Runner Joe Wilson may or may not be a fan of baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, but at the least, he's a fan of the former Cubs shortstop's famous philosophy. After playing a ballgame, Banks would say to his teammates, "Let's play two."
In his own way, Wilson did exactly that at the Salt Lake City Classic on Saturday morning. Minutes after winning the men's 10K road race with a time of 32:13, he hit the road — again — to pound out a second-place finish in the 5K race. That race's first-place finisher, Jace Nye of Layton, ran to victory with a time of 15:50, and Wilson caught Demetrio Cabanillas to beat him by a step at the finish line. Wilson and Cabanillas finished with times of 16:09 and 16:11, respectively.
Coming in second in the 10K was Utah State runner Mike Nielson at 32:21, followed by Farmington's Corbin Talley at 32:49. In the women's division, Julie Thomas of Salt Lake took the 10K crown by turning in a time of 38:50. Johanna Nielsen, another Salt Lake runner, came in second at 39:03, while Draper's Michelle Simonaitis pulled out a third-place finish with a time of 39:45.
The 5K women's race was dominated by more Salt Lake natives in the top three spots. Ingunn Earl took top honors with a time of 19:33. She was followed by Charity Vernon at 19:35 and Daisy Freedman with a time of 20:27.
This is the 27th anniversary of the Salt Lake City Classic, which attracted runners from 17 states. It started at the Gallivan Center and wound through the city's streets to finish at the same place. Runners started the race heralded by the baroque sounds of a trio of trumpeters.
"I think (the runners) like the atmosphere," trumpet teacher Scott Devey said of the music. "It makes it seem like a little more of an event."
Also enjoying the atmosphere were Eric Hall of Midvale and his girlfriend, Jessica Larson of Salt Lake City. Hall was decked out as "Nightcrawler" from the movie "X-men 2" for the race, and Larson bore the wings of an eagle. The two figured they had a pretty good shot at winning the race's costume contest division, since they hadn't seen anyone dressed in the "Animals" theme.
Wilson, of North Ogden, a Weber High track coach, backed up with his actions what he teaches his students. "It's fun to come out on top," he said after the first race. After the second race, Wilson wasn't quite so energetic. Running 15 kilometers on an already-hot day before 9:30 a.m. will do that to you. "It went well, I'm pleased," he said. "It was just kind of an experiment to see if I could do it."
Being tired, however, isn't going to stop him from heading back out later this afternoon for another run, he said. Cabanillas, knowing Wilson was attempting to run the double, tried to set an early fast pace right from the gun in a strategy to wear Wilson down. It almost worked, but Wilson managed to pull ahead at the last second.
"I just kind of dug down the last half-mile," Wilson said. "I wanted to see if I could salvage second. That's a tough double."
Said Cabanillas: "I figured if I went out hard, I might be able to take it out of their legs a little bit, but I took it out of myself."
Cabanillas' sister, Carol, another Utah State runner, took fourth in the women's 10K. Nielson, a cross-country runner, said there is a difference between running on trails and running on asphalt.
"A lot of people think running's all the same, no matter where you're doing it, but once you're running you understand," he said. "It's completely different. It's tons faster on the road."
Nye, a Weber State runner, said he was a little surprised to come away with a win in the 5K.
"I just wanted to make sure that I went out a good pace and stay with the leaders so they didn't get ahead of me," he said. Nye said his mental strategy was simple. "You just have to stay tough when the race starts to get hard, when it starts to hurt."
E-mail: RBurton@desnews.com