Former high school standouts Kenzie Doyle and Ben Drezek were the top local finishers at Sunday’s 16th annual Bobby Doyle Summer Classic. Both registered solid PRs at the scenic five-miler, a USATF-NE Grand Prix event.
Doyle, a La Salle Academy alum and UMass-Lowell senior, cruised the Narragansett streets with a time of 26 minutes, 50 seconds, good for second overall in the women’s division and a best by more than a minute. Drezek, the onetime Cumberland star and a UMass-Lowell grad, was third among the 800-plus finishers with a time of 23: 55.
The 22-year-old Doyle, who won her second straight title at the Blessing of the Fleet 10M Road Race two weeks ago, finished about 150 meters behind individual champion Katie Kellner of Boston. Kellner , a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, broke from Doyle and eventual third-place finisher and former Providence College great Abbey Wheeler (27:19) around the two-mile mark. She cruised to a finishing time of 26:30.
“I feel like this race I always have to prepare to go out fast,” Doyle said. “We took it out in 5:10 and after that I was just holding on for the rest of the race. It was pretty much three of us (Kellner, Doyle and Wheeler), not really in a pack but enough where I could see the two girls in front of me. I was just trying to make my way up the whole time.”
Drezek, 24, was the early race leader in the men’s race, taking a small pack of four runners through an opening mile of 4:32. A relative unknown to the field, Dylan Gearinger, the head coach at Marywood (PA) University’s men’s and women’s track and cross-country teams, went on to win the race. Gearinger, was just six second off last year’s course record with his time of 23:32. Placing second was Joshua Kalapos at 23:48.
Drezek, who was fifth in 2022, admitted he was looking for a possible victory, especially considering last year’s top four finishers were not at the starting line.
“This year, going into the race, some guys like Paul Hogan (third) and Jordan Mann (second) weren’t here this year,'” he said. “In my mind, I was like, ‘Let’s just try and stick with the usual game plan and take it out hard and see if I can break the field a little bit and roll and see what happens.’ It kind of backfired a little bit and the guys caught me at two miles. From there, it was just a grind. It’s tough but I have to be confident and stick with what I know best. I just figured take it out and see what happens.”
Smithfield senior Jason Padula was the top high-schooler. taking the boys’ title with a fast time of 25:44. He was 22nd overall. Promising North Kingstown freshman Lucy Stowe was the first girl and 254th overall in 31:32.
