M35-39: Nick Tsotu Runs Away from a Deep Field on the Parkway

• Nick Tsotu, 1:55:48 (5:47/mi) — wins M35-39 by 14 minutes and 2 seconds over Ryan Cook, never relinquishing the men's lead from start to finish.
• Ryan Cook, 2:09:50 — closes with the 3rd-fastest split on the Mile 16→Finish stretch to secure 2nd in M35-39 at 6:29/mi.
• Bruce Yang (3rd, 2:14:02) and Paul Magaletti (4th, 2:15:22) — separated by just 1:20 across 20 miles, with Magaletti posting the 9th-fastest Mile 4→Mile 10 split in the men's field.
• 52 finishers completed the M35-39 race on a warm November morning — 74°F with broken clouds — spanning from 1:55:48 down to well past the 2:47 mark for the top 20 alone.

Nick Tsotu made this look like a different race than everyone else was running. The 39-year-old from Fair Oaks went out front among the men and never budged — holding 1st in the men's standings at every checkpoint from Mile 4 through the finish. His 5:47/mi average over 20 miles in 74-degree heat is a performance that defined the morning. He also posted the fastest men's split on the Mile 4→Mile 10 segment, a sign that his dominance wasn't just about going out hard and hanging on.

Ryan Cook (2nd, 2:09:50) and Bruce Yang (3rd, 2:14:02) occupied the next tier, with Cook running 6:29/mi and Yang at 6:42/mi — a meaningful difference in pace across 20 miles. Cook showed his best running late, logging the 3rd-fastest Mile 16→Finish split among the men to pull from 6th to 5th in the men's standings and lock up 2nd in M35-39. Yang was steady throughout, sitting 8th among men at every checkpoint before finishing there.

The battle for 4th and 5th in M35-39 was the group's tightest contest. Paul Magaletti (4th, 2:15:22, 6:46/mi) and Ty Nguyen (5th, 2:15:41, 6:47/mi) finished just 19 seconds apart after 20 miles. Nguyen was the more dynamic racer — moving between 10th and 13th in the men's field across checkpoints — while Magaletti climbed steadily from 11th to 9th mid-race before settling 10th among the men. Jessie Harbert (6th, 2:19:17) and Robert Corey (7th, 2:20:34) rounded out a competitive top seven, with Corey's 7:02/mi pace trailing Harbert's 6:58/mi by enough to matter over the final miles.