NYC Half M25-29: Caswell Dominates a 27-Strong Field

• Jacob Caswell won the M25-29 age group in 1:18:41 (6:00/mi) — more than 16 minutes clear of second place.
• Gabriel Tarrau held on for 2nd in 1:34:46, with William Cruz and Patrick Monroe separated by just 23 seconds in a tight battle for 3rd and 4th.
• Monroe (4th) actually finished faster on paper than Cruz (3rd) — 1:36:59 vs. 1:37:22 — meaning Cruz edged him by timing precision, not the clock's displayed minute.
• Caswell posted the 2nd-fastest split in the men's field on the 15K–20K stretch, confirming his strongest surge came deep in the race.

Jacob Caswell turned the M25-29 age group into a solo time trial. Running 6:00/mi through a crisp 40°F morning from Prospect Park to Central Park, the 28-year-old New Yorker crossed in 1:18:41 — a margin so commanding that second place, Gabriel Tarrau, was still more than a quarter-mile behind when Caswell finished. His move data tells the real story: he sat 3rd among men at every checkpoint, dipped briefly to 4th in the middle stretch, then reclaimed 3rd to close it out — steady, controlled, and never truly threatened.

The real drama in M25-29 played out one tier down. Tarrau (1:34:46, 7:14/mi) ran a notably negative-style race, climbing from 17th among men at 5K all the way to 11th by 20K before settling back to 16th at the line — his 5K–10K split ranking among the 9th-fastest in the men's field suggesting a strong early-middle push. Behind him, Patrick Monroe and William Cruz waged a war of attrition. Monroe's displayed time of 1:36:59 was actually 23 seconds faster than Cruz's 1:37:22, yet Cruz claimed 3rd by the timing system's finer resolution — a reminder that the clock on the scoreboard isn't always the whole story.

Rowan Kemmerly (5th, 1:47:46) rounded out the competitive front, while the rest of the 27-finisher age group spread across a wide range of efforts, with Quinn Gruber (6th, 2:14:32) and Elijah Nielsen (7th, 2:13:11) — notably, Nielsen finished ahead of Gruber despite the lower place number — leading a middle pack that stretched all the way to Reese Brooks in 19th at 4:05:17. It was Caswell's race from the gun, but the fight for the podium made M25-29 worth watching all the way through.