F16-19 at Kaua'i Half Marathon: Kadiam Runs Away from the Field

• Neha Kadiam, 18, wins in 2:06:11 — a 9:38/mi pace that put more than 10 minutes between her and the rest of the F16-19 field.
• Maguire Lima (2:16:24) edges Lucy Minnig (2:18:36) for the silver spot, with Alyssa Pong (2:20:35) and Elsa Minnig (2:23:14) rounding out a tight top-five spread of under 17 minutes across five runners.
• Lucy and Elsa Minnig, both from Seattle, finished 3rd and 5th — the sisters ran the opening miles close together before diverging in the back half.
• Lauae Gutierrez, 16, completed the course in 3:42:08, showing the range of this ten-woman F16-19 field on a warm, humid morning in Poipu.

Neha Kadiam of Bothell, WA delivered the dominant performance of the day in the F16-19 age group. Running 9:38/mi, the 18-year-old steadily climbed through the women's field — moving from 131st to 120th to 108th among women — and closed with the 69th-fastest women's split on the final stretch from 11.05 miles to the finish. That late surge underscored that her margin wasn't just built early; she was still accelerating when it counted.

Behind her, Maguire Lima of Turlock, CA had the story of the back half. Lima was 240th among women at the first checkpoint, clawed her way to 207th, and finished 186th — a steady, relentless climb that earned her 2nd place in the age group in 2:16:24, posting the 140th-fastest women's split on that same closing segment. Lucy Minnig of Seattle came in 3rd at 2:18:36, though her trajectory told a different tale: she faded from 182nd among women to 209th by the finish, her 211th-fastest closing split a sign the final miles took their toll.

The Minnig family story was one of the day's more compelling subplots. Lucy (3rd, 2:18:36) and Elsa (5th, 2:23:14) ran the opening miles within two spots of each other among women before separating — Elsa fading similarly through the back half, dropping from 180th to 255th in the women's field. Alyssa Pong of Mililani squeezed between them for 4th in 2:20:35, posting the 146th-fastest closing split to hold off Elsa by 2:39. Grace Sarmiento (6th, 2:35:30), Keira Garcia (7th, 2:41:17), and Palma Gorman (8th, 2:49:53) followed, with Ella Vicoy (9th, 3:10:03) and Lauae Gutierrez (10th, 3:42:08) completing all ten finishers on a humid Kauai morning.