A key to the success of the fifth annual Weighted Angels 5K, held Oct. 18 on the lightning-fast Virginia Capital Trail/Landfall at Jamestown course, is its connection to William & Mary’s cross country team. The Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix event is also a Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix race, and has also been the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) state 5K championship in recent years. A number of state 5K age group records have been set on the course. This year there were 337 finishers in the 5K, and an additional 28 finishers in the one mile fun run.
The race director is Kate Crump, the sister of CRR vice president Adam Otstot, a former W&M runner (class of 2004), and the current men’s 40-44 record holder (15:17 in 2024) at Weighted Angels. Otstot has been a major influence in guiding the direction of the race, including suggesting prize money ($150-100-50 to the top three men and women overall) to encourage the fastest runners to compete. Having just run a 2:30 at the Chicago Marathon, he was the bike leader this year.
W&M men’s cross country coach Forest Braden has also been a major factor, bringing many of his freshman, and other runners who are not on the traveling squad for the fall cross country season, as well as running most years himself. Braden holds the race men’s 35-39 record of 15:11, set in 2022. The overall race records of 14:56 (Ryan McGorty, 24, of Fairfax in 2021, the inaugural year) and 16:47 (Laura Labuschaigne, 27, of Henrico in 2023) were both set by former W&M runners.
State records for the men’s 15-19 age group have also been set by W&M freshmen, first Peyton Golden (15:03 in 2022), then by Wyatt Townsend (14:59 in 2023). Last year’s winner, Carson Rackley, is now on the traveling team. And this year’s winner, Hayden Goodman, 18, of Williamsburg (15:03) will likely be on the championship squad in future years, along with runner-up Colby Twyman, 18, of Wilmington, Del. (15:06). Third place Lucas Thompson, 21, of Simsbury, Conn. (15:26) is a senior, and his father Chad and sister Kailen also ran on Saturday.
CRR standout Sean Bush, 35, of Williamsburg (15:33) broke up the W&M domination with a fourth place 15:33, followed by former Jamestown High standout Jeffrey Linton, 18, of Williamsburg (15:46), who will join the W&M track team next semester. Freshman Brady Brennan, 19, of Stafford was sixth (16:00).
In seventh was Coach Braden, 42, of Williamsburg (16:54), ahead of Tidewater Striders president Thomas Hicks, 54, of Virginia Beach (17:09, a race record for men 50-54, breaking his own mark of 17:26 from 2023).
Pictured from left are Jeffrey Linton (bib no. 323), Colby Twyman (396), Emily Honeycutt (women’s winner), Hayden Goodman (395), Lucas Thompson (lime green) and Jonathan Kumer. Courtesy of Dan Hurley
Women’s winner Emly Honeycutt, 34, of Newport News (18:34, a personal 5K record by three seconds, and an age group record for women 30-34, breaking her own mark of 18:49 from 2024) attended W&M from 2009-14 with a degree in math (’13) , and a Masters in Education (’14), but did not run on the W&M team. Besides Hicks and Honeycutt, race records were broken by Ken Mitchell, 80, of Williamsburg (26:46), Melanie Hennis, 63, of Portsmouth (22:41, bettering by 17 seconds the previous record set last year by Connie Glueck), and by Kathy Pride, 65, of Huddleston (25:08 for women 65-69).
Melanie Hennis, right, broke Connie Glueck’s women’s 60-64 age group record at the Weighted Angels 5K. Melanie finished in 22:41. Courtesy of Dan Hurley
Second for the women was Amanda Smith, 32, of Mechanicsville (19:39), who ran 2:03 for 800 meters and 4:13 for 1,500 meters for Virginia Tech, where she was an All-American and ACC champion. Third and fourth were Jayme Johnson, 36, of Yorktown (20:05) and Laura Bonsmann, 39, of Virginia Beach (20:14). The first Masters (40-and-older) was Megan Syrett, 43, of Yorktown (22:02), another W&M grad, with Hennis sixth overall.
On an age graded basis, as compiled by CRR statistician Jim Gullo, an impressive eight runners bettered the national-class standard of 80%, including Hicks (87.97%), Goodman (85.20%), Twyman (84.92%), Bush (83.90%), Hennis (83.41%), Thompson (83.05%), Linton (81.33%), Braden (81.24%) and Brennan (80.10%).
An additional seven runners bettered 75%–Jim Duffy, 73, of Poquoson (23:11, 78.22%), Pride (77.50%), Mitchell (77.34%), Honeycutt (76.11%), Janelle Fricke, 67, of Hayes (26:31, 75.52%), Russell Haller, 43, of Virginia Beach (18:21, 75.39%) and Ken Alberg, 64, of Suffolk (21:52, 75.19%). Thirteen more bettered the regional class level of 70%.
Braden emailed about the race: “There are a lot of great things about racing at Weighted Angels! The race is well organized and the prize money is a nice little perk for our student-athletes. Most of them have never won prize money before so it’s a fun thing to be able to compete, and get a few bucks as well. More importantly, the atmosphere is great, the vibes are good and the timing is perfect for us in where we are in the season. We have a top times list that the freshmen know about, and they usually only get one shot at it because they are racing in uniform after this first year. It also provides a road 5K opportunity which suits our middle-distance athletes and our freshmen well. Overall, the Otstots/Crumps and CRR put on a fun, competitive race in a laid-back environment. We love the Weighted Angels cause and will continue to come back every year!”
The Weighted Angels is a local nonprofit that supports bereaved families who are experiencing pregnancy or neonatal loss while in the hospital. Our mission is for no family to leave the hospital with empty arms. On their logo is the statement “We run for those that fly. Pregnancy and infant loss awareness.”
Hicks, who was just behind Braden with a half mile to go, emailed, “I love coming up to Williamsburg every year to run this race, great cause and awesome competition. I enjoyed racing with Forest this year, he pushed my old butt to another course record.”
Bush emailed, “I am nearly twice the age of the first-place finisher! That does make me feel pretty ‘old’. My watch splits were 4:52, 5:02, and 5:03. As is always the case, the W&M men went out really hard from the gun so I had to decide very quickly whether to go with them or not. I decided I’d take a chance and at least try to keep them within reach. There were six ahead of me initially, and I moved by two of them a little before the mile mark. I caught up to another just before the mile 2 mark and said to him “Let’s work”. He (Linton) agreed, and suggested we try to chase down the guy ahead of us who was in third [Thompson]. We went shoulder-to-shoulder for a half a mile or so and I pressed on. On the long home straight, I could see the guy in 3rd the whole way, and closed the gap some, but didn’t have the real estate to catch him. One of my favorite parts of the race was hearing the loud cheers from the rest of the W&M team on the sides of the home straight as the 3 ahead of me neared the finish line. When I approached them, it got really quiet at first but I raised my arms up and down and smiled at them, which made them laugh and give me some cheers as well, even though I wasn’t one of their own.”
Honeycutt, Tabb High’s cross-country coach, emailed, “I signed up really late because the 10 a.m. gun time and the cross-country bus leaving Tabb High School at 11:30 a.m. (a 35 minute drive from the race), with athletes arriving at 11:15 a.m., made for a tight turnaround. I really wanted to run though as it is always a very well put on event. With the women’s field not being super competitive, and coming off 2 big weekends of racing (18:45 5K at Crawlin’ Crab 5K on Oct. 4./2-minute PR 1:24:56 half marathon at Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon Oct. 5, and tying my 10K PR at Grove Trotter 10K on Oct. 11), I was planning on taking it easy and just getting the win. I felt great and wasn’t feeling like I was going too hard, so I was surprised to hear my dad yell that I was at 18:18 as I approached the finish. I pushed at the end and was very pleased with a new 3-second 5K PR of 18:34 (which I did not know would be an age group record). My splits were 5:52, 5:58, 6:01.”
With her race win and 10 Grand Prix points, Honeycutt moved ahead of Tricia Murphy in the CRR Grand Prix standings for women, 95-86, with Aimee Gianoukos (64 points), Isabella Strumke (63) and Marjorie Friedrichs (56) in the running for third overall. Gianoukos recently ran the Chicago Marathon, Friedrichs will run the upcoming New York City Marathon, and Strumke has been concentrating on cross country this past month.
Rick Platt is president of Colonial Road Runners.
https://www.dailypress.com/2025/10/24/tribe-runners-shine-at-weighted-angels-5k/
