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Just after finishing Tallahassee’s 38th annual Sickle Cell 5K on Saturday morning, Sept. 14, Tristan Cravello was looking over the results of the race. Cravello, winner of that race in 2017, had just finished third, so he had a particular interest in the top three places.

“It’s an age twenty sweep,” commented Cravello.

Sure enough, each of the first three athletes was 20 years old. Twenty-year-old Paul Allen of Tampa, had won the race with a 16:02. Twenty-year-old Bryce Parry of Debary, Florida had placed second in 17:09. And 20-year-old Cravello had gone 17:26 to earn third place. The double-decade club didn’t fare as well in the women’s standings, though. A twenty-something, Ann Centner, was the first woman in the race, placing fifth overall in 18:09.

The Run For Sickle Cell was first held in 1987, so it was already an established event in Tallahassee when Allen, Parry, and Cravello were born. If they were intimidated by the age of the race, it didn’t show in their performance. Just after the 8:30 a.m. start of the run, Cravello was leading the field. Parry ran in the second position, keeping Cravello in sight, while Allen ran just behind Parry.

Allen soon gave up his stalking position, overtaking Parry first and then Cravello. 800 meters into the race Allen was in the lead and moving away. Early in the second half of the 5K, Parry passed Cravello to move into second. Neither runner would challenge Allen, who went on to win by well over 300 meters in 16:02. Parry was second in 17:09, and Cravello third in 17:26.

The top overall finishers settled into their positions early, but that wasn’t the case among the master runners. Florida A&M professor Dr. Geb Kiros led the 40-and-over competitors in the early going, shadowed by Michael Martinez. After Kiros faded, Martinez found himself trailing another college professor, Florida State’s Dr. Hong-Guo Yu. Martinez surged ahead of Hong-Guo Yu to take the top master spot, finishing seventh overall in 18:30. Hong-Guo Yu was the second master runner and eighth overall at 18:38.

Cravello had raced the Sickle Cell 5K before, but it was the first time running in the Jake Gaither neighborhood for Allen and Parry. Parry, at least, was favorably impressed.

“This is the best course I’ve seen since I’ve been up here,” said Parry.

Parry has been in Tallahassee two years now, studying undergraduate mathematics at Florida State. Ann Centner is also a Florida State student, pursuing a doctoral degree in nutrition science. She had run the Sickle Cell 5K in 2018, placing third in the women’s standings behind Amy Hines and Sheryl Rosen.

Rosen, a Tallahassee lawyer, was on the starting line with Centner at the 2019 race. Centner left Rosen behind almost immediately after the start. Leading the women’s field from wire to wire, Centner crossed the finish line in 18:09, nine seconds faster than she had run the year before.

Rosen, the 20:08 Sickle Cell 5K women’s champ, was the second woman and tenth overall in 19:03. Alyssa Moore, another Florida State grad student, was the third woman and seventeenth overall in 20:07. The 2017 women’s winner, Katie Sherron, was fourth in the women’s standings and nineteenth overall in 20:14. Lourena Maxwell was the top woman master and seventh female finisher, 26th overall in 21:31.

The Sickle Cell 5K was Centner’s first race in September, but not her last of the autumn campaign.

“I’m doing the 30A Half Marathon in Santa Rosa Beach in three weeks,” said Centner. “And next week the Tallahassee Women’s Distance Festival 5K.”

187 runners and 74 walkers finished the 2019 Sickle Cell 5K, plus another 39 athletes in the preceding one-mile fun run. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the races.

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