M13-15 at Barks & Brews 5K: Flesher Flies to the Win at 13

• Leon Flesher, 13, wins in 16:48 (5:25/mi), improving 45 seconds on his 7th-place finish here in 2025 (17:33).
• Apollo Rivera closes the gap with the 8th-fastest final-mile split among the women's field, finishing 2nd in 17:29 (5:38/mi) — 41 seconds back of Flesher.
• Eli Archer surges late, posting the 5th-fastest 3M→Finish split among the women's field to claim 3rd in 18:09 (5:51/mi), edging 4th-place Christian Mccabe by 29 seconds.
• 19 finishers spread across a wide range, from Flesher's 16:48 to Edgar Plascencia's 1:10:54 finish in 19th.

Leon Flesher came to Sacramento with unfinished business, and the 13-year-old made it count. Running 5:25/mi on a clear, breezy Memorial Day morning, he crossed in 16:48 — a 45-second improvement over his 17:33 finish at this same race in 2025. He moved from 11th among men at the opening mile all the way to 10th by mile two and held it there, also posting the 8th-fastest 2M→3M split in the men's field. For a 13-year-old to take the M13-15 title outright, that's the headline of the morning.

Apollo Rivera, 14, of Carmichael put together a strong second half, climbing from 17th among men at the first mile check all the way to 12th by the finish. His 8th-fastest 3M→Finish split in the men's field helped him close to 17:29 — but Flesher had simply built too much of a cushion. Eli Archer, also 14, told a similar story in 3rd: he slipped back through the middle miles (from 18th to 22nd among men) before firing the 5th-fastest closing split in the men's field to finish in 18:09 and secure the final podium spot. Christian Mccabe rounded out the top four in 18:38 (5:60/mi), while fellow 13-year-old Marco Becerril took 5th in 19:05 (6:09/mi).

The middle of the M13-15 field was tightly clustered, with William Cromwell (6th, 19:19), Javier Maciel Jr. (7th, 19:49), Niegel Mansouri (8th, 20:38), and Brody Romo (9th, 20:42) all finishing within about two minutes of each other. Cody Skibby and Augustine Stoyanoff came in 10th and 11th at 22:15 and 22:19 respectively, separated by just four seconds. The back of the field stretched considerably, with Cameron Vito (16th, 40:35), Bodhi Crouch (17th, 51:55), William Hildebrandt (18th, 59:48), and Edgar Plascencia (19th, 1:10:54) completing the group — every finisher earning their medal on a warm Sacramento morning.