase winner in 14 years by covering the 8 kilometers in 26 minutes, 30 seconds. The 25-year-old Hall, who ran for Chattanooga Christian and Covenant College, became Bill Gautier’s assistant coach at UTC within the last two weeks.
The runner-up in 26:56 was Andy Highlander, 22, who recently completed his Mocs running career and graduates in August, and the women’s winner in 33:06 was Gautier’s wife, Jan. She was 19th overall in a time 78 seconds better than last year’s female winner.
The two Bryan runners who won the last three Chases were in Indiana the last few days in the NAIA national track and field meet, but the Lions still were well represented Monday with Jacob Bradley finishing sixth in 27:17. Bradley, 19, just completed his freshman year at the Dayton school.
Hall, third-place Alan Outlaw (27:08) and fifth-place Andrew Dorn (27:12) were three-fourths of the Team Fast Break contingent that handily won the team title in the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon a month ago. They were dressed in matching Brooks attire along with local Fast Break store manager Joey Howe, who won the 45-49 age group Monday.
Priddy is the son of Louis Priddy, former owner of the Front Runner, a Fast Break competitor, and his son Andy lived this past school year with his grandparents and was the football place-kicker and a soccer defender for Baylor.
Wade Priddy, who attended Vanderbilt after graduating from Hixson High School, has served two tours of duty in Iraq and is scheduled to go to Afghanistan early next year.
“I’ll probably be going to D.C. this summer for language training,” he said, adding that he loves his work.
He also loves the hilly Chattanooga Chase course, he said. Although the local race he’s run the most has been the Karen Lawrence Run for St. Jude on New Year’s Eve, he’s run the Riverview layout even apart from the annual Memorial Day event.
“This is a nice area to run, but it’s a challenge,” said Priddy, who was third in his age group. “Coastal Carolina is pancake flat.”
Hall jogged part of the course about a month ago, he said, but Monday was the first time he had tackled the race’s signature stretch, the rugged Minnekahda Place hill.
“I liked this race. I was never fond of hills, but I still can handle them,” Hall said. “And all the downhills are good. It was humid and I was cramping up the last mile, but I figured everybody else was running in the same conditions.
“When we left Hixson Pike and went up Minnekahda, I took the lead. I would like to say I never looked back, but I was looking back later. I was hurting.”
Highlander stayed fourth or fifth up the big hill but went to second when the course turned downward, he said, and had thoughts of catching Hall.
“When I’d come around a curve, I’d see him a little closer,” the former Soddy-Daisy runner said. “But I couldn’t catch him. Maybe by Riverbend (the 10k on June 19) I can. May’s been a good training month for me.”
Jan Gautier was “thrilled” with her 33:06, she said before rushing away to proctor an exam at Baylor.
“That’s the best I’ve run in a while,” she said. “I had to walk a little bit up Minnekahda, just to catch my breath a little. Thank God for downhills. They wake up your system and make you feel you’re going fast — and can go another mile.”
Erin Rayburn was the female runner-up in 35:11. Mark Lorello from Budd Lake, N.J., was the men’s masters winner and eighth overall in 29:26, and 69-year-old Sergio Bianchini was the grand masters’ best and 22nd overall in 33:23. Tracey Wade was the female masters winner; Susan Gallo won the grand masters prize.