Barks & Brews 5K: Takeuchi leads the F13-15 pack from start to finish

• Ava Takeuchi won the F13-15 age group in 19:39 (6:20/mi), posting the 2nd-fastest women's closing split from 3M to the finish.
• Callie Risch was just 17 seconds back at the line in 19:56, backed by the 5th-fastest women's final split — a strong close that held off the rest of the field.
• The top-three spread only 54 seconds across Takeuchi, Risch, and Emily Capelli (20:33); the remaining nine finishers ranged out to over an hour.
• Malea Nakanishi showed her best punch in the middle miles, recording the 22nd-fastest women's split from 1M to 2M before settling into 4th.

Ava Takeuchi, 14, controlled the F13-15 race with a composed, steady effort — 6:20 per mile from Rocklin — and she was moving in the right direction when it counted. She entered the final stretch sitting 10th among all women and crossed it still 10th, but her 2nd-fastest women's closing split tells the real story: she was one of the sharpest finishers in the entire women's field when the race was on the line.

Right behind her, 13-year-old Callie Risch from Galt ran a remarkably similar race. She tracked Takeuchi closely throughout, drifting no further than 14th among women at any checkpoint before finishing 13th. Her 5th-fastest women's closing split confirms she, too, had plenty left and used it. Seventeen seconds is a margin that feels small but was never seriously threatened — Takeuchi had just enough daylight.

Emily Capelli of El Dorado Hills rounded out the podium in 20:33, working her way through the women's field in the closing miles after sitting as deep as 18th among women at the 3M mark. She finished 16th among women overall — a solid recovery to close. Malea Nakanishi (21:08) was the standout in the middle stretch, logging her best split between miles one and two, before a slight fade dropped her to 4th.

Behind the top four, the field spread considerably, with Arianna de La Garza (23:03) in 5th and the remaining seven finishers ranging from 25:45 to just over an hour. A field of 12 covering that much ground shows the real mix of experience and pace on a warm Sacramento morning.