Sell wins third U.S. 25 km title; Snyder, Morgan, and Joslyn place 3rd, 4th, and 10th

Brian Sell won his third U.S. 25 km title and won his first River Bank Run overall title in the process. His Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) teammates Todd Snyder, Mike Morgan and C.Fred Joslyn placed 3rd, 4th and 10th in the U.S. Championship race, respectively.

Sell was challenged by Ethiopian Wellay Weldeglyorges, who held a ten-second lead at six miles. By the ninth mile, as the race turned towards the hills, Sell had dropped the other pre-race favorites--Fernando Cabada (Boulder, Colo.) and Rueben Kibet Chebii (Kenya) and covered the lead held by Weldeglyorges. The two leaders ran side-by-side, until the hilly twelfth mile, where Sell put twenty seconds on his Ethiopian rival. In the end, Sell (1:15:07) would put a minute on Weldeglyorges (1:16:06) for the overall title, and almost two-minutes on the U.S. Championships runner-up, Cabada (1:17:01).

Closing fast on Cabada were Hansons-Brooks teammates Mike Morgan and Todd Snyder. In the final mile, Cabada held them both off, but Snyder (1:17:15) overtook teammate Morgan (1:17:20) and secured third place in the U.S. Championship race and fifth overall. Morgan was fourth in the U.S. Championships--sixth overall. And, Joslyn (1:20:38) rounded out the top-ten for the U.S. Championships, placing 12th overall. For complete results, click here.

In addition to winning his first overall title, Sell set another new milestone with his victory by becoming the first three-time national champion in the 25 km. Other two-time champions are John Sence (1997, 1998) and Dan Browne (2003, 2004). The only other Hansons-Brooks athlete to win a U.S. 25 km title is Chad Johnson, who won the race in 2001.

In the 10k, Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athlete Mike Reneau took home top honors, with teammate Pat Moulton placing second.

For 10k results, click here.

**Photo by Chris Clark of The Grand Rapids Press.