Leon finishes 10th in Boston Marathon

Van Wert independent sports

BOSTON, Mass. — Former Van Wert High School track and cross country standout Craig Leon has something major to celebrate with a 10th place finish in Monday’s Boston Marathon.

The top 10 finish was the highest for Leon, a walk-on at Ohio University who later qualified for the NCAA championships, in a major big city U.S. marathon.

Leon has been working as a professional runner for a couple of years and has done well in other marathons, winning several races in his adopted home state of Oregon, while finishing in 20th place in the Chicago Marathon in October 2012 and second in the Cincinnati Half Marathon in 2011.

Unfortunately, the Boston race has taken second place to the tragic bombing at the end of the race that killed three people and injured approximately 140 others, several critically, but the tragedy doesn’t take away from Leon’s impressive finish.