2 days Ago By Skyler Jackson
WORTHINGTON — Two runners have had the King Turkey Day 10K run on lockdown for the last four years. Saturday morning’s run was no exception as Jesse Nitzschke and Kaitlin Goforth claimed the crowns for the fourth-straight year. They each also set personal records.
It was the 45th annual running of the 6.2-mile race. Every year it is a fixture among the KTD festivities and has become one of the premier area road races.
This year saw 319 overall participants between the 10K and 5K races and the 5K walk. 138 of those entries competed in the 10K. ADVERTISEMENT The man who easily outpaced everybody else in the 10K was once-again Nitzschke.
The 29-year old Worthington native and current counselor at WHS was the top male finisher and top overall as he was more than two minutes ahead of second place. He set a personal best in his fourth running of the race with a final time of 34 minutes and 17 seconds. Nitzschke has won the run every year he’s participated.
His final time in 2021 was 35:51, then 2022 came his previous personal best of 35:09. Last year, he won the race in 35:44 before easily beating his record this year. Second place overall in the run was St.
Cloud native O.J. Ojullu in 36:25 and third place was Worthington native Carlos Garcia in 38:45.
Fourth place overall and the first-place female was Goforth, who also claimed her fourth-straight KTD 10K crown. The 32-year-old Albert Lea native was a 2010 WHS graduate who ran cross country in both high school and college. Goforth was running in her seventh 10K with her first win coming in 2021 with a time of 43:21.
Her 2022 winning time was 42:27 as she also finished third overall and her time last year was 40:21, at the time her best. Like Nitzschke, Goforth easily bested her previous personal record by going under the 40-minute mark at 39:12. She was more than seven minutes ahead of the second-highest female, Worthington native Angela Smith and her time of 45:56.
Placing third among females was Fairmont native Leah Hartung in 46:20. Rounding out the top five overall finishers in the run were Jackson native Luke Ewald (40:07) and Sioux Falls native Nate Helling (41:19). ADVERTISEMENT The winner of the 5K run was Uwe Kamm of Crailsheim, Germany with a time of 20:39.
Mateo Ovando of Primghar, Iowa, was second overall and Eli Thiner of Sheldon, Iowa was third. The first-place female was Kya Crowley of Woodbury with a time of 22:42 as she placed fourth overall. Full 5K and 10K results can be found on https://www.
athlinks.com/event/6343/results/Event/1088593/Results ..
