M19 & Under: Cason Mitchell Defends His San Francisco Half Title

• Cason Mitchell, 1:16:29 — wins the M19 & Under race at 5:50/mi, backing up his 2024 victory here (1:14:39) to claim back-to-back titles.
• Mughil Radhakrishnan, 1:21:04 — holds 2nd from start to finish, finishing 4:35 behind Mitchell with the 4th-fastest split on the 5.34M–6.15M segment.
• Henry Nichols, 1:27:07 — the biggest mover of the day, climbing from well outside the top 100 men to 3rd in M19 & Under with a relentless second-half surge.
• Steven Morehead (1:34:22), Evan Matsuda (1:34:25), and Kyle Chien (1:34:34) — separated by just 12 seconds across 4th, 5th, and 6th place.

Cason Mitchell came into Sunday with a target on his back: the 17-year-old from Menlo Park had won this race outright in 2024 with a 1:14:39, and he delivered again — crossing in 1:16:29 at a 5:50/mi clip to go back-to-back in M19 & Under. He held the men's field lead through the early checkpoints before settling into 2nd among men overall, and he closed the race out with the fastest split on the final 11.05M-to-finish stretch — a punchy move that underscored he had more left when it mattered.

Mughil Radhakrishnan was the picture of consistency, sitting 5th among men from the very first checkpoint through the finish line and clocking a 6:11/mi average for 2nd in the under-19 field at 1:21:04. He never wavered, never faded — just ran his race. Henry Nichols, by contrast, ran the most dramatic race of anyone in the field: the 17-year-old from Silver Spring entered the checkpoints deep in the men's standings before reeling in runner after runner through the back half, posting the 6th-fastest split on the 10.54M–11.05M segment to lock up 3rd at 1:27:07.

The battle for 4th through 6th was one of the tightest sub-stories of the morning. Morehead (1:34:22), Matsuda (1:34:25), and Chien (1:34:34) ran nearly identical races — 12 seconds covering three athletes over 13.1 miles. Behind them, the field spread across 84 more finishers, including 15-year-old Jared Cabico of Brentwood, who finished 9th at 1:40:08, and fellow 15-year-old Dante Ferretti, who clocked 1:43:59 for 17th — both impressive showings from the youngest competitors in a 90-strong field.