Rocket City 10K: Isaiah Jewett Edges Out a Sharp M25-29 Battle

• Isaiah Jewett (Starkville, MS) won the M25-29 age group in 39:02 at a 6:17/mi clip — the fastest pace in the group by a clear margin.
• Christopher Kitson (Huntsville, AL) pushed him hard, finishing just 20 seconds back in 39:22 (6:20/mi) — the tightest gap on the podium.
• Jacob Garcia (Madison, AL) rounded out the top three in 42:20, nearly three minutes behind Kitson — a comfortable buffer for bronze.
• The M25-29 group drew 30 finishers, with a wide spread from 39:02 at the front to just under the hour mark in the top 20.

Isaiah Jewett made the trip from Starkville worth it, clocking a 39:02 to claim the M25-29 title on a mild December morning in Huntsville — 59°F and overcast, about as good as race conditions get in Alabama in December. Running at 6:17 per mile for 6.2 miles, Jewett was in a different gear from nearly everyone else in the group.

The real drama was right behind him. Christopher Kitson, racing on home turf in Huntsville, gave Jewett everything he had. Twenty seconds separated them at the finish line — a gap that sounds small and felt even smaller over 10 kilometers. Kitson's 6:20/mi average was a legitimate threat, and this one was settled well before the finish line but never felt comfortable. Jacob Garcia, also local out of Madison, secured third in 42:20 — solid running at 6:49/mi, though the nearly three-minute gap to Kitson meant the podium's top two had formed their own race within the race.

From fourth place onward, the field spread out steadily. Dominique McNealey (45:59) and Jackson Keith (48:03) filled out the top five, with a pack of Huntsville locals clustering in the 49–59 minute range through the middle of the results. Joshua Zaiter and Mitch Kestner both crossed in 57:51, separated only by the timing system's finer digits. With 10 more finishers beyond the listed 20, the M25-29 group showed genuine depth — and Jewett ran away from all of them.