First Posted: 8/11/2014

The Saxon brothers of Lake Harmony finished 1-2 in the Sixth Annual Pauly Friedman Family 5K Run on aug. 10 at Misericordia University.

Jacob Saxon, 17, a senior at Jim Thorpe High School where he runs track and cross country, won top honors, finishing in 18 minutes and 42 seconds. His younger brother, Ben, 15, a sophomore at Jim Thorpe, where he, too, runs track and cross country, finished 43 seconds behind. Stephen Housenick, 45, of Kingston, finished third, five seconds behind Ben Saxon.

“I didn’t know the course, so I didn’t know what to expect,” Jacob said. “But it was nice. And it was an out and back course. So, when I reached the turnaround, I could easily see just how much of a lead I had. And I was able to determine how much I had left in my tank to finish the second half of the race.”

At the halfway point, Jacob could see his brother was close behind.

“That’s when I threw in a surge,” he said. “When we reached the final hill of the race, I could see that I now had about a minute lead over Ben.”

Sherri Yelen, a 42-year-old school teacher from Kingston, won top female honors with a ninth-place overall finish in 21:58. The win was her second in the Pauly Friedman event (2012). She outraced second-place finisher, Heather Dewees, 41, of Dallas, by 44 seconds. Rebecca Wychock, 21, of Ashley, finished third in 24:09.

“(Dewees) led over the first half of the race,” Yelen said. “I caught and passed her right after the turnaround. I put on a surge at that point and gradually built a lead. I put her away on the hill late in the race.”

Dewees ran for Tunkhannock Area High School and is training for the New York City Marathon, set for Nov. 2. It will be her first New York City Marathon and her 13th overall. She’s run Boston three times and Steamtown nine times.

The Pauly Friedman 5K raises funds for Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania Helpline/211. The race is held in memory of Pauly Friedman, who was very active with Helpline, a 24-hour confidential crisis service for mental health, child abuse/neglect , drug and alcohol, runaways, energy assistance, homeless services, victim services, disaster recovery and anti-bullying.

This year’s race was expected to raise about $15,000, according to Mike Zimmerman, Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania CEO.

“If we do raise $15,000, that will give us a net total of about $67,000 that the race will have raised for us over six years,” Zimmerman said.