M18-20: Lucas Avina Runs Away with It on the Silverado Trail

• Lucas Avina wins in 2:57:40 (6:47/mi), the only M18-20 finisher to break three hours.
• A 10-minute gap separates Avina from runner-up Joseph Bianco (3:07:58) — the largest margin between any two consecutive podium spots.
• Bianco edges Jamilton Choc for 2nd: 3:07:58 vs. 3:12:28, with Bianco posting the 81st-fastest men's 20M-to-finish split to Choc's 131st — a closing stretch where Bianco clearly had the stronger legs.
• 15 finishers completed the M18-20 field across a 2:28:38 spread from first to last.

Lucas Avina made the point-to-point run from Calistoga to Napa look like a training day. The 20-year-old Napa local clocked 2:57:40 at a 6:47/mi clip — a full ten minutes clear of the rest of the M18-20 field. His moves tell the story: he entered the men's field around 112th at the first checkpoint, then steadily carved through the pack, reaching 72nd among men by the finish. His 48th-fastest men's split on the 16.2M-to-20M stretch was the engine of that surge — a mid-to-late race push that separated him from the competition for good.

Behind Avina, the battle for 2nd played out over the final miles. Joseph Bianco of Santa Clara sat close to Jamilton Choc through most of the race, but it was the closing 10K that decided it. Bianco's 81st-fastest men's 20M-to-finish split outpaced Choc's 131st, and the gap at the line — 4:30 — reflects how decisively Bianco pulled away late. Choc, 19, finished 3rd in 3:12:28, a creditable result for the Sacramento runner in his own right.

Richie Chavarria of Gilroy rounded out the top four in 3:28:15 (7:57/mi), with Aeneas Salaam (Oakland) 5th in 3:41:31 and Brode Tilford 6th in 3:43:43 — just over two minutes back. The field spread wide from there, with Grady Zimmerman and Carlo Deianni sharing the same displayed time of 4:54:36 for 13th and 14th, and Carlos Ramirez closing out the 15-man field in 5:26:18.