Cleveland 10K F35-39: Mccafferty Runs Away With It

• Lauren Mccafferty won the F35-39 age group in 41:41 (6:42/mi) — more than five minutes clear of 2nd place.
• Jaime Tomko claimed 2nd in 46:45 (7:31/mi), nearly five minutes ahead of 3rd.
• Places 3–9 were decided across a tight 2:38 window, from Brittany White's 51:21 to Julie Andrasik's 53:59.
• Katie Buckheit and Lauren Potts both crossed in 55:52 — different places (12th and 13th) decided by the finest of margins at the line.

Lauren Mccafferty didn't just win the F35-39 age group at the Cleveland 10K — she dominated it. Her 41:41 finish at a 6:42/mi clip put her in a category of one, with a gap of over five minutes to the field behind her. On a humid 67°F morning with a stiff 15 mph wind, that kind of margin doesn't happen by accident. Mccafferty, a Clevelander racing on home roads, made this one look controlled from the start.

Behind her, Jaime Tomko — also of Cleveland — locked up 2nd place in 46:45 (7:31/mi), running a noticeably faster pace than the chase pack and building her own comfortable buffer. Brittany White of Bay Village finished 3rd in 51:21 (8:16/mi), more than four and a half minutes behind Tomko but well clear of the cluster forming just behind her.

That cluster was where the real racing happened. Ashley Frazier (4th, 52:29), Nada Tayeh (5th, 53:17), Dionne Bryant (6th, 53:30), Samantha Wilmot (7th, 53:51), and Julie Andrasik and Marissa Brar (8th and 9th, both 53:59) were all packed into a span of just 2:38 — six athletes separated by under a minute in the heart of the age group. Further back, Katie Buckheit and Lauren Potts both stopped the clock at 55:52, with Buckheit edging 12th and Potts 13th by the narrowest of margins the timing system could detect.

Emily Lee rounded out the top 10 in 54:30 (8:46/mi), with 76 women total completing the F35-39 field on a challenging morning in Cleveland.