Meb Keflezighi wins another title

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UCLA alum Meb Keflezighi, who won the marathon silver medal at the Athens Olympics but didn’t make the Beijing team in the marathon or the 10,000 meters, earned his 17th U.S. title Sunday by holding on to win the USA Half Marathon championship on Sunday in Houston.

Keflezighi, who lives in San Diego and trains at Mammoth Lakes, won in 1 hour 1 minute 25 seconds. It was his first USA half marathon title and first national title since 2007. He led by 19 seconds at one point but began to feel tightness in his hamstrings, allowing Dathan Ritzenhein to cut the final margin to 10 seconds. Brett Gotcher, a former All-American at Stanford, was third in 1:02:09.

The women’s race was won by Beijing Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy-Boulet in 1:11:47.

-- Helene Elliott