W20-24 at the 2026 NYC Half: Megan Keith races to the front

• Megan Keith, 1:07:13 (5:08/mi) — won the W20-24 age group and climbed from 6th to 3rd among all women by the finish, posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K stretch.
• Felicia Pasadyn, 1:11:59 — closed with the single fastest women's split from 20K to the finish line, moving from 19th to 16th among women to claim 2nd in the age group.
• Grace Dorantes, 1:22:25 — the most dramatic mover in the middle of the pack, climbing from 109th to 55th among women across the race to finish 5th in the age group.
• A 40-second gap separates 3rd-place Mia Matsunami (1:23:49) from 4th-place Meghan Lynch (1:24:09), with five more finishers clustered within the next 77 seconds.

On a crisp 40°F morning from Prospect Park to Central Park, Megan Keith turned what looked like a measured start into a methodical demolition of the W20-24 field. The 23-year-old from Edinburgh sat 6th among women through the early miles, then unleashed the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K segment to surge to 3rd in the overall women's race — a position she held all the way to the tape. Her 1:07:13 at 5:08/mi was in a class of its own in the age group, nearly five minutes clear of anyone else in the W20-24 field.

Felicia Pasadyn, running her home streets in New York, was the story of the final push. She held a steady 16th-place position among women through the middle of the race, but it was her finishing kick that stood out: the fastest women's split from 20K to the finish earned her 2nd in the age group in 1:11:59. That's a closer look at what 5:29/mi discipline looks like when it's saved for the right moment.

The battle for the rest of the top ten was genuinely tight. Grace Dorantes (5th, 1:22:25) was the biggest climber in the group, surging from 109th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 55th by the finish — her 31st-fastest women's split on the 20K-to-finish leg doing the heavy lifting. Rachel Kim (6th, 1:22:48) and Erin Rogerson (7th, 1:23:16) sat just behind, with Mia Matsunami (3rd, 1:23:49) and Maureen Lewin (9th, 1:23:57) completing a five-runner stretch that spans barely 92 seconds across places 3 through 9.

Meghan Lynch (4th, 1:24:09) edged Matsunami by 20 seconds despite sitting deeper in the women's field through the middle miles, posting the 57th-fastest women's split on the 15K–20K leg to claw her way back. Further down, Kira Rosen (17th, 1:27:58) and Kaylie Moropoulos (18th, 1:30:02) rounded out the individually listed finishers ahead of Jillian Valente (20th, 1:29:42) — whose place behind Moropoulos despite a faster time reflects the precision of the chip timing. All told, 1,380 women aged 20–24 crossed the line on a day that belonged, decisively, to Megan Keith.