Rocket City 10K — F30-34: Sloan Dominates with a Commanding Wire-to-Wire Win

• Ruthie Sloan won the F30-34 age group in 47:29 (7:39/mi) — nearly 9 minutes and 18 seconds clear of 2nd place.
• Chelsi Cassilly (56:47) and Kaylynn Cooper (59:55) rounded out the podium, separated by just over 3 minutes.
• The middle of the field was tightly packed: places 9 through 12 finished within 40 seconds of each other, from 1:13:06 to 1:13:46.
• Sloan also raced the Half Marathon (Front Half) at this same event, finishing 5th among women there — a remarkable double-race weekend.

Ruthie Sloan didn't just win the F30-34 age group — she made it look like a different race entirely. Her 47:29 at 7:39 per mile was in a class of its own, arriving nearly nine and a half minutes before runner-up Chelsi Cassilly crossed the line. That kind of margin in a 19-woman field isn't a victory, it's a statement. And the Michigan native made it even more impressive by also racing the Half Marathon (Front Half) at this same event, where she placed 5th among women. Competing across two races in one weekend and podium-placing in both is the kind of performance that defines a competitor.

Behind Sloan, Cassilly (56:47) and Cooper (59:55) had a comfortable hold on the podium positions, with Sharon Austin (1:02:25) and Tori Gennaro (1:04:35) not far off. The real drama, though, played out in the middle of the pack. Eight runners — from Rebekah Thebo in 9th to Jasmine Vidaurri in 12th — were separated by just 40 seconds across a span of four places, each one running between 11:46 and 11:52 per mile. In a 10K, that's a single wrong turn or a tough stretch of wind off the 17-mph gusts that could shuffle the order entirely.

At the back of the field, all 19 women finished, a full spread from Sloan's 47:29 to Katelyn Reed's 1:54:41. On a warm, humid December day in Huntsville — 70°F with heavy wind — every finisher earned their result.