M40-44: Soliz Dominates the Parkway in a 6:37 Cruise

• Jedidiah Soliz won the M40-44 group in 2:12:22 (6:37/mi), finishing more than 4.5 minutes clear of 2nd place.
• Don Wang held 2nd in 2:16:52 (6:51/mi); Sean Fagan rounded out the podium in 2:20:14 (7:01/mi).
• Fagan and James Stanley (4th, 2:22:45) both posted the 14th- and 12th-fastest splits in the field on the Mile 16→Finish stretch, making the final miles their strongest.
• Eight men finished between 2:29:11 and 2:32:32 — places 7 through 11 were tightly packed across just over three minutes.

Jedidiah Soliz, 43, from Carmichael, owned this race from start to finish — and then some. He entered the day running in 20th among the men overall and steadily climbed, moving to 12th, then 7th, before locking in at 6th by the finish. His 6:37/mi average on a warm November morning — 74°F with humidity hanging near 60% — was a genuine statement. The 4-minute-30-second gap he built over Don Wang (2:16:52, 6:51/mi) wasn't a photo finish; it was a controlled, sustained separation.

Wang, also 43, ran a measured race, hovering between 15th and 18th among the men overall throughout the middle miles before settling into 2nd in the age group at 6:51/mi. Sean Fagan (42, Vacaville) was the story of the back half — he was 43rd among men at the gun and clawed all the way to 24th by the finish, posting the 14th-fastest split in the field on the Mile 16→Finish segment at 7:01/mi overall. James Stanley (40, Sacramento) ran a nearly identical late-race surge, posting the 12th-fastest split in the field on that same closing stretch and climbing from 56th to 30th among men, finishing 4th in the age group in 2:22:45.

Jared Kuester (5th, 2:26:35) and Shawn Tydlaska (6th, 2:28:23) completed a competitive top six, with Kuester running 7:20/mi and Tydlaska at 7:25/mi. The middle of the field was a genuine scrum — Vernon Lindsay (8th, 2:29:58) and Sean Papathakis (9th, 2:30:05) were separated by just seven seconds, with Tyler Haley (10th, 2:30:19) only 14 seconds further back. All 55 finishers earned their miles on a warm Folsom morning.