M35-39: Damon King Runs Down the Field in 1:11:12

• King wins in 1:11:12 (5:26/mi), the fastest time in the M35-39 group across 809 finishers.
• Runner-up Andrew Kaehr finished in 1:12:33 — 1:21 back — with a strong closing leg that ranked 32nd among all women's splits from 15K to the finish.
• Ricky Serrano claimed 3rd in 1:15:28, surging from 56th among men to 48th over the final stretch with the 41st-fastest 15K-to-finish split in the men's field.
• A tight cluster at 5th–7th: Matthew Diamond (1:17:14), Jonathan Wolf (1:17:24), and Dan Kremske (1:17:34) were separated by just 20 seconds across three spots.

Damon King owned this race from wire to wire. Starting the day 31st among men, he steadily climbed — 31st, 30th, 29th — before landing at 28th by the finish. His 5:26/mi average across 13.1 miles on a clear, breezy Chicago morning was in a class of its own in the M35-39 group, and his 10K-to-15K split ranked 24th among all men in the field, a sign he was still pressing hard through the middle miles rather than simply protecting a lead.

Andrew Kaehr kept it honest at the front. He tracked King closely through the early checkpoints — mirroring his rival's position almost exactly through 15K — before a slight fade in the final miles left him 1:21 adrift at the line. His 1:12:33 at 5:32/mi is still a commanding runner-up effort in a group of 809.

Ricky Serrano put together arguably the most dynamic race of anyone in the top ten. Sitting 56th among men at both the 8K and 10K marks, he shifted gears over the back half and reeled in eight places to finish 48th — his 41st-fastest 15K-to-finish split among men doing the heavy lifting. Samuel Levon (4th, 1:16:53) ran the opposite arc, slipping from 49th to 63rd among men as the race wore on, which opened the door for Serrano to leapfrog him decisively.

The pack from 5th through 7th — Diamond, Wolf, and Kremske, all within 20 seconds of each other — rounded out a competitive top ten that underscores just how deep the M35-39 group ran on Sunday. With 809 finishers, this was one of the largest age groups on the course, and King's 1:11:12 stood well clear of the field.