M25-29: Semenenko Seizes San Francisco with a Sub-36 Surge

• Denis Semenenko (Seattle, WA) wins M25-29 in 35:43 (5:45/mi), the only finisher under 36 minutes in the group.
• Andrew Elder pushes him hardest, finishing 2nd in 36:03 — just 20 seconds back at 5:48/mi.
• Kyle Peotter and Jack Nichols wage a tight 3rd-place battle, separated by only 10 seconds (37:54 vs. 38:04).
• A field of 411 finishers in M25-29 makes this one of the race's most competitive cohorts.

Denis Semenenko came to San Francisco and ran like he owned the hills. The 27-year-old from Seattle crossed in 35:43 at a 5:45/mi clip — the only man in the M25-29 field to break 36 minutes — and put real daylight between himself and a competitive pack. His closest challenger, Stanford's Andrew Elder, gave chase with a sharp 36:03 (5:48/mi), but 20 seconds is a decisive gap in a 10K. That's not a near-miss; that's a controlled win.

Behind the top two, the race for bronze was its own story. Kyle Peotter (Appleton, WI) held 3rd in 37:54 with San Francisco local Jack Nichols (38:04) pressing him all the way to the finish — a 10-second margin over 6.2 miles. Anatoly Prekrasnyy rounded out the top five in 39:02 (6:17/mi), just ahead of Will Lamb (39:33) and Ben Rietano (39:37), who were locked in their own battle for 6th and 7th, separated by a mere four seconds.

The field of 411 runners in M25-29 stretched deep, with the pace shifting notably as positions climbed into the 40s. Claudio Fuentes, Drake Nikolai, and Will Oakley — 8th through 10th — finished within 28 seconds of each other between 40:15 and 40:43, reflecting just how tightly bunched the mid-pack competition was on a cool, overcast San Francisco morning. Semenenko, though, was never really in that conversation. He ran his own race — and it was the fastest one out there.