Three years after losing her father, she wins his favorite race

Marissa Lovell, 31, a professional triathlete from Oregon who works in public health, came home to Milwaukee on October 4 and ran the Lakefront Marathon half-marathon in 1 hour 19 minutes 31 seconds — the fastest women's time of the day. She was running for her father. The late Marquette University president Michael Lovell ran this race nearly every year he lived in Milwaukee; he died of a rare cancer in 2024, and months later Marissa finished third in the full marathon still raw with grief. This was her third Lakefront. 'The timing lined up really well and I love coming back to Milwaukee and doing this race just because it was one of my dad's favorites,' she said. Top male finisher Ansel Fellman ran 1:10:01, and Kellyn Taylor set the women's full-marathon course record at 2:34:14. Running, Marissa says, helped her process the loss — and on Saturday, it carried her past it.