Chicago 13.1 — F0-14: Eliza Barnette Owns the Youngest Age Group

• Sole finisher and champion: Eliza Barnette crossed in 2:23:47 at a 10:58/mi pace to claim 1st in the F0-14 age group.
• Strong finish: Barnette posted the 789th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish segment, closing out the back half of the race with purpose.
• Field of one: With just one finisher in the F0-14 age group, Barnette's result stands as the benchmark for the day.

The F0-14 age group at Chicago 13.1 had exactly one taker on a warm June morning — 74°F with a 12 mph wind — and Eliza Barnette of Cape Girardeau, MO made every step count. She crossed the finish line in 2:23:47, averaging 10:58 per mile across the full 13.1, and that time is the age group record for the day, because she is the age group.

What makes Barnette's run worth watching in the data is the trajectory. Her position among the women's field drifted back through the middle miles — sliding from 1,245th to 1,288th — before she turned on the jets in the final stretch, climbing all the way back to 1,047th among women by the finish. That's a swing of more than 240 places in the women's field over the closing miles, a genuine negative-split surge that speaks to how she managed her effort on a warm, breezy Chicago morning.

Her 789th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish segment is a real number earned against a full women's field, and it reflects the strength of that late push. Barnette ran her own race, on her own terms, and finished it decisively. In a one-person age group, there's no one to chase — which makes running it down rather than running it in all the more impressive.