Jim Sorenson wins second PAUSATF Master's Cross Country Championships in three years

In 2007 Jim Sorenson set an American record for master's men in the mile, with a 4:04, and later that year won the masters men's race at the PAUSATF Cross Country Championships. After a somewhat disappointing 2008 that was hampered by injuries, Jim Sorenson returned to PAUSATF Cross Country competition with a victory in the 2009 master's men championship race. Unlike 2007, where Sorenson ran away from the field at the start, this year he ran with a pack of four others for the first lap, before taking the lead and cruising to an easy victory in 33:44, over the sloggy 6.09 mile course.

PAUSATF Master's Cross Country Champion, Jim Sorenson shown leading, November 22, 2009 (photo by Carolynne Juarez).

Chris Schille (Asics Aggies) was the pre-race favorite, before the somewhat unexpected appearance by Sorenson. Michael Livingston maintained  contact with Sorenson the longest, with Schille closely following, but in the latter stages of the race Schille pulled ahead of Livingston securing the second place finish, and victory in the master's season standings. Livingston came home third and Jeff Hongo (Aggies) finished his season with a strong performance to take fourth. Tim Wallen of Tamalpa was fifth.

The senior men's race early season favorite, Brian Pilcher of Tamalpa, was out of the competition with an injury, providing an opportunity to other top competitors. Aggie Rudy Munoz rose to the opportunity and took the championship, followed at some length by Chris Cole of Empire Runners and Tim O'Rourke of Tamalpa. Tom O'Reilly of Tamalpa finished fourth, and in doing so, took the season championships, as none of the top three had raced often enough to amass a high point total.

Bill Dunn of WVJS continued his dominance of the super-senior division, with a victory in the championship race and the season standings. Don Porteous of Tamalpa returned from an injury sustained in the season's second race to take the early lead, but Dunn made use of more even pacing to pass Porteous on the second lap and pull away for a convincing victory. Ron Kiyono, also of WVJS, returning from his own issues with serious injury, nearly overtook the fading Porteous once he became aware of the divisional competitor, but with too little time to complete the pass, finished just two seconds back in third place. Arturo Rodriguez demonstrated that he is returning to form as a runner to be reckoned with, finishing just yards back in fourth.

Russ Kiernan of Tamalpa won the veteran championships by a large margin over Carl Petersen and David Norlander of WVJS. Petersen will take the season standings.

Men's top master finishers

Men's top senior finishers

Men's top super-senior finishers

Men's top veteran finishers

PA results, team scores and final standings will be covered in follow-up articles, so check back for updates.