Broken Arrow 3.5K Ascent: Griffin Briley dominates the M10-19 field

• Griffin Briley, 19, wins in 26:38 — a 12:15/mi clip up a high-altitude climb that left the rest of the field well behind.
• Luka Karnickis, 16, takes 2nd in 33:00 — a 6:22 gap back to the winner, with the 12-year-old Levi Streit close behind in 3rd at 36:42.
• Levi Streit's finish is the standout age story — the Truckee 12-year-old completing a course that tops out near 8,000 feet in under 37 minutes.
• The field spans nearly 35 minutes — from Briley's 26:38 to Cody Raff's 1:01:33 in 7th, underscoring how wide the experience gap runs across the under-19 field.

Seven young athletes lined up for the 3.5K Ascent at Broken Arrow Skyrace, racing a course that climbs through thin air between roughly 6,300 and 8,000 feet above sea level — terrain that tests lungs and legs alike, especially for athletes who may not train at altitude. Griffin Briley, 19, from Park City, Utah — a high-elevation training base that could well have given him a real edge here — made it look controlled, covering the course at 12:15/mi to win in 26:38. That's a pace none of his competitors came close to matching.

Luka Karnickis, 16, of Tahoe City — local to the Sierra Nevada — crossed in 2nd at 33:00, running 15:11/mi. He moved through the closing Snow King–to-finish segment with the 58th-fastest split in the field, holding his position well. Levi Streit, just 12 years old out of Truckee, was the quiet story of the race: 3rd in 36:42, running 16:53/mi, and posting the 87th-fastest closing split. At his age, finishing on that course in that time is genuinely impressive.

Josef Gross, 15, came home 4th in 39:11 but faded on the closing segment — his gender place slipped from 110th to 122nd on the final stretch, suggesting the altitude and the climb caught up with him late. Ryan Quiros, 16, was 5th in 45:45, while Morgan Cui and Cody Raff — both younger teens — rounded out the seven-finisher field at 55:13 and 1:01:33 respectively. Every one of them got to the top.