Cleveland Marathon 5K — M20-24: Simon Edges Mathewson by One Second

• Khalil Simon (Bronx, NY) wins the M20-24 age group in 23:48 at a 7:40/mi pace, with Evan Mathewson just one second back at 23:49.
• The top four finishers all broke 24:06, separated by just 17 seconds total — a remarkably tight front pack on a humid, windy morning.
• A gap of over 85 seconds separates 4th-place Brian White (24:05) from 5th-place Cole Frisby (25:31), marking a clear break between the lead pack and the rest of the field.
• 34 men finished in the M20-24 age group, with times ranging from 23:48 to well past 32 minutes.

Khalil Simon made the trip from the Bronx worth every mile. The 24-year-old crossed in 23:48 to claim the M20-24 title, but he had to earn it — Evan Mathewson of Rocky River pushed him every step of the way, finishing just one second behind at 23:49. That's not a comfortable win; that's a race decided in the final strides. Both men ran 7:40/mi averages, making the gap between them razor-thin at the finish line rather than a product of different efforts.

The battle for the podium didn't cool off much either. Peter Reynolds of Streetsboro finished 3rd in 24:03, and Brian White of Euclid grabbed 4th in 24:05 — just two seconds separating them on a muggy 67°F day with 15 mph winds and 83% humidity, conditions that had every reason to slow the field down. Those four men formed a genuine lead pack, and then the race essentially split in two: Cole Frisby's 5th-place 25:31 came a full 86 seconds after White, a gap that tells the story of how dominant that front group was.

From 5th through 8th, the racing stayed competitive. Quincy Lyles of Shaker Heights (6th, 25:47), Charles Putnam of North Royalton (7th, 25:57), and Juan Tejeda of Cleveland (8th, 26:06) were all within 35 seconds of each other, trading pace in that 8:13–8:24/mi range. Luke Weber and Anthony Chaney — both from Valley City — rounded out the top ten in 27:09 and 27:39 respectively, a fun local footnote in an age group that stretched all the way to 34 finishers across Northeast Ohio and beyond.