M21-24: Mandel dominates as Napa's fastest young men battle the valley

• Jacob Mandel (Kentfield, CA) wins the M21-24 race in 1:13:24 (5:36/mi), climbing from 17th to 14th among all men by the finish — and posting the 13th-fastest men's split on the final 6.9M-to-Finish stretch.
• David Walton takes 2nd in 1:16:11 (5:49/mi), surging from 34th to 24th among men across the race — with the 21st-fastest men's split on that same closing stretch.
• 2:47 separates 1st from 2nd; nearly 7 minutes back to 3rd — Mandel and Walton ran in a class of their own.
• Places 16 and 17 — Jayden Duffy and Caden Royere, both of Walnut Creek — crossed in identical times of 1:46:20 (8:07/mi), the closest battle of the day in this field.

Jacob Mandel ran the kind of race that makes a 5:36/mi average look almost effortless. The 22-year-old from Kentfield moved steadily through the men's field — 17th among men at the first checkpoint, 16th at the midpoint, 14th by the tape — never fading, always advancing. On the critical 6.9M-to-Finish segment, he posted the 13th-fastest men's split in the field, a strong close that sealed a wire-to-wire commanding performance and a winning time of 1:13:24.

David Walton was the day's most aggressive mover. Starting 34th among men, the 21-year-old from Corona Del Mar climbed to 28th, then 24th by the finish — a 10-place gain across the race. His 1:16:11 (5:49/mi) and the 21st-fastest men's closing split tell the story of a runner who ran the back half with real intent. He finished a clear 2:47 behind Mandel but an equally clear 4:14 ahead of 3rd-place Nate Tavakolian, whose 1:20:25 (6:08/mi) showed some fade — his best relative segment came in the middle stretch (3.1M to 6.9M), where he posted the 37th-fastest men's split, before slipping from 35th to 39th among men by the finish.

Nathan Babcock (1:24:17, 6:26/mi) and Nicolas Motta (1:28:27, 6:45/mi) rounded out the top five, with Babcock also gaining ground late — the 51st-fastest men's closing split helped him move from 60th to 55th among men. Michael Schweiker (1:29:33) and Iliad Izadi (1:30:00) finished 6th and 7th within 27 seconds of each other, before a significant gap opened to Jonathan Zhao in 8th at 1:35:35. And at the back of the top 20, Duffy and Royere — two Walnut Creek runners — crossed in the exact same recorded time of 1:46:20, sharing a moment that will make for a good story on the ride home.