Women's Half Marathon: Rountree Surges to the Line in a 20-Second Thriller

• Lizzy Rountree, 29, wins in 1:15:56 (5:48/mi), overtaking the lead in the second half to edge runner-up Jen Vucinich by 18 seconds.
• The top three women — Rountree, Vucinich (1:16:14), and Liza Reichert (1:16:16) — finished within 20 seconds of each other, all averaging 5:48–5:49/mi.
• Liza Reichert led through the first half but ran the fastest closing split of only the 3rd-fastest among the top three — Rountree and Vucinich both caught and passed her in the back half.
• Jenny Grimshaw moved from 6th to 4th with the 4th-fastest closing split among women, finishing in 1:19:03 (6:02/mi).

In a morning that started at a crisp 37°F under scattered clouds in Napa, the women's half marathon delivered one of the sharpest finishes of the day. Liza Reichert, 34, of Moss Beach, held the lead heading into the 6.9-mile mark, but the race wasn't close to settled. Behind her, Lizzy Rountree and Jen Vucinich were hunting.

The second half is where the race was truly run. Rountree posted the fastest women's split from 6.9 miles to the finish, Vucinich the second-fastest, and Reichert the third — meaning all three ran that closing stretch harder than anyone else in the field, but Rountree ran it hardest. She swept into the lead and held it across the line in 1:15:56. Vucinich crossed 18 seconds later at 1:16:14, and Reichert — who had led the race — finished 2 seconds after that at 1:16:16. The margin between 2nd and 3rd was a blink; the margin between 1st and 3rd was just 20 seconds across 13.1 miles.

Fourth place went to Jenny Grimshaw, 30, of San Francisco, who also made her move in the back half — climbing from 6th to 4th with the 4th-fastest closing split among women, finishing in 1:19:03 at 6:02/mi. Erin Edminister, 32, rounded out the top five in 1:19:30, holding 4th through the first half before settling into 5th. Raquel Rios-Reed, 46, of Wichita, deserves a mention as the top masters finisher in 14th place overall among women, crossing in 1:25:05 (6:29/mi) in a women's field of 1,196 finishers.