FACES IN THE CROWD

MANAIA
HONOLULU
Manaia, 5, a Labrador-Irish setter mix, defeated more than 200 of the 500 human entrants in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim in the Pacific Ocean. She finished the 2.375 miles in 90 minutes, though her only stroke was the dog paddle.

PLAINFIELD PUFFER
PLAINFIELD, N.H.
Puffer, a 4-inch-long earthworm of undetermined age, crawled to a 3-inch victory in the Greater Claremont (N.H.) Invitational Worm Race. Puffer completed the 18-inch course in five minutes, leaving 79 other competitors in the dust.

LAWS
CHESAPEAKE BAY
Laws, age unknown, a blue crab that was recruited out of the bay by June and Charles Graeter of Lancaster, Pa., skittered 16 feet in 46.19 seconds to win the 33rd annual Hard Crab Derby in Crisfield, Md. over 400 other entrants.

NELLIE
CATSKILL, N.Y.
Nellie, 10, Gary Messenger up, lumbered an eighth of a mile in 23 seconds to beat Minnie by a trunk in the Elephantonian at Monticello Raceway. Nellie received 500 pounds of peanuts for the win, while Minnie's rider was given a shovel.

NOON NEWS
BALTIMORE
News, middle-aged, won the 39th Chesapeake Turtle Derby in Baltimore. He was the first of the 10 finalists to complete the 12½ feet from the center to the edge of the racing circle, easily beating runners-up Yankee Clipper and Future Soup.

NANCY
BELLEVUE, OHIO
Nancy, 5, an Alpine goat, plays basketball by butting alley-oop passes down at a hoop below her Carousel Stable loft. She has made as many as four in a row of these "off-my-face" dunks, which she actually executes by using her horns.

SIX PHOTOS