Princeton Student, Pennsylvania Resident Take Top Honors in Pizza Race

George Galasso brought an impressive resume to Wednesday night's ninth annual Downtown Westfield 5 K and Pizza Extravaganza.

Galasso, 19, who will be a sophomore runner at Princeton University in the fall, ran away from the huge field of 2,600 runners to win in 15:48.30. Rahway's D.J. Thornton, who graduated from Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains this spring, placed second overall with a time of 16:10.12. Kevin Lucid of New Providence placed third with a time of 16:33.27.

More than 150 Scotch Plains and Fanwood residents competed in this year's pizza race. Adam Biner, a 2007 graduate of Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School and, when he's not attending classes at Rutgers University, a Fanwood resident, was the first borough resident to cross the finish line. He placed seventh, with a time of 16:54.11. Martin Sweeney, 19, a rising sophomore at Middlebury College in Vermont, was the first Scotch Plains resident to finish, placing 11th with a time of 17:03.95.

Megan Duerring of Easton, Pa., was the first woman to cross the finish line. A 33-year-old realtor, she placed 49th overall with a time of 19:00.12.

Galasso did not take long to break from the pack, pulling away about 600 meters into the race. "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,'' he said. "From there I just kept running, tried not to look back and thankfully I had enough to pull it off.'' He ran a 5:05 per-mile pace.

"He took it out right away," Thornton, the Union Catholic High School graduate, said. "My plan was to take it out easier and at the mile I was at sixth."

Galasso's trip to Westfield was his first. He said he had heard that the event was fun, and that he was looking a change of pace from his workout routine. "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.

Thornton and Galasso greeted one another before the race. With Thornton heading to Notre Dame this fall, the two may compete against each other in the future.

"I just came here with the idea of having some tempo work," Thornton said. "I really haven't worked out this summer. This was really my first up-tempo day.''

Duerring, the first female finisher, ran at Penn State University. She said she now runs marathon.

"I thought I was in the lead, but wasn't sure,'' Duerring said of the pizza race. "At about two and miles, somebody said I was the first female, and I thought, 'Cool."

Duerring beat the next fastest female runner, Christine Glockenmeier of Basking Ridge, by 21 seconds.

Complete Pizza Race times can be found here.