M20-24: Mitch Williams Runs Away from a Huntsville Field

• Williams wins in 46:39 (7:30/mi), finishing 51 seconds clear of Brad Cope in a nine-man M20-24 field.
• Cope holds second at 47:30 (7:39/mi), with a 3:16 gap back to Steve Jung in third — the largest single gap on the podium.
• Top-to-bottom spread: nearly 29 minutes separated Williams from Jakub Slowik's 1:15:36 at the back of the group.
• Local flavor: five of the nine finishers listed Madison or Huntsville as home, making this a decidedly North Alabama affair — with Williams making the trip from Loganville, GA to steal the win.

Mitch Williams set the tone from the gun. His 7:30/mi average is a genuine statement over 10K — roughly nine seconds per mile faster than Cope and a full 40 seconds per mile faster than the third-place Jung. In a nine-man M20-24 group, that kind of margin doesn't just happen at the line; it's built through sustained pressure across all 6.2 miles.

The real battle for the podium was between Cope and Jung. Brad Cope (21, Warrior) locked in at 7:39/mi and never let Williams get comfortable early, but couldn't close the gap. Jung (21, Madison) crossed in 50:46, and Henry Carpenter (24, Tuscaloosa) pushed him hard, finishing just 32 seconds back in fourth at 51:18 — the tightest duel of the day outside the top two.

Further back, the race spread out considerably. Alexander Pryor rounded out the top five in 53:24, followed by Ignacio Landa at 55:43. Rashed Jackson and Thomas Crocker finished seventh and eighth within a minute of each other (1:02:07 and 1:03:10), while Jakub Slowik completed the field in 1:15:36 — a reminder that this group ranged from competitive sub-47 racing all the way to a determined, measured effort on a mild December morning in Huntsville.