Annual run keeps memory of Loos alive
Jaminique Milliren, left, and Cathy Loos wear race shirts for the 12th annual Run For Alex in Bentleyville Saturday.
Observer-Reporter
Participants gather at the starting line for the five-mile race at the 12th annual Run For Alex in Bentleyville.
Observer-Reporter
Jaminique Milliren, left, and Cathy Loos didn’t run until the family started the Run For Alex, which honors former Bentworth track standout Alexzandra Loos.
BENTLEYVILLE – Jaminique Milliren never participated in a race before the inaugural Run For Alex in 2005. In the 11 years since, Milliren has completed three marathons, the most recent being in Pittsburgh in May.
So maybe finishing the 5-mile run at the 12th annual Run For Alex last Saturday wasn’t the most intense challenge of Milliren’s endurance, but there isn’t a race she runs that means more.
Milliren was enrolled at University of Pittsburgh when Alexzandra Loos, her younger sister, was killed in August 2004 while walking home from soccer practice – Loos was a starter on the Bentworth High School boys soccer team as a freshman – on Route 2010 by a driver who was a serial traffic violator. She was 15.
A memorial dedicated to Loos, which five-mile runners pass on the course, is filled with pictures and flowers – a constant reminder of the person who inspired many with her courage and attitude and the reason about 900 competitors of all ages and 200 volunteers braved Saturday’s muggy conditions. The race benefits the From Alex With Love Foundation, which donates to a long list of charities and organization in memory of Loos.
“I kind of always wanted to run, but we didn’t have a track when we were in high school. I just never pursued it,” Milliren said. “After Alex was gone, we wanted to do something in her memory and, I felt, for her, I had to run. I’ve been running ever since. … She was the reason I started running, and I kind of got hooked. I can relate to her, and I just wish she was here to do it with me.”
Loos completed a standout freshman track season just a few months before her tragic death. The talented athlete placed third in the PIAA Class AA 1,600 run and 5th in the 800. At the WPIAL championship meet, she won gold in the 1,600 in district record time.
When approached afterward by reporters, Loos looked overwhelmed, uncertain of what she did to earn the sudden attention. She immediately began talking about her Bentworth teammates.
“She was the most humble person I’ve ever met,” said Cathy Loos, Alex’s mother and another family member who took up running to honor her daughter. “This race is my family’s therapy.”
For Jerome Nixon, one of the race’s volunteers, the race is a celebration.
Nixon, the longtime track coordinator at Bentworth, which still competes without a home track, coached Loos during her magical freshman season.
“She was a special athlete and probably the hardest worker I’ve ever had,” Nixon said. “She worked real hard and she didn’t like losing. One of her things was she always wanted to be a winner. I spent a lot of time with her because she went all the way to states. She raced in two events and medaled in both as a freshman. That’s hard to do.”
Nixon knew early on that Loos was special, but finding events to suit her immense talents was difficult. Nixon tried Loos in the sprints and hurdles before settling on distance runs. He said, in time, Loos likely would have been an elite 3,200 runner and a likely state champion.
“I’m sure she would have been right up there in both events, and probably right up there in a third (the 3,200),” Nixon said. “I used to get a kick out of the athletes from other places. They were shocked because of where she was coming from. I can remember one athlete was said (Loos) was going out too fast. Well, she liked running those races fast because she liked being out front.”
Ray Worrell, 35, of Monongahela, finished in front in the five-mile run with a time of 28:04. Former Ringgold standout Kirsten McMichael, 19, of Eighty Four, was the women’s five-mile winner in 34:14.
A two-mile run and one-mile walk also took place. The two-mile race winners were Damon Gall, 17, of Canonsburg, and Lisa Lucas, 50, of Pittsburgh. Their times were 11:14 and 11:48, respectively.
Larry Maggi, a Washington County commissioner, was one of the two-mile finisher. Maggi, a race sponsor, has been a longtime participant and recruited his 6-year-old granddaughter, Ava Kolovich, who ran the entire race.
“This is becoming a destination spot for people. It’s such a tragedy what happened to Alex and the community rallied around her family,” Maggi said. “This is one of the best events that we attend in the county.”