Long Beach Marathon F55-59: Guerrini Dominates with a 3:26 Masterclass

• Liz Guerrini (3:26:54, 7:53/mi) won the F55-59 field by a commanding 31 minutes, 49 seconds over runner-up Selina Nordberg.
• Guerrini posted the 13th-fastest women's split on the 13.1M–20M stretch across the entire women's field — a decisive mid-to-late surge that buried the competition.
• Connie Augustine (4th, 4:10:52) ran the 213th-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–13.1M segment, helping her climb from 322nd among women at the early checkpoint to 244th — the biggest positional gain in the F55-59 field through that stretch.
• All 20 finishers completed the full 26.2 miles under 72°F skies, with the back half of the field spread across a nearly three-hour window from Guerrini's 3:26 to Maria Muniz's 7:10:11.

Liz Guerrini of Long Beach put on a clinic. Running 7:53 per mile from the gun, she moved from 142nd among women at the first checkpoint to 94th by the half, then exploded to 38th by mile 20 — a relentless forward march that reflects just how much stronger she ran than anyone else in this field. That 13.1M–20M stretch, where she clocked the 13th-fastest women's split in the entire race, was where the race was won. She crossed in 3:26:54, a margin so large it rendered the rest of the F55-59 competition a separate race entirely.

Selina Nordberg of La Habra took second in 3:58:43 (9:06/mi), but her race told a very different story. She moved in the opposite direction — 144th among women early, drifting back to 167th, 175th, and ultimately 186th by the finish. Her 180th-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–13.1M segment shows where the fade began to take hold. Still, she held on for the silver, finishing nearly five minutes clear of Terri Tessier of Upland, who crossed third in 4:03:41 (9:18/mi) with a remarkably consistent run — hovering around 210th–214th among women from the halfway point to the tape.

Connie Augustine (4th, 4:10:52) and Me Hee Kim (5th, 4:23:00) rounded out the top five, with the rest of the 20-woman field spread from Sun Shon's 4:33:06 in 6th all the way to Maria Muniz's 7:10:11 in 20th — a testament to the range of effort and grit that filled out this field on a warm October morning in Long Beach.