Debuts, Distance PRs and Podiums in a Day's Work For Volte at Sylvan Beach

Even though Volte doesn't have plans anytime soon to add tri to our name, we had a great group of eight athletes competing at the 15th edition of the Sylvan Beach Triathlon and Duathlon on Sunday, May 16 in La Porte.

Sylvan Beach has run continuously – minus last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19 – since 2006 where it started as a point-to-point race known as the Battle of San Jacinto Triathlon.

75% of our crew from Sunday's Sylvan Beach Triathlon and Duathlon
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Half of our crew – Yaya Herrera, Gabby Westbrook, Paolo Biagi and Tammy Grado – is training to complete their first Ironman at this year’s Ironman Texas, to be held in The Woodlands on Saturday, October 9.

Focused and determined is Yaya Herrera coming back in off of one of the run legs.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

And two of those four – Yaya and Gabby – were competing in their longest triathlon to date, the Olympic distance which includes a 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10K run.

Gabby Westbrook has her eyes on where she needs to go back into the transition area.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

(Due to high winds, the Olympic distance swim was shortened to 1,000 meters and the start was delayed to 7:05 a.m. from its original 6:55 a.m. scheduled start.)

Three of the remaining four – Christopher Branch, Judith Albarran and Mayra Caamano – joined Biagi and Grado in the sprint duathlon while Angel E Martinez Interiano, who has just started to come back and run Tuesday night track with us, jumped into the sprint triathlon.

Angel Martinez Interiano making the run look easy.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

In the duathlon, which included a two-mile run, 12.5-mile bike and three-mile run course, Branch, who was making his multisport debut, led our entire group with a time of 1:17:42, good for sixth in a competitive 40-49 division and 20th of 80 overall male competitors.

Christopher Branch led Volte in the duathlon today with nobody too close to chase him.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Biagi was four overall places behind in 1:20:46 and fourth of 19 competitors in his 50-59 division.

Paolo Biagi getting directions from volunteer, and one of the friendliest and
most versatile female road and trail runners around, Becky Nesbitt.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Biagi drew praise post-race from Volte teammate Mayra Caamano.

"You took off from the very beginning and I could never catch you!" she said.  "I knew you were going to be great on the bike, but I was also very impressed with both of your runs!"

Caamano, who was making her first multisport appearance since Mother’s Day 2012, led all of our ladies in the duathlon.

She was fourth in her age group then in 2012 at the TriGirl Super Sprint Duathlon, held at Duessen Park just off Lake Houston, where she covered the half-mile run, 8-mile bike and 2-mile run in 49:41 was 15th overall.

Caamano in her multisport debut nine years ago.
(Photo courtesy of Friends of the Running Community)

But today, seemingly not having missed a step in nine years, she came out firing – with a 13-minute, two-mile first leg – that brought her into transition sixth overall as the race was led by one of Houston’s top female athletes, Flora Lai.

Nine years and a couple of days later, Caamano signals the second time's easier.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Caamano was second in her 10-year age group (out of 19 competitors) and eighth overall out of 56 female finishers.

Albarran, also competing in a duathlon for the first time, was just three overall places behind Caamano – and two in their mutual 40-49 age group.

Judith Albarran might have missed the podium by one spot, but was dazzling in her multisport debut.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Like Mayra, Judith threw down a fast opening two miles in 14:20 en route to an overall time of 1:25:20.

While Albarran missed out of age group award placement by one, Grado made the podium in third in her 11-competitor 50-59 division with the best run on both legs.  

The top two finishers in her division finished just two seconds apart – and Tammy was just two minutes behind them with an overall time of 1:32:07.

Some community notables from today’s results include the following:

Sylvan Beach Duathlon

James Griffis, The Woodlands, 1:16:00

Ben Harvie, Kemah, 1:25:47

Van Joslin, our friend from the Texas 10 Series and Valhalla, “The Speedo Bandido”, 1:15:16

Dana Lyons, founder, Finish Strong Coaching, 1:08:32, 4th overall male

Pam Meaux, Team in Training, The Woodlands Running Club, 1:15:31, 2nd overall female

Steve Sievert, top Texas 10 Series masters competitor, 1:08:45 (was Darren Hadden’s target)

Volte Blossoms at Trail Racing Over Texas' Wildflower Trail Run

Obviously, Bastrop State Park is known for abundant wildflower trails throughout its 6,600 acres, but the Volte boys were not there to pick flowers last Saturday.

Impressive performances, though, were the measure of the day as part of Trail Racing Over Texas’ third annual Wildflower Trail Run in Bastrop on May 8.

The race started in 2017, but the last two years have been cancelled.

In just his fifth career trail race, Ramon Rosales, Jr., 40, registered his third overall win and set a new event record, recording the first sub-4 hour 50K in the Wildflower Trail Run’s history.

Rosales’ 3:59:33 shattered the former mark set by Angel Jabega four years ago when he won the inaugural race in 4:17:29.

He was a little more than eight minutes ahead of his closest competitor, Adam Doe, 33, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who also broke the former standard with a mark of 4:07:48.

Even though it was Luis Murillo’s slowest time of three career Wildflower Trail Run 50K finishes, he stayed in the top four for the third straight time.

Luis posted a time of 4:41:13.  He had finished third overall in 2017 (4:34:56) and second in 2018 (4:18:00).

Brother Juan had his fastest of the three years and his second top 10 finish in the 50K.

He finished eighth overall in 5:15:59, bettering his 5:19:20 ninth place effort in 2017.

And for good family measure, father Jose Murillo shined in the 10K.

At 70 years of age, Jose was 23rd overall at the 6.2-mile distance in 1:03:35 – an excellent time in and of itself for any age on that course, but he beat another 114 runners to the finish line – and was the oldest competitor in the field.

Well done everyone!

Volte, Volte Friends and Volte Alumni Youth All Cap Off Busy Week of Competition

Over the years, even before the official formation of Volte, those involved in our group have strongly supported the development of an activity -- running -- in youth that will serve them their entire lives.

Within Volte, at the risk of forgetting somebody, Laura Godfrey's daughter plays tennis for Montgomery High School, Mayra Caamano's daughter runs cross country and track for The Woodlands College Park, Brian and Laura Hanyzewski's daughter and Jerritt and Kristi Park's son both run cross country and track for McCullough Junior High.

In the past week, two homeschool groups that we've come to know in different ways over the last couple of years competed at the Texas State Homeschool Track and Field Championships that were held in Rio Vista, Texas on Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, 2021.

One, Salt and Light Homeschool, has frequented The Woodlands Running Club's Sunday Night 5K that our founder Bill Dwyer has hosted since 2009 as they have used it as part of their preparation for cross country season each year.

The other, Houston Homeschool Athletics, shares the track with us on Tuesday nights at Knox Junior High during track and field season.

But before that, our Brayden Park, Jerritt and Kristi's son, competed in the John Cooper School Moonlight Mile (1,600 meters) on Tuesday, May 4 for McCullough.

He posted a personal best time of 5:27.47.

And over the weekend, running for his club team, Team Green Running, at a meet in Pearland on Saturday, May 8, he PR'd in the 3,000 meters with a time of 11:05.

Also competing in the Moonlight Mile were the sons of Volte alumni Jill Tresaugue.

Ryan, a senior at The Woodlands, was 11th overall in 4:24.77, while younger brother Luke, a freshman, had a personal best time of 5:16.50 as well as even younger brother Jack - a teammate of Jerritt's at McCullough - also scored a new personal best in 5:39.94.

Back to the Texas State Homeschool Track and Field Championships, both Salt and Light and Houston Homeschool fielded a team in nearly every division of competition.

They fared as follows:

Women's Varsity - U18

3.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 77

6.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 20

Women's Junior Varsity - U16

2.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 96

8.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 22

Women's 14 & Under

3.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 98

6.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 16

Women's 12 & Under

5.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 42

T8.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 8

Women's 10 & Under

2.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 94

Men's Varsity - U18

3.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 87

Men's Junior Varsity - U16

3.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 81

8.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 24

Men's 14 & Under

6.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 48

8.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 28

Men's 12 & Under

7.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 24

12.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 2

Men's 10 & Under

4.  Houston Homeschool Athletics - 39

11.  Salt and Light Homeschool - 10 

Individually, Benjamin Buckelew, the son of Volte alumni Sally, competed in four events at the varsity level finished with a second, two thirds and a fourth-place finish.

Classified as a sophomore, Benjamin's only event where he was off the podum was the 100 meters where he finished fourth with a personal best time of 12.15 seconds.

In the 200 meters, he was third in a time of 24.32 seconds.

His 4x400 relay team grabbed second as he, David Johns, James Boutte, Jr. and Caleb Creamer covered the distance in 3:43.25.

And finally, in the long jump, he was third - one spot behind teammate Caleb Creamer - with a leap of 18 feet, 11.5 inches. 

Sally and Robert's daughter Molly also helps coach many of the younger Houston Homeschool Athletics athletes.

Congratulations to all of our junior high and high school athletes on a spectacular 2020-2021 school year!

Rains, Heat and Humidity Fail to Befall Volte The First Weekend of May

After three good weekends of racing weather, Mother Nature figured it was time to put her foot down.

Rains on Saturday, and then Sunday was the first race day of 2021 where heat and humidity showed that they were in charge.

Volte got started at Woods Edge Community Church in The Woodlands on Saturday morning at the Run for Hope 5K and 10K.

Christopher and Stephanie Reed ran the 5K in near identical times of 23:21 and 23:15, respectively, and both won their age group while Scott Haney finished the 10K in 58:45.

Sunday, Volte had almost 20 participating in the Vintage Park Half Marathon, 5K and 1K.

Luis Murillo gets ready to make the turn to be the third overall finisher in the 5K on Sunday.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

One of our top performances came in the 5K as Luis Murillo ran a PR of 16:32 en route to a third overall placement and first in his age group.

But three more would follow in kind – a new personal best and an age group win.

Maria Sanchez was next with a win in her 20-24 division with a time of 21:00.

After cleaning up in the Texas 10 Series with an Armadillo Cup win in her 45-49 age group, Erika Sampson kept her winning ways going with a mark of 21:47.

And Jane Campbell ruled the 40-44 division with a time of 22:45.

Auggie Campbell, Jane’s husband, and Rich Cooper rounded out our 5K field with times of 24:04 and 28:42, respectively.

Solid, steady performance turned in by coach Rich Cooper on Sunday in the 5K.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

In the half marathon, Volte had a group of eight including five of our friends.

Juan Murillo led us with a 1:37:20 effort followed by Alejandro Bedoya’s 1:43:54.

Three weeks out from the Buffalo Marathon, Steven Sfeir ran 2:03:55 with Jason Bodie, whose official time was a second more.

Michael Gayle and Scott Haney ran the entire way for a 2:06:27 finish.

Too much fun?  No such thing with Scott Haney and Michael Gayle in Sunday's Half Marathon.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Jose Murillo was second overall in his 70-and-over division, covering the distance in 2:08:54 and less than three minutes out of first behind Houston Masters Sports Association’s Fred Ward.

Diana Gayle turned in a very nice performance of 2:21:03, staying under 11 minutes per mile on a tough day.

Volte friends saw Rip Reynolds clocking a time of 1:31:18 followed by Paul Blutt’s 1:33:15 that allowed him to grab third place in his age group.

Terrence Baptiste won his age group in 1:36:49.

As she did at The Woodlands Half Marathon in March, Erika Park paced Pam Greene to a first-place age group win with a time of 1:47:22 while finishing second in her own 45-49 herself.

Cristina Gray rounded out our friends’ efforts with a time of 2:06:44.

And, of course, the best is saved for last – the Kids’ 1K.

Evie Campbell grabbed first in her age group with a one-kilometer time of 3:54, while brother Simon finished in 4:13 but missed out by one spot of winning an award.

With grandmother Erika Sampson behind them cheering and filming, Logan Jenkins and Whitley Sampson ran the distance in 6:47 and 10:15, respectively.

Volte closed out Sunday with a solid group at The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K.

Darren Hadden dominated with a winning time of 19:09.

Jerritt Park was second in 22:30 while Jane Campbell was the first female finisher in 24:53.

Steven Sfeir, after running a half earlier in the morning, led Volte friend Curtis Barton, across the line with a mark of 25:52.  Barton was less than a minute behind in 26:48.

George Rux finished a little bit ahead of Brooke Hadden.  George made it in 31:42 while Brooke ran almost an identical time to what she did at Cypress last Sunday.  She finished in 32:27.

And 1K wasn’t enough for Simon Campbell, his Dad, Auggie, ran the 5K with him and they stopped the clock in 35:41.