PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WI - Under a bright sunny Wisconsin sky, Ryan Shanahan and Lauren Jensen blazed to victories on Sunday morning at the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon. They were the headliners on a day in which race organizers and volunteers had a field more than double the size of what they had a year ago.

Shanahan, of Muncie, IN, and Jensen, of New Berlin, WI, won the international distance race, which was the featured event on a day that included a sprint triathlon as well as international and sprint duathlons. The international-distance triathlon served as the USA Triathlon Midwest Regional Championships. Wisconsin is in the Midwest Region; Illinois is in the Mideast.

Shanahan, 29, who was raised in nearby McHenry, IL, signed up with a faxed application the day before the race. He said the last-minute decision would be a good way to compete and see the family. A very competent swimmer and cyclist, he built up a big lead through the 1.5K swim in Lake Andrea and 40K bike leg that took riders east and west of the race base at LakeView RecPlex, on mostly rural roads. Then he hung on in his weakest discipline - the run - as Michael Boehmer, 23, of Delafield, WI, and Justin Henkel, a national-class duathlete from Sheboygan, WI, whittled down the lead on the 10K course, mostly in Prairie Springs Park.

When it was over, Shanahan had the victory in 1 hour, 57 minutes flat. Boehmer, who gained 2:49 on the run, was second in 1:58:15, and Henkel who blasted a 33:04 on the run, carving 4:36 out of his deficit to Shanahan, finished third in 2 hours flat.

"It was perfect," Shanahan said of the conditions that included 78-degree water on the 110-acre spring-fed inland lake just east of I-94 in southern Kenosha County. "But it's tough when the second- and third-place guys can outrun me by three or four minutes! I'm a pretty strong swimmer and biker and I was able to keep the lead."

Shanahan is no stranger to big-time competition, having done the Muncie Endurathon Half-Ironman the last three years. He placed second at Muncie in 2001 and third this past July.

In the women's race, Jensen, a well-known pro, had to compete in the seventh wave because she is now 35. That meant that she was starting nine minutes behind her main competition, Heather Haviland, 30, of Waukehsa, WI. Jensen got a break of sorts though, because defending champion Christina McDonie, 40, of Gurnee, IL, was in her wave and pulled her through the swim.

"Christina is a very good swimmer and I had a really good draft behind her until a man who was having trouble bumped into me. By the time I regained my stroke, I was 15 yards behind. Still, Jensen was out of the water in 19:05 (McDonie swam a sensational 17:46), and although Lauren didn't know it, she was already four minutes ahead of Haviland, who had done a 23:05 in the earlier wave.

"It was actually really fun," Jensen said of her rare experience of coming from behind from an age-group wave instead of being out front in an elite wave. There was no elite wave in this event.

Jensen won it in 2:04:12, with Haviland, an excellent cyclist, taking second in 2:07:49 and Briana Stott-Messick 24, of Madison, WI, an outstanding runner, grabbing third in 2:08:36. Stott-Messick used a scorching 35:21 run leg to beat McDonie, who had a 41:13 run and finished fourth overall in 2:08:55.

Runner-up Haviland had one consolation starting nine minutes ahead of Jensen.

"I knew I was the first international woman off the bike!," she said. She knew Jensen would win and was more focused on holding off Stott-Messick. "That last mile, I went as hard as I could," she said. "My heart rate was at 186!"

In the sprint triathlon, which consisted of a .75K swim, 20K bike ride and 5K run, Ruben Figueras, 29, won the men's title in 1:06:11, and Eva Tatooles, 31, took the women's crown in 1:14:53. Second and third in the men's field were Jay Johnson, 47 in 1:13:09 and Brent Neecomb, 33, in 1:13:20. Nos. two and three among the women were Lisa Byrne, 35, in 1:21:31 and Melinda Hays-Clawson, 41, in 1:22:45.

The international-distance duathlon (2-plus mile run, 40K bike, 10K run) was won by Thomas Estka of Chicago. Estka won all three legs and both transitions en route to a 2:01:54. Casey Hill was second in 2:05:52 and Mike Biarnsen was third in 2:13:12. On the women's side, Kay Diedrich won in 2:20:20, followed by Holly Klug in 2:20:25 and Megan Webster in 2:35:18.

"In the first two-mile, I went out a little to hard - my first mile was a 5:06," Estka said, laughing. "The bike was OK, a little windy going east, but I came back (with the wind) relaxing the legs for the second run. The course was great. It was fast, open and fun."

The sprint duathlon (2-plus-mile run, 20K bike and 5K run) was won by Lisa Menninger, 38, of LaGrange, IL.

"I had come in with low expectations," Menninger said. "I had done a 17-mile run the day before (part of her buildup for The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on Oct. 12) and planned to train through this race. I competed in control today. I didn't want to hurt myself."

Menninger cruised to a 1:14:11 and then headed home for more marathon training. The Runner-up was Colleen Spellman in 1:20:14 and third place went to Kelsey Alford Jones in 1:29:34. On the men's side, it was Chris Derosier in 1:18:55, Donald Soranno in 1:23:44 and Douglas Meyer in 1:26:40.

With Saturday's kids race (69 participants) and 15 three-person relays teams competing on Sunday, the registered field was 1,105, more than double last-year's 540, when no sprint-distance events were held. Actual finishers on Sunday totaled 495 in the international tri, 311 in the sprint tri, 38 in the international duathlon and 25 in the sprint du.

It was quite a show for the athletes and spectators as once again the people in Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha County showed they are willing to the extra mile to put on a first-class race.

"We were thrilled the way the event came out, and the fact that we were chosen to be a regional qualifier by the USAT," said Mary Galligan, president of the Kenosha County Convention and Tourism Bureau. "We're very fortunate because the village (Pleasant Prairie) supports us, and we had a team in place working on this event for months."

USA Triathlon announced the following Midwest Regional champions from the international distance triathlon: Overall male, Boehmer; overall female, Haviland; male juniors, Casey Carney, 17, Pleasant Prairie, WI, 2:51:41; female juniors, Lauren Renken, 19, Lake Forest, IL, 2:23:09; male masters, James Cichy, 40, Menomonee Falls, WI, 2:07:27; female masters, Pam Jones, 42, Franklin, WI, 2:45:08; male grand masters, Ed Wallen, 60, Kenosha, WI, 2:42:44; female grand masters, Graciela Val, 64, Evanston, IL, 3:01:10.

Shanahan did not win the men's Midwest overall title because he lives in Indiana, which is in the Mideast Region. Jensen did not win the female Midwest crown because she is a pro.

For complete race results, click here.