M15-19 at Shamrock: Curulla Dominates a Tough Day in Virginia Beach

• Ben Curulla (18, Virginia Beach) won the M15-19 age group in 2:53:21 — a 6:37/mi average that put nearly 18 minutes of daylight between him and 2nd place.
• Avery Reynolds (18) ran 3:11:29 for 2nd, with the 8th-fastest split among all women on the 20K-to-half stretch before fading sharply in the back half.
• Carson Redmon (18) held on for 3rd in 3:19:34, posting the 41st-fastest women's split on the half-to-25K leg before slowing late.
• 25 finishers completed the M15-19 race; the top three were all 18-year-olds, with the two 16-year-olds Jackson Player and Michael Wojciechowski Jr. rounding out places 6 and 7.

Ben Curulla turned in a performance that stood apart from the rest of the M15-19 field on a genuinely difficult morning — 71°F, 73% humidity, and a 17 mph wind off the Virginia Beach coast. Running 6:37 per mile for 26.2 miles in those conditions is no small thing, and his margin of victory made it look authoritative. His gender place oscillated through the middle of the race before he settled into a strong finish, and his 6th-fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half segment shows he was moving well through the heart of the course.

Avery Reynolds looked poised to make a real race of it through the halfway point — sitting 2nd in the age group and posting that standout mid-race split — but the back half told a different story. His gender place tumbled from the 14th range at the half to 92nd and then 97th by the finish, a fade that cost him any shot at closing the gap on Curulla. Carson Redmon was more consistent, working his way up through the women's field from 60th to 52nd by the 25K mark before tailing off slightly, and he held 3rd comfortably with a 3:19:34.

The battle for the lower spots was spread across a wide range of times. Jack Kuta (5th, 3:41:06) and Jackson Player (6th, 3:42:53) were separated by less than two minutes, and both 16-year-olds — Player and Michael Wojciechowski Jr. — deserve credit for finishing a full marathon at that age in difficult conditions. The field thinned out considerably after the top three, with 4th-placer Curran Workman's 3:37:11 sitting 17 minutes clear of Redmon and nearly an hour ahead of the back of the pack.