Christensen repeats in 5-mile run

COLUMBUS -- Familiar winners brought home first-place finishes in the 5-mile run of the 23rd Annual Downtown Runaround.

Molly (Engel) Christensen of Bellevue was triumphent in taking home her second consecutive women’s title in 31:08 and her fourth overall championship. Kaci Lickteig of Dannebrog finished second at 31:25, while Melissa Schmidt of Wahoo took third at 34:36.

In the men’s division, Eric Rasmussen of Seward eased his way to victory to claim the men’s title in 25 minutes, 56 seconds, his second title in three years. Second-place finisher Logan Datley of Archer came in at 26:58, while Matt Wiltse of Norfolk was third at 27:41.

Christensen, a 2001 Scotus Central Catholic graduate, said coming back to run in the annual event in her hometown is always fun.

“It’s always great to come here and win it,” Christensen said. “You never know who is going to be here. There are always some good runners to come to run.”

Late in the race was a difficult for her. Last week, she battled a headcold, which bothered her a little bit.

“I ran OK,” Christensen said. “The two miles were really hurting me a little, and I did a little battling today. The race wasn’t comfortable for me because of that.

“I was in good shape this spring. I finished second in the Lincoln Half Marathon where I ran personal best. I was training pretty well until the headcold came along.”

Headcold and all, this year was a little easier for Christensen than last year. She won last year’s race just five months after she gave birth to her daughter, Isabelle, now 18 months.

Christensen ran track and cross country at Concordia University and earned 13 All-American honors in the two sports before graduating in 2005. Christensen’s coach at Concordia, Suzanne Weeder Einspahr, continued the Bulldog dynasty with a pair of victories in the 5-mile race in between Christensen’s absence.

In the men’s portion, Rasmussen ran with his friend, Jordan Tucker of Omaha, for 1.5 miles to set a pace. Rasmussen found the pace he wanted at that time and pulled away.

“I felt comfortable at that time,” Rasmussen said. “I thought that was a good time as any to start pulling away from people.”

Rasmussen said he was pretty excited about winning the Runaround again after taking last year off.

“It’s nice to come back and win again,” Rasmussen said. “This is a nice race to compete in. It’s a decent course that is very well set up. It is well organized, and there is usually good competition to run in.”