Masters Women: Sara Hall Wins CIM at 42 in Near-Course-Record Time

• Hall finishes in 2:24:35 — just 7 seconds off Calli Hauger-Thackery's 2024 women's course record, averaging 5:31/mi across 26.2 miles.
• Courtney Dauwalter (4th, 2:38:53) makes her mark on the road, while Meriah Earle, 47, takes 6th in 2:42:30 — the standout performance among the older athletes in the field.
• Caitlin Phillips surges late: her 20th-fastest women's split on the 35K→40K segment drives her from outside the top 50 women to a 2nd-place Masters finish (2:36:06).
• 1,166 finishers completed the Masters Women race on CIM's net-downhill point-to-point course.

Sara Hall came to Sacramento and put on a masterclass. The 42-year-old from Flagstaff ran 2:24:35 — a pace of 5:31 per mile — falling just seven seconds short of the women's course record set here in 2024. Her race was anything but a wire-to-wire cruise: her gender place ping-ponged between 2nd and 3rd through the middle miles before she settled into 2nd among all women by the finish. She also posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half stretch, a sign of where she really turned the screws. The margin between Hall and 2nd-place Masters finisher Caitlin Phillips was a commanding 11 minutes and 31 seconds — this race was hers from the moment the leaders sorted themselves out.

Phillips (2:36:06, 5:57/mi) and Andrea Pomaranski (2:37:44, 6:01/mi) staged their own compelling subplot for the podium. Pomaranski came out fast — posting the 25th-fastest women's split on the opening 5K→10K segment — and built a cushion through the first half, sitting as high as 31st among all women at the 10K mark. But she faded in the back half, sliding to 61st among women by the finish. Phillips ran the opposite race: buried deep in the women's field through 25K, she unleashed the 20th-fastest women's split on the 35K→40K segment to reel Pomaranski back in and claim 2nd. The gap between them at the line: 1 minute and 38 seconds.

Courtney Dauwalter — the celebrated ultrarunner from Leadville — crossed 4th in 2:38:53 (6:04/mi), holding a remarkably consistent position between 59th and 71st among all women throughout the race. Karen Bertasso (5th, 2:41:14) was similarly steady. Meriah Earle, at 47 the oldest finisher in the top six, took 6th in 2:42:30. Emily Setlack (7th, 2:46:11) and Teal Burrell (8th, 2:46:16) were separated by just five seconds at the line, with Kristyn Roth (20th, 2:57:45) and Danni Fu (19th, 2:57:44) posting an equally tight finish one second apart to round out the top 20.