A Dale City man was the top finisher in this morning’s Quantico 12K.
The run took place aboard the Marine Corps Base, home to Officers Candidate School, which molds the next generation of Marine Corps Officers.
Jonathan Ladson, 31, of Dale City, crossed the finish line first with a winning time of 42:54.
“My game plan was to stick with a pack near me and feed off their energy,” expressed Ladson in a press release from the Marine Corps Marathon Organization. “When I saw there was no one with me, I just decided to catch the bikers (serving as lead escort) and hopefully, they would push me to the course record. After mile one, I was pretty much just racing the clock.”
Ladson has placed in the top two of every Marine Corps Marathon Organization event he has entered in 2022; second place at the Marine Corps 17.75K in March, overall winner at the Devil Dog Double in May, overall winner of the Belleau Wood 8K in June and now the winner of the Quantico 12K.
He will aim for a top finish at the Marine Corps Marathon 50K on October 30.
He was followed by Marcus Briones of Jacksonville, N.C., age 21, and Jose Crosby of Quantico, Va., age 25. Their times were 45:11 and 45:15, respectively.
The top female was Annie Pentaleri from Jacksonville, Fla., 23, finishing with a time of 53:49.
“It was a really good run and a fun course. I love trails,” said Pentaleri. “There’s one hill that lasted about a mile, and I thought I was going to die, but once you get through it, all the crowd was awesome and helped me finish strongly.”
Today’s Quantico 12K marked Pentaleri’s first MCMO event ever, but she has plans to run the MCM in October. She is currently a Second Lieutenant attending The Basic School.
Coming in second for the females was Gwen Oster, 31 years old, from Alexandria, Va., with a time of 54:39, followed by Alexis Eyo, 30 years old, from Washington, D.C., with a third-place time of 55:12. Unofficial results are available at marinemarathon.com.
Another 126 runners took on the 7.46 miles virtually from August 6 to August 21.
The Quantico 12K marks the third tier of the 2022 Distinguished Participant program presented by Fleet Feet. Runners took the first two steps in becoming distinguished earlier this year by finishing one of the live Marine Corps Historic Half events and either the Belleau Wood 8K or the Crossroads Trail 15K.
Runners may continue their commitment to running with the Marines by participating in the Turkey Trot 10K and Mile, also running aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico on November 19. There are also entries still available for the Marine Corps Marathon Kids Run on October 29 in Arlington and the Marine Corps Marathon 10K in Washington, D.C., on October 30.
The Quantico 12K follows the Marine Corps 17.75K Run that took place at Prince William Forest Park in March. The race, won this year by a Maryland man, honors the founding of the Marine Corps in 1775.
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