Princeton Student, Penn. Resident Take Top Honors in Pizza Race

George Galasso brought a pretty impressive resume with him to Wednesday night's ninth annual Downtown Westfield 5 K & Pizza Extravaganza.

The 19-year-old Galasso, who'll be a sophomore harrier at Princeton University in the fall, ran way from the huge field of 2,600 runners to win in 15:48.30. Rahway's D.J. Thornton, who graduated from Union Catholic in Scotch Plains in the spring, was second in 16:10.12. Kevin Lucid of New Providence was third in 16:33.27. Zach Lizmi, who helped Westfield win the state Group IV cross country title last fall, was the first Westfield resident to finish. He was 17th in 17:12.05.

Megan Duerring of Easton (Pa.) was the first woman to cross the finish line. The 33-year-old realtor was 49th overall in 19:00.12. Elisabeth Stocking of Westfield was the first female from town to finish. She ran 20:29.57 for 93rd overall.

Chris Tafelski, the assistant coach of the Westfield High School cross country team placed fifth with a time of 16:37. 47. A Garwood resident, Tafelski is a 1997 graduate of Westfield High School.

Galasso didn't take long to break the pack. He figures it was 600 yards into the race that he broke free and was never challenged. He ran a 5:05 per-mile pace. Last year, Rahway's Brian Guterl won the race in 15:40. Guterl didn't run this year.

"Once I caught (the pack) there wasn't really anybody around me, so I decided to take it and see if anybody went with me and that was about  600 meters out,'' said

Galasso, who ran a personal best of 3:59.37 in the 1,500 outdoor and an 8:35.32 in the 3,000 meters indoors at Princeton. "From there I just kept running, tried not to look back and thankfully I had enough to pull it off.''

Galasso's trip to Westfield was his first. He had heard that the event was fun, plus he needed a change in pace from his workout routine. The race is sponsored by the Downtown Westfield Corporation.

"I needed some tempo work this week and I felt this would be a good way to do it,'' said Galasso, who graduated from Holmdel High School in 2009.

"I had a decent season; I think my team is super talented, just practicing with them made me better,'' said Galasso of running at Princeton.

Thornton greeted Galasso before the race. The two may compete against each other in the future since Thornton is headed to run at  the University of Notre Dame in the fall.

"He took it out right away; my plan was to take it out easier and at the mile I was at sixth,'' said Thornton, who won the NJSIAA Meet of Champions 1,600 meters last winter in 4:12.54.

Thornton said he went through the first mile in 5:32, but he picked it up from there.. He ran a 5:12 per mile average.

"We came back negative, the last mile and half on I pushed the pace and at two miles I was by myself,'' said Thornton. "I just came here with the idea of having some tempo work. I really haven't worked out this summer. This was really my first up-tempo day.''

Duerring, who ran at Penn State, said he recalls being runner-up at the race in 2003. But hasn't been back since then.

"I thought I was in the lead, but wasn't sure,'' said Duerring, who added that she does mainly marathon running. "And then at about two and miles somebody said I was the first female and I thought 'cool."

Duerring beat runner-up Christine Glockenmeier of Basking Ridge by 21 seconds.

Complete Pizza Race times can be found here.