Cleveland Marathon 5K: Ryan Smith Owns the M45-49 Field

• Ryan Smith wins in 23:49 (7:40/mi), the only man in the M45-49 group to break 24 minutes across a humid, breezy Cleveland morning.
• Joseph Kupresanin finishes 2nd in 24:34 (7:54/mi) — 45 seconds back, but a clear gap ahead of the rest of the field.
• Matthew Rolf claims 3rd in 26:20 (8:29/mi), nearly two minutes clear of 4th place and the last man under 27 minutes.
• Reid Street and Rodger Poindexter finish 16th and 17th in 38:04 and 38:05 respectively — one second separating them after 3.1 miles.

Ryan Smith made this one look straightforward. The 45-year-old from Painesville Township posted a 7:40/mi average to win the M45-49 group in 23:49, running away from a 34-man field on a morning that didn't make anything easy — 83% humidity and a 15 mph wind off Lake Erie had a say in every finish time. His nearest challenger, Joseph Kupresanin of North Olmsted, gave chase and ran a solid 24:34 at 7:54/mi, but the 45-second gap to Smith was never really in doubt. Those two separated themselves from the rest of the age group entirely.

Matthew Rolf of Shaker Heights locked up the bronze in 26:20 (8:29/mi), finishing nearly two full minutes ahead of 4th-place Osama Iwais (28:43, 9:15/mi). That gap between 3rd and 4th was the widest split on the podium, and it held the entire race. The top three effectively ran in their own stratosphere, while the battle for the middle of the field played out across a wide range of paces — from Iwais's 9:15/mi down to the 13-minute range for finishers approaching 20th place.

The race's tightest moment came deep in the results: Reid Street (38:04) and Rodger Poindexter (38:05) crossed the line in 16th and 17th with just one second between them after covering the full 5K. That's a finish worth talking about. Up front, Smith's 23:49 stands as the definitive performance of the day in this age group — clean, fast, and unthreatened.