LUMBERTON — With blues music playing in the background, Tom McDonough crossed the finish line with a time of 16:59 to win the Chevy to the Levee 5K race on Saturday.

It would be almost one minute before the next finisher, Michael Jimenez from Lumberton, crossed the finish line with a tally of 17:52. McDonough, a current star at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and former Watauga High School runner, was pleased with his career-best showing.

“That was the fastest I’ve ever run in my life and I’ve never done this by myself before,” McDonough said, referencing the differences between running with a team at school and running alone in the individual format.

Jonathan William of Hope Mills (17:57), Darius Brantley from Raleigh (18:18), and Cory Cox from Greensboro (18:26) rounded out the top five overall finishers.

After a mass congregation to start the race, a group of six runners broke away form the pack in the first two minutes. Soon after, there were only a pair of runners together at the front, and by the start of the third mile, McDonough had built a thirty second lead on his competitors.

McDonough had extra motivation on the course, as he was not just running to finish high, but also due to a recent tragedy in his life.

“I had a friend pass on last week,” he said. “I just decided I was going to run for him and that’s what I did.”

The first female runner to finish was Shannon Mclean from Lumberton, who clocked in at 21:41, good for 14th best overall. Mclean, a collegiate runner, was glad she could come out to race just for enjoyment and to support a good cause.

“I used to run college cross country, (but) it’s just a stress relief now,” McLean said. “It was nice to come out, especially since it benefits the community.”

Callie Davis of Lumberton was the second female finisher with a time of 22:40 and finished in 23rd place. Michelle Barnett (32nd) of Lumberton was the third female across the line in 23:52, and Janine Wren (45th, 25:10) of Lumberton and Mary Johnson (58th, 26:08) of Myrtle Beach, SC, were the fourth and fifth fastest female runners, respectively.