Rocket City 10K — F15-19: Kassidy Young Runs Away With It

• Kassidy Young won the F15-19 age group in 45:01 — a 7:15/mi average that left the field nearly nine and a half minutes behind.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd was 9:14; from 2nd to 3rd was another 9:33 — the top three were separated by nearly 19 minutes across 6.2 miles.
• Ava and Abigail Silvernail, both from Boaz, AL, finished 4th and 6th respectively, bracketing Bailey Hall in between.
• Lydia Parkinson and Macie Light, both from Talladega, AL, finished 7th and 8th just seven seconds apart — the closest battle of the day.

Kassidy Young, 15, made this race look straightforward. Her 45:01 finish at 7:15 per mile wasn't just a win — it was a statement. In a nine-runner field spread across nearly 42 minutes of finishing times, Young was in a category of her own, crossing the line before the second-place finisher, 19-year-old Lillie Mock of Fort Wainwright, AK, had covered the final mile.

Mock's 54:15 secured a comfortable silver, and Scout Stewart of Madison rounded out the podium in 1:03:48. Behind them, the race tightened considerably. Ava Silvernail (4th, 1:07:30) and Bailey Hall (5th, 1:08:53) were separated by just 83 seconds, and Abigail Silvernail (6th, 1:11:50) kept the Boaz contingent visible throughout the results.

The sharpest finish of the day came at the back of the pack. Lydia Parkinson and Macie Light, both 17 and both making the trip from Talladega, ran virtually stride for stride through the final stretch — Parkinson in 1:21:25, Light in 1:21:32, just seven seconds apart after more than 80 minutes of racing. Katie Simmons of Hazel Green closed out the F15-19 field in 1:27:13, completing all nine finishers on a mild December morning in Huntsville.