Criminal justice sophomore wins campus 5K run

After Funfest, 24 students and one staff member participated in the free 5K run sponsored by the office of student life Wednesday.

The first-place winner was criminal justice sophomore Juan Castillo, who finished the 3.1 miles in 22 minutes and 25 seconds.

Second place was kinesiology sophomore John Bowman with a time of 23 minutes and 38 seconds.

Third place was Elijah Martinez, fine arts and education sophomore, who ran it in 24 minutes and 5 seconds.

The first female to finish the race was kinesiology sophomore Coco Wilson in 28 minutes and 37 seconds.

The last runner finished in 55 minutes and 40 seconds.

The top three winners received medals.

The race surrounded Loftin Student Center, Lot 12, Lot 11, Candler Physical Education Center, Lot 20, the tennis courts, Lot 21, Lot 22, Nail Technical Center, the early college programs building and the chemistry and geology building.

Kinesiology Professors Dawn Brooks, Christopher Dillon and Linda Casas provided fruit punch Gatorade to runners at checkpoints of the five laps.

Brooks said the race was a make-up opportunity for students who missed her classes throughout the semester.

Jimmy “Jennifer” Pena, activities specialist in the office of student life, said the run was the first 5K run on campus and announced another Nov. 23.

A similar two-mile run has been held on campus before, but the three miles gave the runners more endurance, Pena said.

Zechariah Riebeling, kinesiology sophomore and member of the Kinesiology Club, kept track of the time for the run.

Steve Dikcis, network engineer in the office of technology services, the lone staff member in the race, said he wants to keep up with today’s youth and stay healthy and fit.

Liberal arts sophomore Roberto Miranda said, the race was a motivating event to help him get back in shape because of KINE 1179, Physical Conditioning 1, with Dillon.