M25-29: Dante Capone Owns Napa at 5:09 Pace

• Dante Capone (1st, 1:07:31) ran 13.1 miles at a 5:09/mi clip — the fastest M25-29 finisher by 40 seconds and 2nd among all men on the day.
• Jackson Friesth (2nd, 1:08:11) vs. Rafal Matuszczak (3rd, 1:08:14): three seconds separated them at the line — but Friesth got there by running the 3rd-fastest men's split on the back half (6.9M→Finish) while Matuszczak, who held 3rd among men through the first half, faded to 5th among men on that same stretch.
• Brian Wyatt (4th, 1:11:12) was steady throughout — holding 8th among men both at the midpoint and the finish — and put up the 6th-fastest men's split on the closing stretch.
• Amjed Aboukhadijeh (5th, 1:14:26) rounded out the top five, consistent at 13th among men wire to wire with the 12th-fastest men's closing split.

In a cold, damp Napa morning — 37°F and 87% humidity at the gun — Dante Capone of San Diego made it look effortless. His 1:07:31 put him 2nd among all men in the race, and he backed it up with the 2nd-fastest men's split on the 6.9M-to-Finish stretch, meaning he didn't just hold his lead — he pressed it. At 25 years old, he was the youngest man on the M25-29 podium and the class of a 90-finisher field.

The real drama in this group unfolded behind him. Jackson Friesth entered the final segment in 6th among men and finished 4th — a genuine surge that earned him the 3rd-fastest men's closing split and, crucially, 2nd in M25-29 at 1:08:11. Rafal Matuszczak had been tracking ahead of Friesth through the first half — sitting 3rd among men — but ran only the 5th-fastest men's closing split and got caught, finishing 3rd at 1:08:14. Three seconds at the line; a clear catch-up story in the data.

Beyond the podium, the field spread out across a wide range of efforts. Brian Wyatt's 1:11:12 (5:26/mi) was a comfortable 4th, while Amjed Aboukhadijeh's 1:14:26 (5:41/mi) sealed 5th. From there, Fred Ward (6th, 1:18:49) and Benjamin Schneider (7th, 1:19:42) held the next tier, with the rest of the 90-strong M25-29 field stretching well into the 1:20s and beyond. Capone's winning margin of 40 seconds over Friesth tells you everything about how cleanly he controlled this race from the front.