Rocket City 10K — M30-34: Gross Dominates with a Sub-48 Finish

• Gage Gross won the M30-34 group in 47:27 (7:38/mi), finishing 3 minutes 29 seconds clear of runner-up Alan Reese.
• Alan Reese and Ryan Cechovic were separated by just 1:36 for 2nd and 3rd.
• 4th through 6th played out within a tight 53-second window — James Gauldin (55:01), Bob Farris (55:39), and Oliver Norris (55:54).
• The field of 11 spanned 23:44 from first to last finisher.

Gage Gross made the M30-34 race his own from the gun. Running 7:38 per mile in 70°F heat with a 17 mph wind, he crossed in 47:27 — a margin that rendered the rest of the field a separate contest entirely. His fellow Madison resident Ryan Cechovic would finish 3rd, but it was Huntsville's Alan Reese who claimed 2nd in 50:56, unable to close a gap that Gross had clearly built and defended throughout.

Behind Reese and Cechovic, the real drama unfolded in the battle for 4th through 6th. James Gauldin, Bob Farris, and Oliver Norris — running 8:51, 8:57, and 8:60 per mile respectively — were locked together across the back half of the course, finishing within 53 seconds of one another. Farris made the trip from Rockton, Illinois count, edging Norris by just 15 seconds for 5th.

The back half of the field tells a different story in pace. Cole Dunbar and Kyle Gennaro crossed in 1:03:55 and 1:04:36, separated by 41 seconds, while Brian Koser, Lee Reeves, and Will Baker navigated the warm, breezy Huntsville morning at 11-minute-plus pace. Reeves and Koser were nearly inseparable — just 13 seconds apart at 9th and 10th — before Will Baker rounded out the group in 1:11:11.