M20-24 at CIM 2024: Teeter runs down the field to claim the age group

• Charlie Teeter wins in 2:18:52 (5:18/mi), nearly a minute clear of runner-up Esteban Prado's 2:19:41.
• Jacob Kocis edged Xavier Smith for 4th — both clocked 5:27/mi, finishing just six seconds apart (2:22:41 vs. 2:22:47) after running nearly identical races through the middle miles.
• Brenden Sands showed the strongest middle segment among the top five, posting the 39th-fastest 20K→Half split in the men's field — but faded in the back half, slipping from 57th among men at halfway to 69th at the finish.
• 273 men aged 20–24 finished, making this one of the deepest age groups on the day.

Charlie Teeter ran a composed, controlled race from Webster Groves, MO. He sat 44th among men at the 10K mark, drifted back slightly through the middle stretch, then steadily reeled in competitors over the final miles — moving from 45th at halfway all the way up to 36th among men by the finish line. That late-race climb is the story of his win: he was getting stronger as others faded, and his 5:18/mi average left no doubt at the tape.

Esteban Prado of Fountain Valley, CA ran a similarly progressive race, improving from 46th among men early on to 40th by the finish, and his 2:19:41 was a genuinely strong runner-up effort. The gap to third was substantial — Xavier Smith came home in 2:22:41, nearly three minutes back — which tells you the top two were operating in a different gear from the rest of the M20-24 field.

The battle for third and fourth was the afternoon's most compelling subplot. Smith and Kocis were nearly inseparable: both averaged 5:27/mi, both posted nearly identical 20K→Half splits (41st and 42nd fastest in the men's field, respectively), and Kocis actually ran a more aggressive early race — sitting 60th among men at 10K versus Smith's 57th — before the pair essentially converged and ran each other to the line. Six seconds over 26.2 miles is as close as it gets without sharing a podium step.

Sands, Kutscher, and Laubach rounded out the top seven within a 56-second window, a tight cluster that underscored just how competitive the 20–24 group was beyond the leading pair. With 273 finishers spread across the age group, the depth here was real — and Teeter's 2:18:52 was the clear class of the field.