M1-19: Max Baeder Runs Away With the Teen Title at CIM

• Max Baeder, 19, wins in 2:30:24 (5:44/mi), more than three minutes clear of runner-up Axton Fosnaugh's 2:33:41.
• Tightest battle of the day: Mario Montoya (15) and Jonah Thiele (19) finished 3rd and 4th separated by just two seconds — 2:42:48 to 2:42:50.
• Youngest podium finisher: Montoya completed the 26.2 miles at 6:13/mi at just 15 years old, edging a 19-year-old for the bronze.
• 47 finishers made up the M1-19 field, with the top 20 ranging from 2:30 to 3:34.

Max Baeder of Olympia, WA set the tone early and never let up. He was running in the 90s among the men's field through the first checkpoint and held that position with remarkable consistency all the way to the line, finishing in 2:30:24 at a 5:44/mi clip. His 40K-to-finish leg was the 105th-fastest among men in the field on that closing stretch — a strong finish that confirmed he wasn't just surviving the final miles but still racing them.

Axton Fosnaugh of Wapakoneta, OH had a more dynamic afternoon. He slipped back through the middle portions of the race — sitting 190th among men at both the 20K and 25K marks — before rallying hard over the final third. His 35K-to-40K split was the 122nd-fastest among men on that segment, and he clawed his way up to 146th by the finish. The 18-year-old's 2:33:41 was a comfortable hold on second, but Baeder was simply untouchable.

The real drama unfolded for third place. Mario Montoya, a 15-year-old from Redondo Beach, ran a composed race that got progressively stronger — moving from 484th among men at the first checkpoint all the way up to 330th by the finish, with the 158th-fastest men's split on the 40K-to-finish segment. Jonah Thiele of Madison, SD had the opposite arc, drifting from 256th back to 331st as the race wore on. In the end, two seconds separated them at the line: Montoya 2:42:48, Thiele 2:42:50. Those aren't a tie — Montoya crossed first.

Josh Hooey, a local from Folsom, CA, rounded out the top five in 2:47:46, and Nick Dudek (2:48:52) wasn't far behind in sixth. Fourteen-year-old Ishaan Kanagaraj of Belmont, MA deserves a mention in ninth at 3:00:55 — covering 26.2 miles at 6:54/mi before his 15th birthday is no small thing.