Solis and Henderson win 5K fourth of July Race

BARSTOW — For some, the ultimate reward for a win is a trip to Walt Disney World.

For Anthony Solis, a watermelon will do just fine.

Solis, who recently graduated from Barstow High School and will attend Chico State on a cross country scholarship, just thought about his green mellon prize after winning the 5K Freedom Walk/Run yesterday in the men’s division at Robert A. Sessions Memorial Sportspark on Friday morning.

Solis and women’s winner Jennifer Henderson captured the honorary watermelon, the prize given to race winners.

“My favorite part was finishing,” Solis said. “I just wanted to eat the watermelon already.”

At the beginning of the men’s portion of the 5-kilometer race, Solis was surprised by another runner sprinting out and taking the early lead, he said.

Later, Solis took command of the race, with former Aztecs teammate Isaac Chavez finishing second in the men’s race.

“I was by myself the whole time, and I just ran by myself,” Solis said. “I barely started really training, and ran just to see where I was at in my training.”

Chavez said he was not racing for victory and stuck with cross country teammates Andrew Romano and Josh Gomez, who finished third and fourth in the race.

“I just needed to get the miles. It was a little workout, I guess,” Chavez said. “I was trying to just go out there and have some fun. I wasn’t really racing to compete or anything.”

On the womens' side, another BHS track and cross country runner, Heather Earl, finished second to Henderson.
Earl said her goal was to finish first, but knew that wasn’t going to be much of an option after Henderson got a head start out in front of her.

“I was really glad to see that there were a lot of entries this year,” Earl said. “In past years, there hasn’t been very many people enter, and (Henderson) did really well.”

Contact the writer
(760) 256-4122 or
jason_blasco@link.freedom.com

5K Freedom
Walk/Run Results
Male Division
1. Anthony Solis    14:31
2. Isaac Chavez    15:12
3. Andrew Romano    15:14
4. Joshua Gomez     15:17
5. Miles Lindsay     16:17
6. Cesar Vasquez    18:23
7. Marvin Gonzalez     19:36
8. Eric Stevenson     20:18
9. John Litahanberger 20:52
10. Robert Barela      22:52 

Female Division
1. Jennifer Henderson  19:19
2. Heather Earl    22:32
3. Gail Hanoumis       25:41
4. Janet Alvarez        27:00
5. Sophia Manzanarez  28:51
6. Mikaela Slis           29:40
7. Juliet Manzanares     30:31
8. Loretta Carruthers    40:00
9. Maribel Figueroa        40:00
10. Stephanie Saiz          42:00