Cleveland Half Marathon F40-44: Range Runs Away With It

• Jaclyn Range wins in 1:27:26 (6:40/mi), the fastest F40-44 finish by nearly two minutes over runner-up Laura Bange's 1:29:20.
• Bange's mid-race surge was the story of the chase pack — she climbed from 19th among women at the 5K mark all the way to 8th by the finish, posting the 7th-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-12.6-mile stretch.
• Tina Myslenski (3rd, 1:33:02) closed hard, recording the 10th-fastest women's split from 12.6 miles to the finish — the strongest late-race leg of anyone in the F40-44 top five.
• 229 women aged 40–44 finished, with the top 20 ranging from Range's 6:40/mi to Laurie Volare's 8:27/mi (1:50:47, 20th).

Range, 43, from Westlake, was in command almost from the gun. She entered the 5K checkpoint already 7th among all women, then ticked up to 6th by 10K and held that position through the tape — a composed, front-loaded performance at 6:40/mi that left the rest of the F40-44 field chasing shadows. Her 6th-fastest women's split on the 5K-to-10K segment underscores just how efficiently she moved through the middle miles. In 75°F heat with nearly 70% humidity, running a 1:27:26 is no small feat.

The real drama unfolded behind her in the chase. Bange, 41, from Cincinnati, was buried in 19th among women through 5K but ran herself into contention with a relentless middle stretch. By 10K she was 14th among women; by 12.6 miles, 8th — and she held that ground to the finish in 1:29:02. That's a 1:54 gap to Range, but a massive gap to everyone else in the age group. Myslenski, 42 and a Cleveland local, rounded out the podium in 1:33:02 (7:06/mi), her strong closing split from 12.6 miles onward nudging her past any late challengers.

Erica Dancik (4th, 1:34:14) mirrored Bange's pattern on a smaller scale — entering the 10K-to-12.6-mile segment in 25th among women and climbing to 21st — while Jillian Piteo (5th, 1:35:58) and Molly Ennis (6th, 1:36:18) held relatively steady throughout. Amy Washington, 14th in 1:46:15, added an extra layer to her race weekend, having also placed 9th among women in the accompanying 5K — a double that deserves its own nod in a field of 229.