M25-29: Rogerson Runs Away With It in West Sacramento

• Josh Rogerson, 34:03 (5:29/mi) — won the M25-29 age group and led the men's field wire-to-wire, holding 1st among men from start to finish.
• Gap at the top: Rogerson finished more than five and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Declan Molony (39:34) — a commanding margin in a 91-man field.
• Second half surge: Cheng (5th, 41:54) posted the 13th-fastest 5K→Finish split among men, while Guzman (4th, 41:37) ran the 15th-fastest — meaning Cheng actually ran that closing stretch faster than the man who finished 12 seconds ahead of him.
• Grunklee holds on: Sam Grunklee (3rd, 41:25) ran the 16th-fastest 5K→Finish split among men, enough to keep third, though Cheng's stronger close trimmed the gap — Grunklee crossed 1:31 ahead of Cheng.

Josh Rogerson came to West Sacramento and made the M25-29 race look like a solo time trial. The 29-year-old from Colorado Springs clocked 34:03 at a 5:29/mi clip — not only winning the age group but sitting atop the men's field from the gun all the way through the finish line. He also posted the fastest 5K-to-finish split among the men, meaning he didn't just build a lead early — he ran the back half harder than anyone else in the field.

Behind him, the battle for the podium was where the real racing happened. Declan Molony (Sacramento) claimed 2nd in 39:34, running a solid 6:22/mi to hold off a trio of Sacramento locals. Grunklee crossed 3rd in 41:25, but Guzman (4th, 41:37) and Cheng (5th, 41:54) were right on his heels — separated by just 29 seconds across three places. Notably, Cheng ran the 5K→Finish segment faster than both Guzman and Grunklee, gaining ground late but running out of course before he could move any further up the leaderboard.

Further back, Russell Vuong (6th, 45:27) opened a meaningful gap over the rest of the top ten, with Rodney Abregano (7th, 45:48), Eytan Wallace (8th, 46:01), Collin Berninger (9th, 46:25), and Elijah Salazar (10th, 46:49) bunched within 82 seconds of each other across four spots. With 91 finishers completing the M25-29 race on a crisp 56°F morning in West Sacramento, the age group delivered a clear winner and a genuinely competitive chase pack worth watching.