M25-29 at Rocket City: Steinbrecher runs down the field and takes it

• Keith Steinbrecher won the M25-29 group in 2:42:53 (6:13/mi), climbing from 8th to 4th among men on the back half and posting the 3rd-fastest men's split from 31K to the finish.
• Ryan Crandall was right there at 2nd in 2:44:42 — just 1 minute 49 seconds back — after running near the front of the men's field all day.
• Bobby Wilson (4th, 2:50:40) and Jacob Schrimpf (5th, 2:54:07) both posted strong middle segments, each logging top-10 men's splits from the half to 31K.
• Jersson Pachar finished 3rd in the age group with a time of 9:49:21 — a dramatically different race from the rest of the podium, run at a 22:29/mi pace.

Sixty degrees and muggy in Huntsville — 85% humidity with barely a breath of wind — set the stage for a grind, and the M25-29 group delivered. Steinbrecher, the 26-year-old from New Market, Alabama, ran a measured first half before turning the screws. He moved from 8th to 5th among men between the half and 31K, then picked off one more to finish 4th in the men's field. His 3rd-fastest men's split on that closing stretch from 31K to the line was the decisive move, and a 6:13/mi average tells you he never really let up.

Crandall was the other man in the conversation all morning. The 28-year-old from Madison, Mississippi, sat 3rd among men through 10K and held that position through the half before settling into 5th at the finish — but within the M25-29 group, his 2:44:42 was good for a clear runner-up. The 1:49 gap between him and Steinbrecher was real but not wide; a different back half and this one flips.

Wilson (2:50:40) and Schrimpf (2:54:07) rounded out a competitive top five, both moving up through the men's field during the middle stretch. Schrimpf in particular climbed from 12th to 9th among men by 31K. Liam Stewart's 3:01:32 in 6th closed out the sub-3:05 contingent in the age group, with the rest of the 52-man field spread across a wide range behind him.