M35-39 at Rocket City: Suetsugu Runs Away With It

• Hisato Suetsugu won the M35-39 group in 2:37:19 (6:00/mi), pulling up to 3rd among all men by the finish and posting the 2nd-fastest closing split (31K to finish) in the entire men's field.
• Michael Koballa was a clear runner-up in 2:47:46 — more than ten minutes back — with the 6th-fastest men's split on the half-to-31K stretch.
• Tyson Jouglet and Ben Krichko staged the race's most compelling battle for 3rd, separated by just 2:01 at the line (2:59:46 vs. 3:01:47) — but with very different journeys to get there.
• Daniel Catino and Anthony Nagel fought to the wire for 5th, finishing just 2 seconds apart (3:09:16 vs. 3:09:18).

Sixty-seven men toed the line in the M35-39 group on a warm, muggy December morning in Huntsville — 60°F and 85% humidity is not what marathon legs want in December. None of that seemed to bother Hisato Suetsugu. Running 6:00/mi from Peachtree City, GA, he moved from 4th among men at 10K all the way to 3rd by the halfway mark and held that position wire to wire. His closing leg was the exclamation point: the 2nd-fastest 31K-to-finish split in the men's field, meaning he was getting faster while others were fighting the humidity home.

Koballa was solid throughout, sitting 7th among men at the halfway point and working his way back to 6th by the finish — a 6:24/mi effort that earned him a comfortable runner-up in the age group, though the 10-plus-minute gap to Suetsugu tells you just how dominant the winner was. The real drama unfolded behind him. Krichko was the stronger early mover, climbing from 17th among men at 10K all the way to 12th by 31K — but he faded to 24th in the men's field over the final stretch. Jouglet, meanwhile, ran the opposite arc: 25th among men at 10K, drifting back to 32nd at halfway before rallying to 20th by the finish, with the 12th-fastest closing split in the field. That late charge was enough — Jouglet held on for 3rd in M35-39 by two minutes.

The race for 5th was decided by the narrowest margin of the day: Catino and Nagel, both clocking 7:13/mi, crossed in 3:09:16 and 3:09:18 respectively — two seconds after 26.2 miles. Further back, Nathaniel Pierce and Michael Wall made it a genuine photo finish of their own, both recording 3:24:07 and 3:24:08 for 9th and 10th. In a field of 67, those margins are what make marathon racing worth watching.