Perris Runners Finish 1-2 in Menifee Half Marathon

Runners head in both directions on a dirt turnaround section of Holland Road during Saturday's Menifee Half Marathon. (Staff photos / Menifee 24/7)

On a cool Saturday morning under clear skies, two distance runners from nearby Perris finished 1-2 Saturday in the fourth annual Menifee Half Marathon.

Humberto Santiago, 24, was the overall winner with a time of 1:22:25 over the 13-mile course through the city streets and rural roads of east Menifee. Finishing second in a time of 1:23:04 was Ana Mendoza, 27 -- the second time in four years a female was the second overall finisher.

Runners started in front of Mt. San Jacinto College, then headed south on Antelope Road to Scott Road before turning back north to Garbani Road and heading east. They then headed north on Briggs Road to Holland, where they turned right onto a dirt stretch of road before making a U-turn and running west on Holland through farm lands to Southshore Drive.

At that point, a little past the halfway point of the race, runners had to turn around once again, return to Briggs, run south to Garbani, west to Antelope and back to the finish line at MSJC.

"The hardest part for me was about mile 7 or 8," said Mendoza (left), who serves in the Army reserves. "Coming back off that dirt road, then you circle around -- it was like 'Where's the end of this?' "

The course didn't seem to give Mendoza much trouble, however. She quickly jumped out near the lead and trailed early leader Jonathan Fields for about the first two-thirds of the race, then held onto second place after Santiago passed both runners to take the lead for good.

"He (Fields) was leading for about eight miles or so," Santiago said. "I was in third place, just pacing them and saving some energy for the last five miles. Between mile 8 and 9 I started to pick up the pace. After the turnaround, I started catching up."

Fields finished third in 1:25.23, then collapsed from exhaustion just past the finish line. After being attended to for a few minutes, he got up and walked around for a couple minutes, then was helped onto a gurney by emergency medical personnel for further evaluation. He was alert and giving the thumbs-up sign to the crowd.

"I got a little faster than I thought," said Santiago (right), who has run full marathons in Long Beach and at Disney World. "I do it to stay healthy and have fun. I love running."

Mendoza was a distance runner for four years in high school and four in college. She said the weather conditions for the race were favorable.

"It was perfect," she said. "I expected it to be a little chilly, but that's always good for a race in California.

"I didn't know what to expect. I drive through here all the time, but it's different than running. I keep a pretty good pace and I train at the same pace. That's what I tried to do today."

Two runners in their 50s finished in the top 10: Glen Koch, age 59 (seventh place, 1:32:20,) and Brian Oulman, age 54 (ninth place, 1:34:47). Michael Tilton, 35, placed fourth (1:26.32) and Carri Arrieta, 48, finished fifth (1:27.10).

Four of the top five finishers in the 5K run were either 12 or 13 years old. The winner was 13-year-old Lorenzo Orozco (18:45), followed by 19-year-old Andrew Taylor (19:37), 12-year-old Michael Yen (19:52), 13-year-old Carlos Castro (20:29) and 12-year-old Cesar Enciso (20:52).

The Menifee Half Marathon and 5K races were sponsored by the City of Menifee and funds raised go to Menifee United Way. Menifee 24/7 was one of the gold sponsors.

To view the complete results of both races, click here.