M25-29 Half Marathon: Breeze runs away with it in Folsom heat

• Remington Breeze wins in 1:21:23 (6:12/mi), the only finisher in the group to break 1:30 and the clear class of the M25-29 field.
• Luis Leon holds 2nd in 1:27:45 (6:42/mi) — a solid 6:22 gap back, but a gap that tells the whole story.
• Andrew Romero claims 3rd in 1:38:41, with Alex Cruz 4th in 1:42:12 — a 3:31 spread between them that Cruz couldn't fully close.
• Eight men finished under 74°F Folsom skies, spanning from 1:21:23 to 3:31:22.

Remington Breeze made his intentions clear early. Starting the race 6th among the men, he had already climbed to 2nd by the Mile 4 checkpoint and held that position all the way to the finish — running a 6:12/mi average that left the rest of the M25-29 group well behind. His Mile 4→Mile 10 split was the 2nd-fastest among the men on that stretch, a stretch where the race's shape was largely decided.

Luis Leon ran the opposite arc. He opened 3rd among the men but slipped to 6th by Mile 4 and stayed there through the finish, crossing in 1:27:45 at a 6:42/mi clip. That's a meaningful 30-second-per-mile gap to Breeze — not a near-miss, but still a strong runner-up showing in a warm morning race. Andrew Romero (1:38:41, 7:32/mi) was a steady presence, climbing from 21st to 14th among the men across the course and posting the 11th-fastest men's split on the second half — a sign he found his legs late.

Alex Cruz in 4th (1:42:12, 7:48/mi) was another mover, advancing from 29th to 20th among the men and logging the 7th-fastest men's split on the Mile 10-to-finish stretch — a strong finish that just wasn't quite enough to reel in Romero. Ignacio Dominguez (5th, 1:50:41) and Connor Heidebrecht (6th, 1:55:53) rounded out the competitive middle of the field, while Travis Hail (7th, 2:10:02) and Ajani Wright (8th, 3:31:22) completed the eight-man M25-29 group.