Cleveland Half Marathon F60-64: Navratil Leads a Deep Ohio Field

• Susan Navratil (Rocky River, OH) won the F60-64 age group in 1:52:55 (8:37/mi), finishing 2:06 ahead of runner-up Eileen Meisler.
• Eileen Meisler surged from 393rd among women at the 5K to 263rd by the finish — the strongest position climb in the top three.
• Elizabeth Brown (2:06:08) and Brenda Stauffer (2:06:11) finished 7th and 8th just 3 seconds apart, the tightest gap anywhere in the top 20.
• 45 women completed the F60-64 race on a warm, humid Cleveland morning — 75°F with 68% humidity making every mile earned.

Susan Navratil set the tone from the gun. The 63-year-old from Rocky River ran 8:37/mi to clock 1:52:55 and win the F60-64 age group by more than two minutes. Her early pace was aggressive enough that she was 110th among women through the first 5K — but the heat and humidity took their toll on the field around her, and by the finish she had slipped to 223rd among women as others behind her caught a second wind. That drift in gender standing doesn't diminish the result: she was the clear class of this age group from start to finish.

Behind her, the podium told a story of patience rewarded. Eileen Meisler of Pepper Pike started conservatively — 393rd among women through 5K — then reeled in runners steadily, posting the 206th-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-finish stretch to land 2nd in 1:55:01 (8:46/mi). Sue Kunar of Kent rounded out the podium in 1:56:22 (8:53/mi), also strong in the back half with the 288th-fastest women's split on that same segment. Michele Sollenberger of Copley was the biggest mover of the top five: she was 415th among women at 5K, climbed all the way to 344th by 12.6 miles, and finished 4th in 1:58:30.

Connie Brys of Concord ran the opposite arc — 304th among women through 5K, fading to 436th by the finish — but still crossed in 2:02:03 to claim 5th. The battle for 7th was the race's most dramatic close-quarters moment: Elizabeth Brown (Mansfield) and Brenda Stauffer (Akron) ran nearly the entire course together, finishing in 2:06:08 and 2:06:11 respectively — Brown edging Stauffer by just three seconds after 13.1 miles in the heat.