Male Masters: McMillian Dominates in the Cold, Torres Turns Back the Clock

• Matt McMillian won the Male Masters field in 1:17:38 (5:55/mi), improving on his 3rd-place finish here in 2024 (1:19:15) — a 1:37 swing that moved him from the podium to the top step.
• Rick Torres, age 63, claimed 4th in 1:26:52 — one of the most remarkable performances in a field of 280.
• Positions 6 through 10 were separated by just 43 seconds (1:29:10 to 1:29:53), a five-man cluster battling through 29°F winds.
• Justin Schmidt returned to finish 5th in 1:27:41 after going 5th here in 2024 (1:23:43), consistent placement masking a 4-minute time difference on a brutal winter morning.

Twenty-nine degrees, a 16 mph wind, and a clear Alabama sky: Rocket City served up a genuine cold-weather test in 2025, and Matt McMillian answered it with the kind of race that rewrites a personal narrative. A year ago he stood on this same course's podium in 3rd place at 1:19:15. Sunday he went straight to the top, running 5:55/mi to win the Male Masters field by more than five minutes over Michael Niederhausen (2nd, 1:22:43, 6:19/mi). McMillian also closed hard — posting the 5th-fastest men's split on the back half (6.8M to finish) while climbing from 7th to 5th among all men. That's not just a win; it's a statement.

Michael Niederhausen (49, Fayetteville, GA) held 2nd comfortably in 1:22:43, with Mark Tickle (46, Tuscaloosa, AL) steady in 3rd at 1:24:41. Then came Rick Torres, age 63 out of Elizabethtown, KY, finishing 4th in 1:26:52 at a 6:38/mi clip — a pace that would be impressive at any age and is genuinely exceptional in the over-60 bracket. Justin Schmidt (44, Canton, GA) rounded out the top five in 1:27:41, returning to the same finishing position he held in 2024, even if the conditions made every minute harder to earn this time around.

The real drama of the race lived in positions six through ten. Ryan Cobb (6th, 1:29:10) and Michael Anderson (7th, 1:29:11) finished one second apart, with Richard Alderton (8th, 1:29:24), Jason Betts (9th, 1:29:32), and Jamie Caesar (10th, 1:29:53) all arriving within the next 29 seconds. Five men, 43 seconds, a freezing morning — that's a race within the race. Behind them, the field stretched deep through 280 finishers, from Takeshi Nishinaka's 1:30:49 in 11th to a long train of masters athletes who refused to let the cold have the last word.