By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

 LINCOLN - He turned 40 back in March, but Sean Livingston is still competitive with most of the top runners once his feet hit the pavement. The former St. Raphael Academy track and cross-country coach is just finding it difficult garnering that first win in his new age category.
Running in his fifth race on Sunday morning since hitting the big 4-0, Livingston placed well among the elite field at the 10th annual Rhody 5K Road Race, held at Twin River. He averaged just over a five-minute pace for the 3.1-mile distance, placing 15th overall with a time of 15 minutes, 39 seconds.
Unfortunately for Livingston, he was competing against an all-too-familiar nemesis out on the course in trying to claim the master’s crown. Former Yale University All-American and recent Boston Athletic Association (BAA) member Luke Meyer, 25, earned the individual title in the popular race, touring the Lincoln gaming facility in a time of 14:31. Taking the runner-up slot was 40-year-old Joseph Koech of Kenya, who also earned the master’s title with a 14:46 clocking. Mark Carroll, an Irish Olympian and ex-Providence College great, was third in 14:53.
Livingston was second in the 40-plus category behind Koech.
“I have been looking forward to 40, that age group, for a while now,” said Livingston, who now coaches men’s and women’s track and cross country at Roger Williams University. “It’s still a competitive age group.”
Livingston, who coached at Saints from 1998-2004 and also track at Shea High for three years prior, has managed to stay relatively injury-free throughout his running career. He’s also won his share of races since his college days at Ithaca College, where the Barrington runner was a three-time All American. But in the races he has run since becoming a master, he hasn’t been able to snatch the top prize only because he keeps running into Koech, a onetime 2:08 marathoner.
“I haven’t won yet,” he said. “Every race I’ve been at he’s been at. He’s been winning it outright in some races. It’s been tough to get that first win as a master.”
“Ideally, I would have liked to been under 15:30, but I’ll take it,” he added. “I have never run particularly well on this course.”
Meyer, who was competing in his second race in three days, forged to the front early in the race and broke away from Koech in the final mile en route to his title and the $300 winner’s check.
He went through the mile split in 4:44 and was 9:23 at two miles.
“I took off and was in the lead about a half mile into the race,” he said. “We (Koech and Meyer) were kind of trading back-and-forth for the lead and that’s how it stayed for a while. Eventually, I started gaining a few steps and then had a 20- to 20-yard gap and he was struggling a little bit, probably because of the heat. But it was good today.”
Finishing out the top five placements in the race, which is part of the New England Grand Prix Championships, was Matt Ely of Natick, Mass. (fourth, 15:07) and Dan Vassallo of Wilmington, Mass. (fifth, 15:10).
Uxbridge’s Glen Miller was the top area finisher, taking 104th among the 388 participants with a time of 18:27.