Girls 14-and-Under: Matilda Granger Runs Away With It

• Matilda Granger won the F0-14 age group in 2:00:16 (9:10/mi), finishing more than 22 minutes clear of second place.
• The closest battle on the course was between Presley Zimmerman and Hailey van Wie, separated by just over 12 minutes at the line (2:53:07 vs. 3:05:42).
• Chayse Massimino held a strong early position among the women's field before fading across the back half, ultimately finishing second in the age group in 2:22:39.
• Six girls 14 and under finished the Chicago 13.1 Half Marathon on a warm June morning — 72°F with a steady 10 mph wind.

Matilda Granger, representing Warsaw, IN, was the dominant story in the girls 14-and-under field. Her 9:10/mi pace held up across 13.1 miles in the heat, and her movement through the women's field tells the tale: she climbed from 496th among women after the opening segment all the way up to 406th by the 8K mark before settling back as the course wore on. She even posted the 324th-fastest women's split on the 5K-to-8K stretch — a genuinely sharp mid-race effort in a field that stretched into the thousands.

Chayse Massimino of Chicago ran a very different race. She was right alongside Zimmerman through the early miles — both sitting around 711th–712th among women at the 5K mark — before the two diverged sharply. Massimino held together well enough to finish second in 2:22:39, while Zimmerman dropped back significantly, eventually finishing third in 2:53:07. Massimino's strongest segment came late: her 15K-to-finish split ranked 1,466th among women, a solid close to her afternoon.

Hailey van Wie (Neenah, WI) and Saanvi Mallavarpu (Lombard, IL) ran consistent if measured races, finishing fourth and fifth in 3:05:42 and 3:09:28 respectively — just under four minutes apart. Meghan Pierce rounded out the group in 3:17:01, completing all six finishers on a day that asked plenty of every runner who toed the line.