Girls F0-14: Mallory Moore holds off Lillianna Konrad in a tight finish

• Moore wins in 1:38:13 (7:30/mi), edging Konrad by just 25 seconds in a two-horse battle at the front of the F0-14 field.
• Konrad ran the fastest early pace among the top two, sitting 40 spots ahead of Moore among the women at the 5K checkpoint — only to fade from 51st to 91st in the women's field by the finish.
• Emily Douglas closed strong, posting the 98th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish stretch to climb from 122nd to 102nd among the women and secure 3rd in F0-14.
• 55 girls finished in warm, breezy conditions — 79°F and a 20 mph wind that made every mile feel a little longer.

Mallory Moore of Ortonville, MI crossed in 1:38:13 at a 7:30/mi clip to claim the F0-14 title, but she had to earn it. Chicago's own Lillianna Konrad was the more aggressive starter, running herself into 51st among the women through 5K while Moore sat back in 90th. Konrad held that cushion through 8K, where she also posted the 69th-fastest women's split on that segment — but the effort came at a cost. She gradually slipped through the women's field over the final miles, finishing 91st among the women, while Moore steadied at 84th. The 25-second gap at the line tells the story of a race that Konrad led on feel and Moore led on execution.

Emily Douglas of Arlington Heights rounded out the podium in 1:40:05 (7:38/mi), and her race ran in the opposite direction from Konrad's — she was 122nd among the women early and worked her way up to 102nd by the finish, anchored by that strong 15K-to-finish split. Fourth went to Reina Hill of Vernon Hills in 1:43:44, though Hill's trajectory mirrored Konrad's: she faded from 86th among the women at 5K all the way to 153rd by the line. The gap from 4th to 5th opened up considerably — Faith Boileau of Iowa City came home 5th in 1:50:19, more than six and a half minutes behind Hill, in a field where the top four were clearly in a class of their own on a tough, windy Chicago morning.