Masters Women at Napa Valley Marathon: Yanko Delivers a 2:44 Masterclass

• Devon Yanko wins in 2:44:44 (6:17/mi), climbing from 3rd to 2nd among all women by the finish on the strongest closing split in the women's field.
• Suzy Hyer runs 2:55:07 to take 2nd in Masters Women, backed by the 5th-fastest women's split on the middle stretch (13.1M→20M).
• Sarah Evans finishes 3rd in 2:57:26 (6:46/mi), with the 7th-fastest women's 13.1M→20M split — just over two minutes behind Hyer.
• Tatyana Steis surges late, moving from 17th to 5th in Masters Women on the strength of the 10th-fastest women's closing split (20M→Finish), finishing in 3:07:29.

Devon Yanko ran the kind of race that gets better as it goes. Sitting 3rd among all women through the half and into mile 20, she saved her sharpest running for the final stretch — posting the fastest women's split from 20M to the finish — and climbed to 2nd among all women by the tape. Her 2:44:44 at 6:17/mi on a cool, calm Napa morning was the clear headline in Masters Women, and it wasn't particularly close: runner-up Suzy Hyer crossed in 2:55:07, more than ten minutes back.

Hyer and Sarah Evans ran the middle miles in tandem — 5th- and 7th-fastest women's splits respectively on the 13.1M→20M stretch — but Evans couldn't quite hold the gap, finishing 3rd in 2:57:26 (6:46/mi). Both women were well clear of the rest of the field, with 4th-place Tatyana McGovern, age 49, coming home in 3:06:37 — a strong run in its own right, and the best of the day for anyone in the field's older half.

The race's most notable late move belonged to Tatyana Steis. Starting the final 10K as low as 22nd among women, she ran the 10th-fastest women's closing split to vault all the way to 5th in Masters Women, finishing in 3:07:29 — just 52 seconds behind McGovern. Cathy Finney rounded out the top six in 3:10:26, while Danni Fu, Aya Van Wagner, Xiang-Hong Song, and Margot Ridout all broke 3:21 to fill out the top ten across a Masters Women field of 238 finishers.