Huddle takes USA women's 10K championship

Oct 13, 2008 - 7:27 PM BOSTON (Ticker) - Molly Huddle edged home in the Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women on Monday to claim the USA Women's 10 km Championship.

Huddle, 24, nipped Ethiopia's Aziza Aliyu by half a second on the Charles Street finish line to win the road race through Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts in 32 minutes 51.2 seconds.

Aliyu, 22, clocked 32:51.7 with her compatriot Tyeba Naser, also 22, third in 32:54.9.

Huddle's first national title came by a more comfortable margin with her Providence, Rhode Island, training partner and two-time USA 8km Champion Amy Rudolph finishing fourth overall, the second American home in 33:04.2.

With Aliyu and Naser the only non-Americans among the top-10 finishers, Renee Metivier-Baillie was fifth overall and third in the national championship standings in 33:12.4 with Rebecca Donaghue claiming sixth overall in 33:14.0 and 2008 Olympic steeplechaser Lindsey Anderson next in 33:33.2.

For Huddle, victory came following a third-place finish at this year's USA 5km Championships and fourth at the recent USA Women's 8km Championship.

The USA Women's 10km Championships was the final race on the women's 2008 USA Running Circuit, a series of USA Track & Field road races featuring USA Championships from 5km up to the marathon.

With points awarded to the first 10 U.S. runners in each USARC race, Huddle's Boston win moved her from eighth place to third in the final standings on 32 points, behind women's circuit winner Deena Kastor (45 points) and Katie McGregor (36).