BENTONVILLE -- Shawn Wierick's strategy for the Run Bentonville Half Marathon was to maintain a 6.5-minute-per-mile pace and see where it would take him.
The Rogers resident did a little better than that, and it was barely enough to help him win Saturday morning's race. Wierick had to withstand a strong charge by Garrett Dyson over the last 2 miles and won by a margin of only 10.2 seconds.
Run Bentonville Half Marathon
Saturday’s Results
Men
Shawn Wierick, Rogers, 1:18:39.6
Garrett Dyson, Owasso, Okla., 1:18:49.8
Matt Martin, Bella Vista, 1:19:30.1
Stuart Jackson, Fayetteville, 1:21:18.1
Brandon Gardner, Bentonville, 1:21:46
Matt Blaty, Bentonville, 1:22:17
Dan Uskert, Bentonville, 1:22:29.7
Adam Reichert, Springfield, M0., 1:23:17.3
Thomas Bullock, Fort Smith, 1:24:25
Grant Pledger, Rogers, 1:26:41.1
Women
Ali Rush, Bentonville, 1:23:50.9
Pauline Allen, Fayetteville, 1:28:19.1
Melissa Belk, Springfield, Mo., 1:29:45.3
Emily King, Bentonville, 1:32:51.6
Katelin Keenan, Dellwood, 1:33:26.3
Robyn Bourlon, Rogers, 1:33:57.1
Beth Lunde, Rogers, 1:34:42.1
Rachel Bender, Bentonville, 1:35:37.8
Abrena Rine, Springdale, 1:36:08.4
Abbey Sharpe, Bentonville, 1:37:47.7
"It was a good group to run with at the front, and it worked out to my benefit," Wierick said. "It really wasn't a race for me; really, it was the luck of the day. I had good competition, and they pushed me hard.
"I had to push there at the end because that guy was going to run me down for sure. Any more road in the race, and he would have got me."
Wierick finished the 13.1-mile race with a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 39.6 seconds. He enjoyed a 24-second lead over Matt Martin of Bella Vista at the halfway point, and he started thinking he could win the race with about 2 miles left.
That was about the time Dyson made his move and made the end of the race an interesting one. The Owasso, Okla., native was in fourth place at the midway point before he made his final push and finished with his time of 1:18:49.8.
"I had a good lead going into the last 2-3 miles," Wyrick said. "He really gained on me and finished strong, and I had no gas left in the tank. That was it for me."
Martin wasn't too far behind the two leaders and finished third in 1:19:30.1. Stuart Jackson of Fayetteville was fourth, while Brandon Garner of Bentonville rounded out the top five at 1:21:46.
The women's division witnessed a former champion return to winning form. Alison Rush of Bentonville, who had won the race in 2011-12, returned to top honors after a two-year hiatus and finished the course in 1:23:50.9 -- a time good enough for ninth overall.
"Everything went great," Rush said. "The weather was perfect, and I had some buddies I ran with. I just brought it in, trying to catch people and run hard."
Rush, a former runner at Arkansas, had a comfortable lead for most of the race and was never pushed. Her time was more than 4 minutes better than second-place finisher Pauline Allen of Fayetteville, whose time was 1:28:19.1.
"You never quite know if you're going to win until you get to that last hill," Rush said. "I felt pretty confident once I got up there. It feels great to get back to winning. I've been training hard, and everybody has been encouraging me.
"Steady as you go has always been my strategy. When you're out there by yourself, you just try to plug away. I didn't expect to be by myself for that long, but you adjust your plans. It's all about you at that point."
Henry Apple can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAHenry
Sports on 03/29/2015