By Patrick Bray
DLIFLC Public Affairs
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center team poses with the institute’s banner following the 31st Annual Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11. The institute competed for the first time in 13 years. (Photo by Patrick Bray, DLIFLC Public Affairs)
MONTEREY, Calif. – The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center competed in the 31st Annual Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11 for the first time in 13 years.
The team formed in a short amount of time as tryouts were held two months prior to race day. Capt. Sarah Martin, DLIFLC Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander, volunteered her time to take on most of the management and training responsibilities as the team captain.
“I’m very proud overall of the effort and commitment put in by everyone. A lot of planning went into this and everybody at DLIFLC has supported us,” said Martin.
On race day, two runners came in under an hour. Derek Schnell finished in 56 minutes, 2 seconds and Alexander Branch finished in 59 minutes, 11 seconds.
The team’s top female runner, Hannah McKenzie, finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 5 seconds.
Since tryouts, all the runners improved their times, with Schnell cutting his time by the most at six minutes.
