Rocket City Half Marathon F15-19: Lekai Surges to the Win in the Cold

• Allison Lekai, 1:27:51 (6:42/mi) — won the F15-19 age group and climbed from 7th to 4th among all women, posting the 3rd-fastest women's split on the back half.
• 2:35 separates the top two — Cadence Rivera finished 2nd in 1:30:26 (6:54/mi), holding steady at 8th among women throughout.
• Frances Overton made up serious ground late — 3rd in 1:37:44, she moved from 23rd to 17th among women on the 6.8M→Finish stretch with the 12th-fastest women's split on that segment.
• Ellie Gehri, 15 years old, charged home 5th — climbing from 54th to 39th among women in the back half to finish in 1:48:20.

Twenty-nine degrees, a 16 mph wind, and a flat-out fast front end — that was the setting for the F15-19 race at the 2025 Rocket City Half Marathon, and Allison Lekai handled all of it better than anyone in the field. The 19-year-old from Brentwood, TN crossed in 1:27:51 at a 6:42/mi clip, winning the age group and finishing 4th among all women after entering the final stretch in 7th. That back-half surge — the 3rd-fastest women's split on the 6.8M-to-finish segment — was the decisive move of the race.

Cadence Rivera, 18, from Haleyville, AL ran a composed and consistent race to claim 2nd in 1:30:26. Her 6:54/mi average was notably slower than Lekai's 6:42, and she held her position among the women's field from start to finish. The 2:35 gap between first and second was the clearest separation at the top. Frances Overton of Birmingham was the story of the back half: sitting 23rd among women at the midpoint, she ran the 12th-fastest women's split on the closing stretch to finish 3rd in 1:37:44 and move up to 17th among women overall.

The rest of the top five featured a standout effort from 15-year-old Ellie Gehri of Oneonta, AL. Despite being the youngest in the top five, she ran the 31st-fastest women's closing split and climbed 15 spots among women to finish 5th in 1:48:20. Emma Haynes (4th, 1:43:59) rounded out the top four with a steady 7:56/mi effort. All told, 38 young women finished on a genuinely tough December morning in Huntsville — and the top of this group ran it like they didn't feel the cold at all.