Alyssa Tower of Vancouver, Wash., set a new U.S. masters W45 age-group record May 10 at the John Knight Twilight Meet at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore.

Tower, who several days before the race claimed that the American record would be hers, finished the race in 37 minutes 57.46 seconds to better the 17-year old American record of 38:10.89 by Joan Colman set in July of 1991.

Tower, who credited faster college women running in the race in helping her set the record, covered the 6.2-mile distance averaging 6:05 per mile.