Deena Kastor continued her dominance of U.S. women's long distance running with her convincing victory Saturday at the 2004 Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K. Kastor defeated one of the best American all-women's road race fields ever in charging to a U.S. course record time of 31 minutes, 44 seconds.

Running under near ideal conditions, Kastor surged to the lead just past the mile mark and never looked back as she cruised to the finish line 54 seconds ahead of second place finisher and rising star Kate O'Neill (32:38).

Kastor's Olympic marathon teammates Jen Rhines (32:44) and Colleen De Reuck (32:50) crossed the line soon after O'Neill for third and fourth places respectively.

Kastor's time was a personal record for a road 10 km and a 24-second improvement over the last time she ran the race in 2002, when she finished sixth. With the win she earned $10,000 and an additional $1,000 bonus for breaking 32 minutes. Next Saturday, Kastor will compete at the 2004 USA Half-Marathon Championship in Duluth, Minn.

While Kastor stole the show at the front of the race, De Reuck firmly established herself as one of the best American masters runners of all time with her fourth place finish. Her time of 32:50 broke Ruth Wysocki's seven-year-old U.S. masters record by more than 30 seconds and marks the second time in two weeks that De Reuck has rewritten the masters record books. Last week, the Boulder, Colo., resident set a masters 5 km road world record with her time of 15:48 at the Freihofer's Run for Women.