High School Elite Female: Beemer breaks six-minute pace to take the crown

• Liliana Beemer (17, Evans) won in 37:05 at 5:58/mi — the only girl in the field to average under six-minute miles.
• Paige Comstock (15, Acworth) took 2nd in 37:57, climbing from 54th to 44th among all women along the way.
• Cadee Benz (17, Sugar Hill) charged from 84th to 49th in the women's field over the final four miles, landing 3rd in 38:36 with the 29th-fastest women's split from 5M to the finish.
• Just one second separated 8th from 9th: Aislynn Dunn (40:32) held off Hazel Davis (40:33).

On an overcast, humid Fourth of July in Atlanta, Liliana Beemer ran the cleanest race of the sixteen high school elite girls. Sitting around 41st among all women essentially the entire way, she never wavered — and she closed hard, posting the 34th-fastest women's split on the run to the finish to seal the win in 37:05.

Behind her, this was a race of comebacks. Paige Comstock, at just 15 the youngest athlete on the podium, worked her way steadily forward from 54th to 44th among the women, finishing 2nd in 37:57 with the 35th-fastest women's closing split. Cadee Benz's race was even more dramatic: she slipped to 84th in the women's field by mile 2, then reeled off a relentless surge — 73rd, 63rd, 55th, 49th at each checkpoint — powered by the 29th-fastest women's split over the final stretch, the best closing split of anyone in this field, to grab 3rd in 38:36.

The battle for 4th was the day's tightest podium-adjacent fight. Olivia Diquattro (16, Columbus) executed the biggest climb of all, rocketing from 94th among women at the first checkpoint to 53rd by the finish — including the 43rd-fastest women's split from 4M to 5M — to take 4th in 39:05, just four seconds ahead of Norah Hickerson (39:09), who ran metronomically steady in the 55–59 range among women throughout.

Farther back, the margins stayed brutal: Dunn edged Davis by a single second for 8th, and Weezie Moore claimed 12th over Harper Stephens by the barest of timing margins, both clocking 41:10. Summer Muxlow (16, Murrayville) closed out the field in 16th at 43:15 — 6:58/mi, meaning every single finisher in this elite group broke seven-minute pace for the 10K.