M70-74: Souza edges Buzbee in a five-second thriller

• Ron Souza (71, Citrus Heights) won the M70-74 group in 24:55 — an 8:01/mi pace across 3.1 miles.
• Five seconds separated 1st from 2nd; just 15 seconds covered the entire top three.
• Mike Cordano posted the fastest closing split (1M→Finish) among the top three, yet it wasn't enough to close the gap up front.
• 10 men finished in M70-74, with times ranging from 24:55 to 1:07:11.

Ron Souza crossed the line in 24:55 to claim the M70-74 title, holding an 8:01/mi pace on a warm Sacramento morning — 73°F and clear, the kind of conditions that have a way of separating those who go out smart from those who don't. Souza went out hard, and it nearly cost him: Michael Buzbee (73, Yuba City) was right on his heels at the finish, clocking 25:00 and closing the gap to just five seconds. Given that Buzbee posted the 111th-fastest closing split in the men's field on that final mile-to-finish stretch — versus Souza's 121st — Buzbee was the stronger finisher. He just ran out of road.

Rounding out the podium, Mike Cordano (73, El Dorado Hills) finished 3rd in 25:10, running 8:06/mi. Notably, Cordano's closing split was actually the sharpest of the three podium men — the 110th-fastest in the men's field on that final segment — but his deficit from earlier in the race was too large to overcome. The top three were separated by just 15 seconds total, making this one of the tighter age-group battles of the day.

Robert Mathews (4th, 26:53) and Gilbert Machado (5th, 27:30) completed a solid top five, both running controlled paces in the 8:39–8:51/mi range. Behind them, the field spread out considerably: Nils Carlson came home 6th in 32:21, Steve Swindel 7th in 36:20, and Robert Ramos 8th in 37:28. Juan Yniguez and Glenn Misono rounded out the ten finishers, with Misono's 1:07:11 representing a very different kind of morning on the course — but a finish is a finish, and all ten men got it done.