New York’s Maria Michta Walking to El Salvador (sort of)

Patrick Stroupe and Maria Michta were the respective men’s
and women’s 20 km winners Sunday at the 2009 Americas Race Walk Cup
Trials in Pharr, Texas. Top finishers at the event will compete for
Team USA at the first ever Americas Race Walk Championships later this
year in San Salvador, El Salvador.

In the men’s 20 km race, Patrick Stroupe (Armstrong, Mo.),
broke away from two-time Olympian Tim Seaman (Imperial Beach, Calif.)
with about 1 km remaining to win the race in a personal best time of 1
hour 27 minutes 34 seconds. Seaman was the runner-up in 1:28:04, with
Ian Whatley (Greer, S.C.) third in 1:50:21.

Solomiya Login (Philadelphia, Pa.) held the lead most of
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the way in the women’s 20 km race until being passed with 5 km to go by
Maria Michta (Nesconset, N.Y.).  Michta crossed the finish line first
in 1:46:02, with Login close behind in second place in 1:46.10. Susan
Randall (Beavercreek, Ohio) was third in 1:51:37.

16-year-old Trevor Barron (Bethel Park, Pa.) was the class
of the men’s 10 km junior field, winning the race in 44 minutes 26
seconds. High school junior Matthew Forgues (Boothbay, Me.) was the
runner-up in 48:04, with the Vergara brothers, Ricardo (3rd-48:05) and
Roberto (4th-48:41) of Lindsey Wilson University, rounding out the top
finishers.

Allison Chin (Tipp City, Ohio) led from start to finish in
dominating the field in the junior women’s race. Chin set a personal
best by three minutes with her winning time of 54 minutes 28 seconds,
with Claudia Ortiz (Mission, Tex.) finishing second in 57:11, and Molly
Josephs (Garden City, N.Y.) placing third in 58:28.