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Pasca Jerono

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Pasca Jerono
Personal information
Birth namePasca Cheptanui Cheruiyot
Born (1986-07-27) July 27, 1986 (age 38)
EducationFlorida State
Sport
CountryKenya
SportAthletics
EventLong-distance running

Pasca Jerono (née Cheptanui Cheruiyot; formerly Pasca Myers, born July 27, 1986) is a Kenyan-born American middle- and long-distance runner best known for winning the 2014 Grandma's Marathon in 2:33:45.[1][2][3][4]

Early career

Myers grew up in Marakwet District, Kenya. Like other freshmen in her high school, she was required to run during her first semester. Sally Kipyego was also at the school, and the two both competed through the regionals and into the province races (one step below nationals) in Kenya.[5]

After college scouts spotted her, she traveled to attend college in the US. Finances kept her from attending an NCAA D-I school, so she began college at Rend Lake College in Ina, Illinois, in 2007. The small school, part of the NJCAA D-II Great Rivers Athletic Conference had been a starting point for other Kenyan distance runners such as Kipyego and Stephen Sambu.[6]

Myers did well on the Lady Warriors track team. She placed second in the 10,000-meters and third in the 5,000- and 1,500-meter events in the 2007 NJCAA D-I Outdoor Track and Field championships.[7] A few months later though, in fall 2008, she outpaced a packed group of strong runners to win the Rend Lake-hosted NJCAA Cross-Country Championships. Her time of 16:12.99 smashed the D-II record and set a new D-I record that (as of February 2022) still stands.[8][5]

She continued dominating the junior college competition, placing in multiple races all the way to the NJCAA D-I Indoor Track and Field national championships where she took first in the 5,000- and 10,000-meters.[9] She longed to run at a higher level, which eventually took her to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

As a Seminole, she led her team (along with Pilar McShine) to two second-place finishes at the 2009 and 2010 NCAA D-I Cross Country Championships.[10][6]

Professional career

In 2011, she beat Esther Erb and Serkalem Biset Abrha to win the storied Litchfield Hills Road Race.[11] She ran her first half marathon at the News and Sentinel Half, beating out Ramilya Burangulova, but losing the lead pack (which included Moroccan Malika Mejdoub and Ethiopian Yihunlish Delelecha) and finishing ninth.[12] Later in the year, she paced with Lyubov Denisova and Kim Pawelek Brantly but ran away to win the Marine Corps Half Marathon.

In 2013, she was a top finisher at the Fifth Third River Bank 25K and the Hy-Vee Road Races Half Marathon, where she edged Alevtina Ivanova and finished just behind IAAF World Championship competitor Hannah Wanjiru.[13]

She ran to a fifth-place finish at Grandma's Marathon in 2013. She was a top finisher at the Crim 10-Mile behind Aliphine Tuliamuk. She was the fourth-place finisher at the California International Marathon.[14][15] She was the runner-up at the Park-to-Park Half Marathon and the Des Moines Half Marathon.[16]

In 2014, she won Grandma's Marathon, outrunning Brianne Nelson, Sarah Kiptoo, Yelena Nanaziashvili and 3,000 other women to finish with the victory, taking home more than $10,000.[3][17]

Also in 2014, she was a top finisher behind Janet Cherobon-Bawcom in the Azalea Trail Run. She won the Kansas City Half Marathon in 1:16:15.[18] A few months later, ran CIM but faded into 14th place.[19]

In 2017, she finished top-10 at half marathons in Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee, Nebraska and South Dakota.[20]

In 2018, she won the Lincoln Half Marathon in good weather conditions as Sammy Rotich, another Iowa resident, won for the fourth time.[20]

In 2019, she repeated at the Lincoln Half, won the Dam to Dam 20K run in Des Moines, and she won the Kansas City Parkway Half Marathon.[21][22]

In 2023, she was the runner-up at the Des Moines Marathon behind Leah Rotich.[23]

Personal life

Myers' older sister also got into running at an early age. Rose Cheruiyot would end up competing in the Olympics and setting the Kenyan record in the 5000-meters. Rose later became Pasca's coach.[6]

She began dating Denny Myers, former coach of athletics at Iowa Central Community College in 2013, and the two married. But tragedy struck five years later. As Pasca prepared to compete in Grandma's Marathon, Denny died in their Duluth, Minnesota, hotel room.[24]

Pasca continued to run and exercise, running 50 miles a week while coping with grief. She took more than a month away from competing. As a part of her routine, she engaged in her programs to become a nurse, motivated by the lack of care for preventable diseases that she saw in her early years.

Myers became a US citizen and a nurse. Several years after the tragedy, she remarried. She currently resides in Iowa with her son and runs with the Runablaze Iowa running club.[6][25]

References

  1. ^ Ken Young; Andy Milroy, eds. (2021). "Pasca Cheptanui Myers". Mattole Valley, California: Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  2. ^ "Pasca Myers". Monaco: World Athletics. 2021. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Nowacki, Jon (June 21, 2014). "Myers claims Grandma's Marathon women's title". Duluth News Tribune. Duluth, Minnesota. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  4. ^ Metzler, Brian (March 10, 2011). "Pasca Cheruiyot's All-American Journey". Runner's World. Easton, Pennsylvania: Hearst. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Kelly, Bob (April 8, 2019). "Proud All-American Pasca Cheruiyot Reaches RLC Hall-of-Fame Finish Line". rlc.edu/athletics. Ina, Illinois: Rend Lake College Athletics. Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Bergeson, Lance (February 16, 2016). "Mile posts: Marathon Trials Q&A with Pasca Myers of Fort Dodge". Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  7. ^ "2007 NJCAA Div 1 Track and Field Championship" (PDF). Charlotte, North Carolina: National Junior College Athletic Association. 2022. Archived from the original on May 1, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2022 – via U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
  8. ^ "NJCAA Woman's Cross Country Record Book" (PDF). Charlotte, North Carolina: National Junior College Athletic Association. 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  9. ^ "2008 NJCAA Div 1 Track and Field Championship" (PDF). Charlotte, North Carolina: National Junior College Athletic Association. 2022. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022 – via U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
  10. ^ Lamar, Jim (November 23, 2010). "FSU Men, Women Place Second In Nation". Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee, Florida. pp. 17, 18.
  11. ^ Riley, Lori (June 13, 2011). "He's In It For A Good Time, Not A Record". Sports. Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. pp. C5.
  12. ^ Terry, Lewis (August 20, 2011). "2011 News & Sentinel Parkersburg Half Marathon". Parkersburg News and Sentinel. Parkersburg, West Virginia: Ogden Newspapers. Archived from the original on August 17, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  13. ^ "Fifth Third River Bank Run—Overall Women". active.com. Plano, Texas: Active Network. May 11, 2013. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  14. ^ Gambaccini, Peter (December 6, 2013). "It's the Last Busy Marathon Weekend of 2013". Runner's World. Easton, Pennsylvania: Hearst. Archived from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  15. ^ Kawahara, Matt (December 9, 2013). "Kenyan's Sprint Shakes Competition". Sports. The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. C1, C9.
  16. ^ "Running: Des Moines Marathon". Sports. The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa: Register Media. October 21, 2013. p. C6.
  17. ^ Bashore, Cody (June 22, 2014). "Flag runners finish in top 10 in marathon". Sports. Arizona Daily Sun. Flagstaff, Arizona. p. A9.
  18. ^ "Kansas City Marathon: Women's Half Marathon Top Overall". Sports. The Kansas City Star. Kansas City, Kansas: McClatchy Enterprises. October 19, 2014. p. B17.
  19. ^ Kawahara, Matt (December 6, 2014). "Her goal is to relax as she sets course record". Sports. The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. C1, C2.
  20. ^ a b Murdock, Cal (July 4, 2019). "A Fourth of July Tradition". Leisure. The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Gazette Communications. p. 9B.
  21. ^ Jones, Ben; Ekwall, Shawn (May 7, 2018). "Runners enjoy crisp fall morning". Sports. Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. p. B1, B3.
  22. ^ Bergeson, Lance (June 2, 2019). "Rotich, Myers claim DAM to DSM titles". Sports. Des Moines Sunday Register. Des Moines, Iowa. p. 2C.
  23. ^ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/2023/10/15/rotich-kipkemei-claim-imt-des-moines-marathon-2023-titles-in-sundays-race/71173523007/
  24. ^ Doxsie, Don (July 24, 2019). "Quad-City Times Six 7: Chepkoech Returns with a Purpose". The Dispatch. Moline, Illinois. p. B6.
  25. ^ "Runablaze Iowa — Team Athletes". runablaze.com. Des Moines, Iowa. 2023. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
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