For the third straight year, Cumberland alum and UMass-Lowell grad Ben Drezek captured the men’s title at Arnold Mills Road Race, held Thursday morning. Drezek broke from the lead pack early, pulling away from the top runners just before he reached the mile mark and cruised to a course record of 19 minutes, 1.7 seconds.
(Above photo by Sterling Vernon @rhodeandtrack.)
“I decided to try and make a big move and surge for the next mile. When I made the move, I said to myself that if it doesn’t pay off where they catch up, that’s my fault … a racing error,” said Drezek, who hit his opening mile in 4:43. “It worked out and I was very pleased with that.”
After building up a gap over the chase pack of nearly 15 seconds late in the race, Drezek was able to hold off a fast-charging Ryan Slaney in the closing stages of the race. The former Mount St. Charles standout, who just finished his junior year at Bryant University, was second at 19:08.2.
Joseph Dos Reis, a multiple all-stater while at La Salle Academy and a senior at Wisconsin, finished third at 19:51.4. Rounding out the top five was 2021 winner and former Hendricken standout Nick Celico (fourth, 19:55.6 and East Greenwich’s Nick Martin (fifth, 20:02.3).
In the women’s competition, former La Salle great Kaylie Armitage was a convincing winner. Armitage took control early and cruised to a new course record of 21:39.7. The current Furman University junior was 17th overall among the record 717 finishers.
Armitage was well ahead of the field by the time she crossed the finish line. Taking second overall was Katie Overstrum of Wallington, CT (47th, 24:15.6). She was followed by Cranston’s Shayna Cousineau (49th, 24:29.8), Providence’s Erica Knighton (53rd, 24:47.8), and Worcester’s Kaylee Gladu (55th, 24.55.9).
Check out our video of the race below.
