SF Marathon 10K — F20-29: Schleif dominates, Lauwers surges to the line

• Caroline Schleif, 39:16 (6:19/mi) — won the F20-29 field outright, finishing 43 seconds clear of the field in a race she led from start to finish.
• Anjali Lauwers charged from 4th to 2nd with the fastest closing split among women, finishing in 39:59 — nearly four minutes faster than her 43:40 here in 2024.
• Jade Schlatter rounded out the podium in 44:45, a full 4:46 back of Lauwers — leaving the top two in a class of their own.
• 194 finishers in the F20-29 field on a cool, humid San Francisco morning (57°F, 93% humidity).

Caroline Schleif owned this race from the gun. The 20-year-old from Metuchen, NJ held the top women's spot at every checkpoint, never relinquishing it, and crossed in 39:16 at a 6:19/mi clip — the kind of front-running performance that leaves no drama about who's in charge. Her closing split from 4.62 miles to the finish was the second-fastest among all women, meaning she didn't just hold on — she pressed harder.

The real story of the final stretch belonged to Anjali Lauwers. Running her second San Francisco 10K, the 20-year-old from Mountain View came through the early miles in 4th among women before uncorking the fastest women's closing split in the field to surge into 2nd, finishing in 39:59. That's a 3:41 improvement over her 43:40 here in 2024 — a dramatic leap that signals just how much she's developed. She couldn't reel in Schleif, who held a 43-second cushion, but the gap between 2nd and 3rd tells its own story: Jade Schlatter of Saint Helena finished 3rd in 44:45, a full 4:46 behind Lauwers.

Behind the podium, Brooke Harrison (4th, 47:23) and Jillian Fahey (5th, 49:02) were the next to separate themselves, both holding their positions steadily through the closing miles. The middle of the field tightened considerably: six runners — Diana Hernandez through Yerin Hur — were separated by just 29 seconds across places 6th through 13th, bunched between 52:27 and 54:56. Sydney Emde and Summer Cai (16th and 17th) both clocked 55:16 and 55:17 respectively, while Britney Truscott and Axelle Mellier (19th and 20th) were separated by a single second at 56:07 and 56:08.