Ondoro, Assefa claim Houston Marathon Titles

HOUSTON (AP) Kenya's Dominic Ondoro won his first Houston Marathon and seventh overall since 2013 on Sunday. Ondoro was right with Ethiopia's Yitayal Atanfu,

HOUSTON (AP) Kenya's Dominic Ondoro won his first Houston Marathon and seventh overall since 2013 on Sunday.

Ondoro was right with Ethiopia's Yitayal Atanfu, the 2016 runner-up in Houston, before pulling away winning with a time of 2:12:05. Ondoro is the first Kenyan runner to win the marathon since David Cheruiyot in 2008, snapping a streak of eight years where an Ethiopian runner won.

Ethiopia's Meskerem Assefa won her first ever marathon title, taking the women's title. Assefa defeated the 2016 defending champion Biruktayit Degefa with a time of 2:30:18.

American Leonard Korir pushed past two-time Houston Men's Half Marathon champion Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia at the last second to win his second half marathon of his career.

Korir officially crossed the finish line at 1:01:14, beating Lilesa, a silver medalist for Ethiopia in the 2016 Olympics in the men's marathon, by one second.

Veronica Wanijru of Kenya won the Houston Women's Half Marathon with a personal best of 1:07:58, winning by nine seconds. Wanjiru is the second Kenyan native to win this event, joining 2016 champion Mary Wacera.