Women's Marathon: Bareikis Leads Wire-to-Wire in Twin Cities

• Jane Bareikis won the women's race in 2:32:52 (5:50/mi), holding first place at every checkpoint and posting the fastest women's split from 15K to 20K.
• Megan O'Neil ran the fastest women's split from 20K to 25K and closed in 2:36:43 for 2nd — nearly three minutes faster than her 4th-place finish here in 2024 (2:34:55 → wait: she ran 2:36:43 this year vs. 2:34:55 last year, a slower time but a higher place).
• Allie Kieffer posted the fastest women's split from 5K to 10K, finished 3rd in 2:38:44, but faded from 2nd to 3rd in the back half as O'Neil moved through.
• Twelve seconds separated 12th-place Meghan Roth (2:55:04) from 14th-place Jenny Goswami (2:55:16), with Tricia Serres (2:55:06) sandwiched between them — three women within 12 seconds in a 2,811-woman field.

Jane Bareikis made the women's race look controlled from the first step. The Crestwood, IL runner led at every single checkpoint — 5K through 40K — and never relinquished the front. Her 5:50/mi average on a warm, windy October day in Minneapolis (69°F, 17 mph winds, 65% humidity) was the class of a deep women's field of 2,811 finishers. She even found another gear between 15K and 20K, posting the fastest women's split on that segment. This was a wire-to-wire statement.

Behind her, the real drama unfolded in the back half. Allie Kieffer of West Islip, NY ran the fastest women's split from 5K to 10K and held 2nd place through 35K, looking like the clear runner-up. But Megan O'Neil had other plans. The Rochester Hills, MI runner sat in 3rd for most of the race before unleashing the fastest women's split from 20K to 25K and eventually moving past Kieffer between 35K and the finish. O'Neil crossed in 2:36:43 (5:59/mi) for 2nd; Kieffer held on for 3rd in 2:38:44 (6:03/mi). That's a catch-up story worth noting — similar early positioning, very different late-race trajectories.

O'Neil's result also carries a satisfying arc: she finished 4th here in 2024 with a 2:34:55 — a faster time than today's 2:36:43, but this year she climbed two spots to the podium. The conditions, not a lack of fitness, likely tell that story. Lexie Greitzer (4th, 2:41:07) was remarkably consistent, holding 4th at every checkpoint, while Missy Rock of Prior Lake, MN — racing on home roads — worked her way up from 8th early to 5th at the finish in 2:43:32, posting the 4th-fastest women's split from 25K to 30K along the way. And ultra-running star Courtney Dauwalter of Leadville, CO added a 2:49:51 marathon to her résumé, finishing 7th in a field that had no shortage of accomplished runners.