M25-29 Half Marathon: Harris takes the win at a blistering 3:59/mi

• Jaquavious Harris (Murray, UT) won M25-29 in 52:17 at a 3:59/mi average — the only man in the group to break the 4:00/mi barrier.
• Salvador Capetillo (Flagstaff, AZ) finished 2nd in 52:48, just 31 seconds back, with the 8th-fastest men's split on the 5.5M→10.8M segment.
• Noah Carey (Los Angeles, CA) made the biggest move of the race, surging from 19th to 6th among men on the back half to finish 5th in 53:47 — powered by the 5th-fastest men's split on that segment.
• Xavier Smith and Lars Dewall (both 4:06/mi) finished 3rd and 4th in 53:42 and 53:45, separated by just three seconds.

Jaquavious Harris set the tone from the gun and never let go. Moving from 5th to 2nd among men on the 5.5M–10.8M stretch — posting the 9th-fastest men's split on that segment — Harris built the cushion he needed and crossed in 52:17, the only man in M25-29 to average sub-4:00/mi on the day. Salvador Capetillo gave chase, climbing from 6th to 3rd among men on that same stretch with the 8th-fastest split, and finished in 52:48. Thirty-one seconds is a real gap at this pace, but Capetillo's 4:02/mi average was still a formidable run in its own right.

The battle for the rest of the podium was a different kind of story — close and hard-fought. Xavier Smith (53:42, 4:06/mi) and Lars Dewall (53:45, 4:06/mi) ran nearly stride for stride, with Smith holding off Dewall by just three seconds for 3rd place. Then came Noah Carey, the race's most dramatic mover: sitting 19th among men at the midpoint, Carey uncorked the 5th-fastest men's split on the 5.5M→10.8M segment and vaulted all the way to 6th, finishing in 53:47 — two seconds behind Dewall. Three men, three seconds, and very different second halves.

Further back, Luke Calubayan (Thousand Oaks, CA) was the last man under 56 minutes, finishing 6th in 55:23. Isaac Diaz (Carlsbad, CA) edged Antonio Carbajal Rico by seven seconds — 56:37 to 56:44 — for 8th and 7th respectively. The M25-29 field at Long Beach was 1,100 finishers deep, and the top of it was as competitive as the cool, clear morning deserved.