A third of the way through Saturday morning's 29th annual Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic, defending champion Julius Kibet did something he had never done in a race before.

He stopped running.

In the end, it didn't matter as the 23-year-old Kenyan came roaring back to become only the fourth man ever to post back-to-back wins in the Friendly City's premier distance race.

Kibet came splashing to the tape more than a minute ahead of runnerup Ricky Moore Ñ who posted the highest finish by an American runner in more than two decades Ñ and nearly two minutes ahead of third-place finisher Isaac Arusei of Kenya.

There were plenty of story lines to choose from on a rainy spring Saturday but most of the buzz immediately after the race centered around Kibet's unscheduled pit stop.

After building a quick and sizable lead on the rest of the field, he shocked onlookers and fellow competitors alike by suddenly coming to a complete halt and kneeling down in the road just before the four-mile mark in the 12.4-mile race.

As soon as the race ended, the media immediately flocked around Kibet to find out what happened.

Had he been hit by a dizzy spell?

Did he have to work out a cramp?

Or was he merely trying to make the race more interesting for the hundreds of fans who braved the driving rain to come out and cheer the runners on?

"My shoe came untied," smiled the soft-spoken pro. "In all the races I've won, that's never happened to me before. Maybe it was from all the rain."

Whatever the case, Kibet was a distant third by the time he was back on his feet as Moore and Arusei sprinted past.

"We all knew he (Kibet) was the guy to beat," said Moore. "He won here last year and just ran a 28:44 (10K) in Cleveland last week.

"We passed him coming down the hill when he stopped to tie his shoe but he just ran us down."

Despite the equipment problem, Kibet said the incident occurred early enough that he wasn't worried about falling too far behind.

"What did I think when those guys went past me?" he smiled. "I thought, ÔI better go catch those guys.' "

It took Kibet less than a mile to do just that and by the time he made the turn off National Road toward the Heritage Trail Ñ a course change necessitated by road construction in the Woodsdale area Ñ the smiling Kenyan was well on his way to a second straight Ogden 20K crown.

Kibet's winning time of 1:03:04 was the second-slowest ever posted by a male champion Ñ Steve Jones ran 1:03:07 in 1991 Ñ but the heavy rain that greeted the runners at the starting horn and the unfamiliarity surrounding the new course layout were contributing factors.

"The rain made it really slow at the start," he said. "I wasn't slipping but it was coming down so hard, I felt like I wasn't warmed up enough. Once I got used to it, I didn't have any problems Ñ except for the shoestring."

The best race of the day was the one for second place between Moore and Arusei.

Moore, a Wheeling native born just a few weeks before the legendary Bill Rodgers won his third Wheeling Distance Race in 1981, overcame some adversity of his own to post what is believed to be the highest finish for an American native since John Sinclair's 1983 win.

"I started cramping up a little at about the 10-mile mark," he said. "He (Arusei) had about 40 yards on me then but I saw him keep looking back over his shoulder at me.

"Whenever you see a runner do that, you know he's probably hurting so I started trying to make up some ground.

"I caught him just as we were going into the tunnel (at Tunnel Green) and just kept going."

Moore, who was hoping to give his professional racing career a boost with a strong finish, pulled steadily away over the final two miles and drew an appreciative roar from the hometown crowd when he made the final turn at the top of 14th Street.

"That was a great feeling," said Moore, who pumpe his fist to acknowledge the cheers.

"Getting the opportunity to compete with international runners and finishing second in a race of this caliber can't do anything but help my running career.

"The fact that it happened in my own hometown just makes it that much more special."

Moore stopped the clock at 1:04:18 and Arusei held off a late charge from fellow Kenyans Mohammed Ar-Ar and Fred Getange to take third place money with a time of 1:04:57.

Ar-Ar was fourth in 1:05:03 while Getange rounded out the top five in 1:05:09.

No other runners finished within 2 minutes of the top five.

Kibet is Wheeling's first repeat winner since Rolando Vera of Ecuador won in 1995 and 1996.

Sinclair took back-to-back races in 1982 and 1983 with Kenya's Michael Musyoki prevailing in 1984 and 1985.

No runner has ever won three straight but Kibet will give it his best shot next spring.

"I'll definitely be back," he said. "I like it here."