Masters Women 5K: Marriott Runs Away With It in the Napa Rain

• Sarah Marriott, 46, wins in 23:19 — a 7:30/mi pace that left the rest of the Masters Women field more than two minutes behind.
• Nora Leone, 64, claims 3rd in 26:47 — the oldest athlete on the leaderboard, outrunning a field that skewed decades younger.
• Tight cluster at 5th–8th: Jennifer Ocon (27:48), Molly Good (27:53), Joyce Chino-Kaydahzinne (27:55), and Elyse Weng (28:02) — four runners separated by just 14 seconds.
• 167 Masters Women finished on a cold, wet Napa morning — 41°F, light rain, and 85% humidity made every second earned.

Sarah Marriott didn't just win the Masters Women 5K — she dominated it. The Napa local crossed in 23:19, running 7:30 per mile through the drizzle to finish a full 2:19 ahead of second-place Denise Neves (25:38, 8:15/mi). That margin isn't a close race; it's a statement. Neves, representing Loomis, ran a solid effort of her own but never had a realistic chance of closing that kind of gap.

The real drama unfolded one step lower on the podium. Nora Leone, a 64-year-old from Fountain Hills, Arizona, finished 3rd in 26:47 — outpacing Amy Herzog (4th, 27:09) by 22 seconds and holding off a competitive mid-pack that included several women 20-plus years her junior. In a field where age 40 was the entry point, Leone's performance stands apart.

From 5th through 8th, the race turned into a genuine battle of inches. Jennifer Ocon (53, Benicia) took 5th in 27:48, with Molly Good (6th, 27:53), Joyce Chino-Kaydahzinne (7th, 27:55), and Elyse Weng (8th, 28:02) all within 14 seconds of her. Three of those four runners finished within seven seconds of each other — a stretch of racing that must have felt like a sprint all the way to the line on a raw, wet Napa morning.

Carla Baja rounded out the top ten with a 28:40 (9th), followed by Jennifer Rooney in 29:50 (10th). Beyond them, a dense pack of 10 more runners finished between 30:00 and 30:58, with Niya Wu (11th, 30:00), Brittany Stromgren (12th, 30:04), and Kelly Allen (13th, 30:06) separated by just six seconds — proof that the competition ran deep across all 167 finishers.