Masters Men: Suetsugu edges Uyemura in a 19-second thriller at Rocket City

• Suetsugu wins in 2:41:38 (6:10/mi), with Uyemura just 19 seconds back at 2:41:57 — the closest battle at the top of a 376-man Masters field in 29°F conditions.
• Whitehead's late fade is the subplot: running the 14th-fastest men's split from 10K to the half, he was as high as 11th among men before slipping to 15th overall — finishing 3rd in Masters at 2:42:38, a full minute slower than his 2:39:05 here in 2024 and nearly 10 minutes off his 2:32:18 runner-up finish in 2023.
• Nie's second-half surge is the day's best comeback story: sitting 31st among men at 10K, he ran the 23rd-fastest men's split on the back half to climb all the way to 4th in Masters at 2:46:59.
• The top three finish within a minute of each other (2:41:38 to 2:42:38), while 4th through 8th place are separated by just over eight minutes — a tight pack racing hard in the cold.

Bitter cold and a 16 mph wind in Huntsville set the stage for a Masters men's race that delivered a genuine fight at the front. Hisato Suetsugu of Peachtree City, GA, ran a controlled 6:10/mi to claim the win in 2:41:38, but Trevor Uyemura of Vienna, VA, made him earn every second of it. Uyemura was as high as 12th among men by the finish, running the 16th-fastest men's split from the half to mile 20 — a strong closing move — but Suetsugu's earlier surge through the 10K-to-half segment, where he posted the 4th-fastest men's split of the day, proved to be the decisive gap. Nineteen seconds separated them at the line.

Josh Whitehead, running on home turf in Madison, AL, came in 3rd at 2:42:38 — respectable on any other day, but a notable step back from the form he's shown here before. He was 5th in the men's race in 2024 (2:39:05) and 2nd in 2023 (2:32:18), so Rocket City clearly knows his name. He moved as high as 11th among men through the first half before fading to 15th by the finish — the cold and distance exacting their toll.

The race's most compelling mover was Cheng Nie of Ames, IA. Sitting 31st among men at 10K, he was patient through the first half and then unleashed one of the stronger second-half efforts in the field — 23rd-fastest men's split from halfway home — to climb to 4th in Masters at 2:46:59 (6:22/mi). Ron Philley of Birmingham rounded out the top five at 2:47:49, while Steven Claremon, Benjamin Ferrell, and Joe Verellen filled out a tight 6th-through-8th in 2:49:12, 2:49:36, and 2:50:15, respectively. Beyond the top 20, 356 more Masters men crossed the line — a deep, hard-working field that made the most of a frigid Alabama morning.