Masters Women: Sara Hall Wins at 42, Flirting With the Course Record

• Sara Hall, 42, wins in 2:24:35 — just 7 seconds off Calli Hauger-Thackery's women's course record set here in 2024, averaging 5:31/mi across 26.2 miles.
• Hall posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 20K→Half segment, a stretch where she was threading her way through the lead pack with real intent.
• Caitlin Phillips surged late, running the 20th-fastest women's split from 35K to 40K to secure 2nd among Masters Women in 2:36:06.
• 1,166 Masters Women finished on a cool, damp December morning — ideal conditions for fast times on CIM's net-downhill point-to-point course.

Sara Hall ran a masterclass in controlled aggression. The 42-year-old from Flagstaff opened with the kind of patience that race data rewards in retrospect: her gender place oscillated — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, back to 2nd, back to 3rd, then 2nd — as she traded positions with the lead women through the middle miles. But it was her 20K-to-Half split, second-fastest among all women on that stretch, that showed where she was truly pressing. She crossed in 2:24:35, a 5:31/mi average that left Hauger-Thackery's 2024 course record of 2:24:28 standing by the slimmest of margins — seven seconds over 26.2 miles. That's not a near-miss to gloss over; it's a statement performance from a Masters runner going stride-for-stride with the fastest women's mark this course has ever seen.

Behind Hall, the battle for the podium had its own compelling shape. Andrea Pomaranski of Wolverine Lake, Michigan, ran the 25th-fastest women's split from 5K to 10K and climbed as high as 31st among women by the halfway point, but faded through the back half, eventually settling into 3rd among Masters Women in 2:37:44 (6:01/mi). Caitlin Phillips, meanwhile, told the opposite story: she was 58th among women at 5K, still 54th at the halfway mark, then unleashed the 20th-fastest women's split of the entire field between 35K and 40K to come home 2nd in 2:36:06 at 5:57/mi — a genuine catch-up performance that earned her the runner-up spot.

Courtney Dauwalter of Leadville, Colorado — better known for her dominance in ultramarathon distances — ran a remarkably consistent race to finish 4th in 2:38:53 (6:04/mi), posting the 45th-fastest women's split on the 25K-to-30K segment. Karen Bertasso rounded out the top five in 2:41:14 at 6:09/mi, holding steady around 80th among women from start to finish. Meriah Earle, 47, claimed 6th in 2:42:30 — the top finisher among Masters Women in their late 40s — while Emily Setlack (2:46:11) and Teal Burrell (2:46:16) separated by just five seconds across 7th and 8th.