(Peru, Neb.) – Running in her second consecutive Boston Marathon, Peru State College (PSC) senior, Sarah Williams (Hiawatha, Kan.), finished 1,518 out of over 26,000 runners. 
 
Williams bettered her time from 2011 by 12 minutes.  In her age division (21-39), Williams finished 94^th and was 113th out of all of the women competitors.  Her official time was 3 hours, 16 minutes, and 55 seconds.  This meant Williams was average pace per mile was 7:31.
 
The marathon was one of the hottest in terms of temperature ever as the Boston officials were even offering runners the opportunity to withdraw and come back next year without qualifying or having to pay again to register.  The unofficial temperature was 87 degrees, which is an extreme high for Boston on April 15.
 
According to Bobcat cross country coach Johann Murray, most people do not realize how competitive the Boston Marathon is in terms of even qualifying.  Murray said, “Unlike the Lincoln Marathon where anyone can run, Boston has stringent qualifying times to even be considered for registration. Because it is so famous, people from all over the world go to it. It has many of the best marathoners in it from all over the globe. Of course, we know that the Kenyan Olympians were there, but I also saw teams from Mexico, Brazil, and Sweden. Those were just the teams I saw so I am sure the world was well represented, as was the USA, with a male runner in the top five for men and two females in the top ten for women.”
 
Williams is a senior K-12 health and physical education major and will finish her degree at PSC next year.