Women's Half Marathon: Kastner Holds Off a Late Charge to Take the Title

• Kelley Kastner won the women's race in 1:38:37 (7:31/mi), the only finisher under 1:39.
• Avery Evans made the biggest move of the day, surging from 8th to 3rd with the 2nd-fastest closing split among women to finish in 1:41:40.
• Amanda Filiberto (1:42:02) and Kanita Reed (1:42:02) show identical displayed times for 4th and 5th — separated only by the finest of margins at the line.
• Felicia Stevens (14th, 1:45:34) doubled up at Rocket City, having already won the women's 5K earlier in the weekend.

Kelley Kastner of Saint Louis crossed in 1:38:37 to claim the women's title, running 7:31/mi through Huntsville's mild but breezy December morning. She led wire-to-wire — holding 1st from the opening checkpoint to the finish — and her lead was never seriously threatened in the first half of the race. But the closing eight miles told a more interesting story: Rachel Joffrion, running the fastest women's split on the 8M-to-Finish stretch, closed the gap to 42 seconds at the line, finishing 2nd in 1:39:19 (7:35/mi). Kastner's own closing split ranked 5th among women, so she was far from fading — Joffrion was simply flying.

The most dramatic move of the race belonged to Avery Evans. The 24-year-old from Huntsville was sitting 8th at the eight-mile mark before unleashing the 2nd-fastest closing split among all women, vaulting five places to finish 3rd in 1:41:40. That surge came at the expense of Amanda Filiberto, who had held 3rd through eight miles but ran the 13th-fastest closing split among women — still good enough for 4th in 1:42:02. Kanita Reed, 45, ran the 4th-fastest closing split and held her 5th-place position exactly, finishing in the same displayed time as Filiberto at 1:42:02 — with 4th decided by a sliver at the timing mat.

The depth behind the podium was real. Hannah Nails (6th, 1:42:08), Linda Bowen (7th, 1:42:59), and Ansley Scales (8th, 1:43:01) kept the pace honest well into the top ten, while 14-year-old Alison Kleinhagen of Blue Springs, Missouri turned in a remarkable 9th-place finish in 1:43:16. And Felicia Stevens deserves a special mention: after winning the women's 5K earlier at Rocket City, she came back to run 1:45:34 for 14th in the half — a genuine two-race weekend that stands out in any field of 461.