F35-39 Half Marathon: Crouch dominates in 1:20:12

• Sarah Crouch won the F35-39 age group in 1:20:12 (6:07/mi), finishing 1st among women in the half marathon field.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd in the age group was enormous — Ramsey Nuss crossed in 1:40:47, more than 20 minutes back.
• Holli Salamone (4th, 1:46:03) and Katie Gaston (5th, 1:50:46) were separated by just under 5 minutes, while the middle of the field was tightly bunched — Jordan Pentz (10th) and Ashley Dorough (11th) finished just 51 seconds apart at 1:58:41 and 1:59:32.
• Jessica Radcliffe (16th, 2:07:51) and Melissa Duff (17th, 2:07:52) were separated by a single second.

Sarah Crouch made this race look straightforward. The 35-year-old from Madison held the top spot among women from start to finish, never relinquishing her lead, and posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-Finish stretch to close in style. Running 6:07 per mile across 13.1 miles in 59°F conditions, she put over 20 minutes between herself and the rest of the F35-39 field — a margin that speaks for itself.

Behind her, Ramsey Nuss of Birmingham ran a composed 1:40:47 (7:41/mi) to claim 2nd, moving up to 10th among women in the closing miles with the 12th-fastest women's split on that final stretch. Holli Salamone from Altoona, AL rounded out the podium in 3rd with a 1:46:03, also gaining a place among women in the second half of the race.

The real drama in this age group played out further back. Sixteen seconds separated 5th-place Katie Gaston (1:50:46) and 6th-place Melissa McKee (1:54:01) — close enough to keep the racing honest through the final miles. Then at 16th and 17th, Jessica Radcliffe and Melissa Duff crossed in 2:07:51 and 2:07:52 respectively, one second the only thing between them after 13.1 miles of racing. Erin Villanueva and Amelia Jantz rounded out the listed finishers in a genuine dead heat at 2:10:37 — same time, same place, a fitting bookend to a competitive age group.