Long Beach Marathon X35-39: Ott Leads Wire to Wire

• Christopher Ott (Kennesaw, GA) won the X35-39 in 4:04:07 at a 9:19/mi avg — and posted the fastest women's split on the 5.5M→13.1M segment across the entire women's field.
• Daisy Aquino (Los Angeles, CA) finished 2nd in 7:00:08 (16:01/mi), also recording the 6th-fastest women's split on that same 5.5M→13.1M stretch.
• Kaitlyn Quevedo (Irvine, CA) rounded out the three-person X35-39 field in 7:13:44 (16:33/mi), posting the 6th-fastest women's split on the 13.1M→20M segment.
• A gap of 2:56:01 separated 1st from 2nd — and just 13:36 split 2nd from 3rd.

Christopher Ott set the tone from the gun. Running at 9:19/mi on a warm Long Beach morning — 72°F with 73% humidity — Ott held the lead among the women's field at every checkpoint, never relinquishing top position from the 5.5-mile mark through to the finish. More impressively, that middle stretch (5.5M to 13.1M) was not just the best in X35-39 — it was the fastest women's split on that segment across the entire field. In a three-person field, Ott's 4:04:07 stood in a class of its own.

Behind Ott, the real contest was between Daisy Aquino and Kaitlyn Quevedo. Aquino, racing on home turf in Los Angeles, came home in 7:00:08 and was no slouch in the middle miles herself — her 5.5M→13.1M split also ranked 6th-fastest among all women on that segment. Quevedo, meanwhile, found her legs in the back half: her 13.1M→20M split ranked 6th-fastest among women on that stretch, a sign she was moving well through the later miles. Despite that push, Quevedo's 7:13:44 finish left a 13:36 gap to Aquino — close enough to make the battle interesting, but Aquino held firm to claim 2nd in the X35-39.