F0-14 10K: Sandlin edges out a frigid Huntsville showdown

• Erica Sandlin won the F0-14 age group in 51:30, averaging 8:17 per mile in 29°F conditions.
• Khloe Mack finished 2nd in 52:29, just 59 seconds back at 8:27 per mile.
• Both finishers were 14 years old — making this one of the tightest, most evenly matched age-group races of the day.

Two 14-year-olds from neighboring Alabama towns lined up on a bitter December morning in Huntsville — 29°F, a 16 mph wind cutting across the course — and delivered a race that was competitive from start to finish. Erica Sandlin of Huntsville held on for the win, crossing in 51:30 at an 8:17-per-mile clip to claim 1st in the F0-14 age group.

Khloe Mack of Union Grove gave her every reason to work for it. Mack finished in 52:29 — just 59 seconds behind Sandlin across 6.2 miles — averaging 8:27 per mile in conditions that would have sent plenty of runners back to bed. In a two-person field, there's nowhere to hide, and neither athlete did.

Credit to both runners for simply showing up and racing hard in a wind chill that made every mile feel longer than it was. Sandlin takes the age-group title, but Mack's margin of defeat is the kind that breeds motivation.