M30-34 at Long Beach: De Venecia Dominates in a Sub-1:55 Statement

• Bryce de Venecia won M30-34 in 1:54:20 (4:22/mi), finishing 6th among men overall and posting the 5th-fastest men's split on the 5.5M→13.1M stretch.
• Dakota Kruczynski made the most dramatic move of the race, climbing from 50th to 11th among men between miles 13.1 and 20 — logging the fastest men's split on the 13.1M→20M segment in the entire field.
• The top-3 spread just 6:22 across de Venecia (1:54:20), Ehinger (1:58:33), and Kruczynski (2:00:42), with each man running a meaningfully different pace — 4:22, 4:31, and 4:36/mi respectively.
• 754 finishers made M30-34 one of the deepest fields on the course; the top 20 alone ranged from 1:54:20 down to 2:17:30.

Bryce de Venecia set the tone from the gun. Running 4:22/mi through Long Beach's warm, humid October morning — 72°F with 73% humidity — the Chicago native held 6th among men at every checkpoint, a model of controlled aggression. His 1:54:20 finish wasn't just a comfortable M30-34 win; it put him squarely in the men's overall conversation, and his 5th-fastest men's split on the 5.5M→13.1M segment shows he was pushing the pace where it counted most.

Joshua Ehinger of Corona, CA ran a steady, ascending race — moving from 11th to 10th to 8th among men across the three checkpoints — and locked in 2nd in M30-34 at 1:58:33 (4:31/mi), finishing 4:13 behind de Venecia. But the real second-half story belonged to Dakota Kruczynski. The Cerritos runner was buried 50th among men at the halfway mark, but he unleashed the fastest men's split on the 13.1M→20M segment in the entire field, rocketing to 11th among men and 3rd in M30-34 with a 2:00:42 finish (4:36/mi). That's a catch-up for the ages — Kruczynski didn't just hold on, he hunted.

Ali Toomes (2:05:35, 4:47/mi) and Danson Nguyen (2:06:17, 4:49/mi) rounded out the top five, separated by just 42 seconds after 26.2 miles. Toomes made steady progress through the field — moving from 36th to 22nd among men — while Nguyen held more consistent positioning throughout. Sarung Tripathi (2:08:50) and James Gould (2:08:55) finished 6th and 7th just five seconds apart, with Angel Mendoza (2:07:49) slotting in at 8th despite a faster finish time — a reminder that these places are settled by the full race clock, not any single segment.