This spring, Andrew Carnes will run track for the Kent State Golden Flashes.

Yesterday, he did his school's nickname justice.

Carnes outran his closest challenger by 38 seconds to win the Richard S. Caliguiri 10K Great Race, posting a time of 30 minutes and 35 seconds.

"It makes it all feel worth it today," said Carnes, a 22-year-old first-year graduate student from Canton, Ohio.

Mary Gill, 29 of Carrboro, N.C., was the fastest woman, finishing the race in 35 minutes and 59 seconds, nearly one minute faster than her closest competitor.

Carnes and Gill used similar strategies: Start in front and never look back.

Two men challenged Carnes early as the runners wound their way up and down the soggy streets of Squirrel Hill and Oakland.

"I knew that if anybody was hanging on at that point, they meant business," Carnes said.

But, after running a couple of miles at a pace faster than five minutes per mile, the challengers faded.

"It was a combination of him making a move and me dying," said Jason Bodnar, 39, who pushed Carnes early for the lead. "He created quite a gap."

Bodnar, a former Pittsburgh resident who now lives near Asheville, N.C., finished fifth.

Between the second and third mile of the approximately 6.2-mile race, Carnes started to pull away.

"I got the sense they kind of let me go," he said.

By the time he passed the three-mile mark, Carnes led by more than a football field and realized it was his race to lose.

"The officer on the pace motorcycle and some bystanders kept telling me '50 yards, 70 yards, 100 yards,' " he said. "And I knew at that point."

Carnes broke the finish-line tape with a smile on his face.

Gill was just as happy.

For the second year in a row, Gill made the trip with her husband, who is from Pittsburgh.

Last year, she got off to a quick start but flamed out later.

Yesterday, she ran out in front and never looked back -- literally.

"I try not to look back," she said.

"If I look back, then I'll know where they're at. If I don't know where they're at, then I can assume they're right on me."

So for 10 kilometers, Gill stared down the road ahead of her and convinced herself the next woman was on her heels.

Truth is, she was not close as Gill cruised to the finish line with 53 seconds to spare.

"I didn't think I would win," she said.

In the 5K, Ryan Anderson, a 22-year-old former Carnegie Mellon student who now lives in Orchard Park, N.Y., won in 15 minute and six seconds. Stephanie Sproule, 42 from Wexford, was the fastest woman, finishing in 18 minutes and 28 seconds.

Eric Robertson, 24, of Allison Park and Michelle Corkum of McMurray were the fastest of the local men and women in the 10K.

Registration for the 32nd annual Great Race neared an all-time record.

The 12,788 registrants were the second most to compete in the Great Race. In 1987, 12,807 people registered for the 10K.

The 8,292 10K registrants were the most to compete in the longer race since 8,981 ran in 1993, the first year of the 5K.

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