Rocket City Front Half — F20-24: Maggie Moore Leads Wire to Wire

• Maggie Moore won the F20-24 age group in 1:55:41 (8:49/mi), finishing more than 6 minutes 36 seconds clear of runner-up Keira Larson.
• Moore posted the 21st-fastest women's 10K-to-Finish split in the field, holding her form all the way through the closing stretch.
• Rachael Castillo turned in the strongest finishing kick in the group — the 46th-fastest women's 10K-to-Finish split — climbing from 70th to 55th among women in the second half.
• Twelve women finished in the F20-24 age group, spread across a 62-minute window from first to last.

Maggie Moore of Madison made it look controlled from the start. She entered the 10K checkpoint sitting 19th among women and crossed the finish 21st — barely a ripple in position, which tells its own story: she ran her own race, at her own pace, and it was simply faster than everyone else in the age group. Her 8:49/mi average over a warm, humid December morning in Huntsville — 60°F and 85% humidity — was a composed, confident effort that no one in F20-24 could match.

Behind Moore, Keira Larson of Huntsville took second in 2:02:17, but the second half cost her — she slipped from 22nd to 35th among women between the 10K and the finish, suggesting the conditions or the effort caught up with her late. Hannah Barrett rounded out the podium in 2:10:20, moving in the opposite direction, gaining three spots among women over the closing stretch with the 49th-fastest women's split on that segment.

The most eye-catching mover in the age group was fourth-place Rachael Castillo of Gurley, who climbed 15 spots among women — from 70th to 55th — in the back half, logging the 46th-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-Finish leg. She finished in 2:13:33, just over three minutes behind Barrett. Fifth-place Katie Cassano went the other direction, fading from 56th to 66th among women in the closing miles, but still secured the top-five. The rest of the field spread out steadily, with Ashlyn Byrge closing out the group in 2:58:07.