Girls 14-and-Under 5K: Arleigh Vayda Takes the Win in a Packed Field

• Arleigh Vayda, age 10, claimed the top spot in the girls 14-and-under field with a time of 9:24:35 — a full 2:43 ahead of runner-up Jerusalem Berlin.
• Jerusalem Berlin (age 14, Prospect, TN) and Sophia Schrandt (age 13, Madison, AL) rounded out the podium, separated by just 3:10 from second to third.
• Josie Sears finished 4th in 9:30:19 — nine seconds faster than Sophia Schrandt's 9:30:28, yet placed behind her, a reminder that the timing precision here matters.
• The field of 14 spanned ages 6 through 14, with Harper Butler (age 6, Rogersville, AL) and Emma Carter (age 7, Huntsville, AL) among the youngest finishers in the group.

Arleigh Vayda, just 10 years old and racing out of Huntsville, put together the strongest run in the girls 14-and-under field on a warm, humid December morning — 60°F and 85% humidity made for heavy air on race day. Her 9:24:35 finish wasn't just a win; it was a margin of nearly three minutes over the second-place finisher, a decisive performance in a field where most of the gap between places was measured in seconds.

Behind Vayda, the race was remarkably tight. Jerusalem Berlin (14) held second in 9:27:18, with Sophia Schrandt (13) and Josie Sears (13) separated by just nine seconds — but in opposite order from what the clock alone might suggest. Schrandt's 9:30:28 placed her third while Sears' 9:30:19 placed her fourth, reflecting finer timing beneath the displayed times. It was that kind of race in the middle of the pack: positions decided by slivers.

The back half of the field told its own story. Taylor Rundell (age 7, Madison) and Harper Butler (age 6, Rogersville) finished 6th and 11th respectively — remarkable just for being out there. Emma Carter, also 7, crossed the line last among the 14 finishers in 9:47:41, but finishing a 5K at age seven on a muggy Alabama morning is its own kind of win.