Masters Women Marathon: Guerrini runs down the field to claim Long Beach

• Liz Guerrini, 56, wins in 3:26:54 (7:53/mi), surging from 142nd among women at the halfway mark all the way to 30th by the finish — one of the most dramatic climbs of the day.
• Monica Delgado closes fast: after slipping to 69th among women through the half, the Long Beach local rallied to finish 2nd in 3:28:22 — just 1:28 behind Guerrini.
• Tight podium battle: Natalie Ramirez (3rd, 3:29:38), Nancy Martinez (4th, 3:30:16), and Marcialynn Anthony (5th, 3:30:21) were separated by just 43 seconds across three finishers.
• 274 women finished the Masters field in 72°F heat and 73% humidity — no small feat at marathon distance.

Liz Guerrini, 56, didn't just win the Masters Women's race — she staged one of the day's most compelling comebacks. Running through the first half in 142nd place among all women, she was patient while others pushed early in the Long Beach heat. Then she turned on the jets: her 13.1M–20M split ranked 13th fastest among all women in the field, and she kept climbing, reaching 30th among women by the finish line. Her 7:53/mi average tells the story of a runner who ran smarter, not just harder.

Monica Delgado mirrored that second-half resurgence. She opened aggressively, sitting 19th among women early, before fading back to 69th at the half. But Delgado found her legs again on the back stretch, posting the 20th-fastest women's split from 13.1M to 20M and working her way back to 32nd among women and 2nd in the Masters field in 3:28:22. The two Long Beach locals ran strikingly different races to reach nearly the same destination — Guerrini the patient climber, Delgado the yo-yo who refused to fade for good.

Behind them, West Covina's Natalie Ramirez (3rd, 3:29:38) had her best segment earlier — the 28th-fastest women's split from 5.5M to 13.1M — and held on well enough to claim the final podium spot. Nancy Martinez (4th, 3:30:16) and Marcialynn Anthony (5th, 3:30:21) both produced strong closing splits from 20M to the finish — 42nd and 35th fastest among women, respectively — making the race for the final podium positions a genuine battle all the way up Long Beach's home stretch. Five seconds separated 4th from 5th.