GREEN BAY – The streak is over.
Jared Ward hoped to match history June 14 in the 10K Bellin Run, becoming only the second men’s competitor to win five straight titles and the first since his former college coach, Ed Eyestone, accomplished the feat from 1991 to 1995.
JP Flavin had other ideas.
The New Jersey native and former University of Dayton and North Carolina State runner won the Bellin with a time of 29 minutes, 23 seconds.
Ward finished runner-up in 29.31, while University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and former West De Pere runner Noah Jahnke was third in 30.12.
They were three of 7,586 participants in the 49th annual run, including 3,730 in-person for the 10K.
Ward entered as the first men’s runner to win four straight Bellin titles since John Kipsang Korir from 2005 to 2008, although Ward’s weren’t consecutive. The event was a virtual run only in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But while this stage has been dominated by the former Brigham Young University runner, Ward entered as a slight underdog to Flavin, 10 years his junior at 26 and running the best he has since graduating college and enduring a few up and down years.
The two were locked in a tight race for about the first 4½ miles of the 6.2-mile race. Flavin wasn’t sure what kind of shape Ward was in, but he knows the type of runner he is and his reputation.
“I was like, ‘I don’t even know what kind of shape I’m in, either,’ ” Flavin said. “I know I needed to go pretty quickly. Kind of after 5K, tried to make a little bit of a move to test him a little bit. Just put on the gas the last two or three miles and see what I had.
“Ended up being pretty good. I’m happy with it. It was a lot of fun. To beat Jared is fun. It’s cool.”
Ward certainly did not have a bad race.
His time topped three of his four Bellin title runs, the only one better coming in 2022 when he finished in 29:09.
The Utah native and Olympian wanted nothing more than to tie Eyestone’s record, the same man who told him to compete in this race for the first time six years ago.
Eyestone still holds bragging rights, but there is a good chance Ward will return for the 50th run next year with an opportunity to put his name in the record book with Eyestone and Korir for the most men’s wins in Bellin history.
“It was fast, JP’s rhythm was really good,” Ward said. “We had Noah from UW-Green Bay right there with us past 5K. I was just talking to Noah, and he said it was one second off his personal best for 5K halfway through this race. He was running fantastic.
“It was just a pack of three of us with really nice rhythm. JP was just able to keep the rhythm and seemed really strong today. It was fun to have him here. Fun to have someone to chase. Fun to feel a little bit younger than I am.”
Ward is not a sore loser. Just like he has after every Bellin win, he made sure to greet other runners after they crossed the finish line, offering an encouraging word or two.
He was the first person to congratulate Flavin on his win, despite him playing spoiler.
“Midway through the race, we were chatting a little bit,” Ward said. “He sounded really good. I just think he’s a young marathoner with a good head on his shoulders. I think we are going to keep seeing him on the roads for a little while.”
The Bellin win continues a decorated year for Flavin, who missed out on his personal best in a 10K by three seconds after finishing in 29:20 at a race in Toronto last June.
Flavin had the best run of his career two months ago when he finished 16th at the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:10.50. It came after he had a personal-best 1:02.30 in a half marathon in Houston in January.
Flavin took two weeks off after Boston, but he hasn’t fully recovered. Workouts had been kicking his butt a little.
Still, coming off those types of performances made Flavin the man to watch in a talented field, even with Ward’s history at the Bellin.
Flavin had the expectation that he should win, and he did.
“I think I’ve gotten to the point in my career where I need to start expecting to look for more wins,” Flavin said. “Today was a good example. Me and Jared was a good battle. I didn’t realize how much strength I still had from the Boston Marathon. I’m not necessarily in my best shape right now, but I could feel all the strength still from Boston.
“I get a little bit more speed in me, I will be able to go even faster, I think,” Flavin said. “
Will there be an epic rematch between Flavin and Ward next year?
While Ward has made Green Bay an annual stop, Flavin was competing in his first Bellin. He lives in Michigan and is part of the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project, an Olympic development program for post-collegiate distance runners.
If it works out, he would love to defend his title.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Flavin said. “It’s so much different than every other race. It’s way more community than anything else I really do.”
Amy Davis-Green wins women’s race
Flavin wasn’t the only member of Hansons-Brooks to celebrate a win.
Former Wisconsin standout Amy Davis-Green captured the women’s title in 33.26, ahead of runner-up Stephanie Bruce of Flagstaff, Arizona, (33.45) and Hannah Best of Indianapolis (35.06).
It topped Davis-Green’s other notable 10K performances, including the 32:53 she ran at both the TD Beach to Beacon in Maine in August 2022 and in a race in New York a month later.
Davis-Green is a former Madison Edgewood standout. She won the WIAA Division 2 state cross-country championship as a senior in 2014 and four state track and field titles during her career, including back-to-back 1,600-meter wins in 2014 and 2015.
She was an all-American for the Badgers.
5K run crowns two new winners
Xavier Lasee, who competed at both UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh, won the men’s 5K in 18:08.
“I was just trying to get back into shape,” Lasee said. “There are a lot of great people here, especially in the 10K. … It’s my first time doing this run. It was a lot of fun.”
Liz Kanzleiter of Suamico won the women’s 5K in 19:33.
She remains one of the dominant local runners.
Kanzleiter won the women’s half marathon at the 25th and final Cellcom Green Bay Marathon in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: JP Flavin wins Bellin Run in first attempt, ending Jared Ward’s title run
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
