Boys U-19 at Broken Arrow 46K: Filmore dominates a high-altitude duel

• Jackson Filmore won the U-19 boys race in 4:56:34 (10:23/mi), nearly three hours clear of the field.
• Briland Hillebrandt completed the course in 7:46:38 (16:20/mi), finishing 2nd and covering a gap of 2:50:04.
• Filmore posted the 10th-fastest split in the women's field on the Siberia 2→High Camp 2 segment — a standout climb among all runners on that stretch.
• Both athletes finished a course ranging from 6,205 to 8,833 feet — thin air that tests anyone, especially those not training at elevation.

Just two young athletes toed the line in the U-19 boys race at Broken Arrow's punishing 46K, but what unfolded was a study in contrasts. Jackson Filmore, 19, from Eagle, CO — a town sitting above 6,600 feet itself — ran with authority from the gun, ticking off miles at a 10:23/mi average across one of the most demanding skyrace courses in North America.

Filmore's movement through the men's field tells its own story: he slipped from 11th to 26th among men through the middle miles — a common pattern on Broken Arrow's relentless climbs — before steadying and clawing back to 24th by the finish. The real highlight came on the Siberia 2→High Camp 2 segment, where he posted the 10th-fastest split among all women and men on that climb, a mark that underscores genuine mountain-running strength at altitude.

Briland Hillebrandt, 18, from Alamo, CA — a Bay Area town near sea level — faced a different kind of race. At nearly 7,500 feet of typical elevation, the thinner air may well have been a factor for an athlete likely unacclimatized to the Sierra Nevada heights. Still, he moved steadily forward through the field all day, advancing from 285th to 194th among men between the first checkpoint and the finish — a net gain of 91 places that speaks to patience and persistence over 46 kilometers of mountain terrain.

Two finishers, two very different days on the mountain — and both of them earned it.