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Ten-Miler women win first trophy

Team finishes in course-record time to claim active duty women’s Commanders Cup in Washington, D.C.

Courtesy photo Members of the JBLM women’s team pose for a picture with the trophy they earned for their first-place finish during the annual Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C.

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The Joint Base Lewis-McChord women's Army Ten-Miler team brought home its first trophy since the inception of the annual race 28 years ago.

It's not just any piece of hardware, but rather the top prize - the Commanders Cup.

Led by Ashley Urick, the JBLM women combined for a course-record time of 4 hours, 15.1 minutes, to win the active duty women's Commanders Cup at the Army Ten-Miler Sunday in Washington, D.C.

The JBLM active duty men finished second and the JBLM men's masters team finished sixth.

"I'm really impressed with all of them," JBLM team coordinator Kathy Salcedo said. "They gelled together as a team, trained together and put forth the effort."

Running in Pacific Northwest-like weather conditions, Urick led the women with a finish time of 1:00.20, a personal best time for her. She was followed closely by teammates Sandra Rivera (1:02.56) and Janelle Drennan (1:04.17). Other members of the team included Erica Chabalko, Christina Rath, Shamai Larsen and Marisa Gossweiler.

"I was really happy when I turned around and saw the ladies coming so close behind knowing that we had put a really solid team performance together," Urick said. "It was a culmination of a lot of hard work for a lot of months and it was a great feeling."

The team was presented with a ceremonial 5-foot tall trophy that remains in Washington, D.C. and brought home a smaller trophy in its place. Team members also shook hands with Command Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III.

The victory by the women's team marks the second Commanders Cup won by a JBLM team. The active duty men's team won the top prize in 2003.

Gregory Leak led the active duty men's team with a time of 50:55. He also ran as a member of the All-Army team, which defended its International Division Crown. The men's team finished in a time of 3:37.46, which Salcedo said would have taken first in any other year. Fort Carson won the active duty men's Commanders Cup with a team time of 3:32.33. Team captain Dallas Henry finished in 53:19 and Cyrus Bernard finished in 55:47. Fifty-three-year-old Sammy Ngatia led the men's masters team with a time of 1:00.12, followed by Douglas Brown (1:05.27) and Scott Stanley (1:07.49). The team's combined time was 4:22.18.

"Sammy had an exceptional run," Salcedo said. "He left it all on the pavement."

More than 30,000 entries participated in the race. Ethiopian Tesfaye Sendeku-Alemayehu of Ellicott City, Md., won his second consecutive overall Army Ten-Miler title with a time of 47:48. Kerri Gallagher of Washington, D.C. was the first female finisher with a time of 56:09.

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