Baumholder runners clean up at USAREUR 10-Miler

By Ignacio "Iggy" RubalcavaJuly 2, 2015

Baumholder's Championship 10-Miler team
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The Baumholder Army 10-Miler team returned from the U.S. Army in Europe 10-Miler Championship in Grafenwoehr June 27 and 28 with smiles on their faces and a suitcase full of awards.

The team captured the men's and women's USAREUR Commander's Cups and numerous individual awards. Four Baumholder runners made the All-USAREUR team and two are alternates for the team. Two runners have 10-Miler run times that make them eligible to apply for the All-Army team.

Runners are team co-captain, Spc. Jacob Korir, 71st Medical Detachment; Spc. Joshua Bowling, 71st Med Det; Spc. Cameron Cruse, Headquarters, Headquarters Battery, 5-7 Air Defense Artillery; Pfc. George Khouli, 51st Transportation Company; Pfc. Corey Sayyeau, 51st TC; team co-captain Capt. Sarah Paulsworth; 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate; Spc. Winrose Karunde, HHB 5-7 ADA; Sgt. Diane Sanchez, 2d Military Intelligence Battalion; Capt. Hannah Skotty, 64th Medical Detachment, Veteranary Services; and 1st Lt. Kathryn Stonecipher, 254th Medical Detachment.

Qualifying for the USAREUR team were Korir, Bowling, Karunde and Skotty. The two runners qualifying as alternates were Paulsworth and Sayyeau. Korir and Karunde are eligible to apply for possible selection to the All-Army team. Baumholder runners also won numerous individual and age group awards.

"All of these successes would not have been possible without the expert support provided by Anthony Ramsey and Theodus Green," said Paulsworth. Ramsey is a Baumholder sports specialist and Green is Baumholder's sports director.

"This is the first time in many years that Baumholder has had a 10-Miler team and it was an incredible success as a direct result of the support provided by Baumholder's MWR. We are very lucky to have such helpful, capable, and enthusiastic MWR staff here in Baumholder," said Paulsworth.

Ramsey echoed Paulsworth's comments by saying "We haven't had a 10-Miler team compete in many years, let alone come back with any kind of hardware."

"We were confident going into the competition but we didn't really know that we were going to place that high, both the men and women teams," said co-captain Korir.

Korir is an avid runner and has turned in 10-Miler times of 53 and 52 minutes in previous runs. This makes him eligible to apply for the All-Army team, which requires a time of 55 minutes. Korir has already applied and is very confident that he will be selected for the team.

"It's something I've been working on for a while. I ran track and field for Eastern Kentucky but after graduating I didn't really focus so much on running, so being able to represent USAREUR and possibly the Army in the All-Army team is going to be an honor," said Korir.

"We were honored to represent the Baumholder Military Community," said Paulsworth. Baumholder's formidable, hilly terrain was the ideal place for the team to train. Our team worked together since February to train and also to arrange logistics for the race. From the very beginning our goal was to bring the USAREUR Commander's Cups [for the men's and women's teams] to Baumholder, the Home of Champions. This only seemed fitting," said Paulsworth.

She added that every single runner on the team performed superbly on Saturday and contributed to the team's success. "I am especially grateful for the support and leadership displayed by my co-captain. His positive attitude, dedication, and resiliency, inspired me and others on our team to perform to the best of our abilities," said Paulsworth.

Korir also thanked all the team members for their dedication and added, "It started as a small program, but bringing back the trophies kind of puts Baumholder on the map," he said.

Korir wants to make this victory the team's legacy and hopes that others will follow. "We have a goal to continue the tradition when some of us PCS. We are going to encourage everybody who wants to run, to join us because we want to leave a strong team behind," he said.