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Jul 9, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Competitors will be gathering at Falcon Stadium in Connellsville this evening for the 43rd annual John Woodruff 5K Run & Walk and three-time defending men’s running champion Matt Schwertfeger will be in the field.

The Laurel Highlands graduate, who will be a freshman at West Virginia University this fall, isn’t quite as confident of a four-peat although he intends to give it his best shot.

“They don’t have a men’s cross country or track team, unfortunately,” said Schwertfeger, who intends to major in mechanical engineering but will not participate in any varsity athletics at WVU. “I’m still training although I got a bit of a late start for summer training because my season ran longer for track.

“I’ll say I’m a little less prepared in terms of fitness than the last three years. I’m going in there to have fun but also to definitely try to win, considering I won the last three years. I’m expecting to race hard but I know there will be some good competition.”

Schwertfeger won last year’s men’s run with a time of 16:44. He sees the runner who finished second as one of his biggest threats to unseat him this year.

“I’m not 100 percent sure but I heard Austin Molinaro of Connellsville, who’s at RMU, is going to run,” said the 18-year-old Schwertfeger who is the youngest three-time Woodruff running champion.

Molinaro finished 11 seconds behind Schwertfeger at 16:55.

Other winners last year were Lexi Ohler of Southmoreland who repeated as the women’s run champion, Lee Stough who claimed his fourth men’s walk victory, and Jacynth Drumhiller who won the women’s walk for the second year in a row.

The weather is expected to be cloudy with a race-time temperature of 80 degrees for the 7 p.m. run start.

“It’ll probably be a little humid as it is almost every year,” Schwertfeger said. “It’s good they always do it in the evening.”

The event is held annually in honor of the late John Woodruff, a Connellsville graduate who won the gold medal in the 800 at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The race benefits the John Woodruff Memorial Scholarship which is given annually to two Connellsville graduates. This year’s winners of the two $1,500 scholarships are Cameron Stern and Madelynn Johnson.

No matter what the outcome, Schwertfeger is looking forward to being a part of the event again.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s such a historic race,” Schwertfeger said. “I enjoy running in it. It’s always such a great environment.”