Rocket City 10K — F50-54: McCauley Dominates in the Deep Freeze

• Tiffany McCauley won the F50-54 age group in 53:51 (8:40/mi), finishing 3 full minutes clear of second place in 29°F conditions with a 16 mph wind.
• Shawna Wentlandt claimed second in 56:52 (9:09/mi), the only other finisher under the hour mark.
• A tight cluster in the middle: Beverly Hensarling (4th, 1:03:31) and Cat Rogers (5th, 1:04:33) were separated by just 62 seconds, with Bonnie Reese lurking just 2 seconds further back in 6th at 1:04:35.
• 23 women finished in the F50-54 age group, spread across nearly 33 minutes from first to 20th place.

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Huntsville delivered a punishing morning — 29 degrees, wind gusting to 16 mph, clear skies offering zero shelter — and Tiffany McCauley of Madison, AL treated it like a training run. Her 53:51 at 8:40 per mile was in a class of its own, putting three full minutes between herself and the rest of the field before the finish line came into view. In a field of 23, that kind of margin is a statement.

Shawna Wentlandt, making the trip down from Alexandria, VA, was the only other woman in the group to crack an hour, crossing in 56:52. The gap between her and third-place Wendy Huskey — also from Madison — was just over six minutes, which tells you how decisively the top two separated themselves from the pack.

The real drama played out in the 4th-through-6th battle. Huskey (1:02:59) had a comfortable cushion on the podium, but behind her, Beverly Hensarling (1:03:31), Cat Rogers (1:04:33), and Bonnie Reese (1:04:35) were locked in a genuine fight. Rogers and Reese finished just two seconds apart — with Rogers holding 5th on the strength of the timing clock's finest decimal.

Further back, the field spread out across the 1:09 to 1:26 range, with Melony Shemberger (7th, 1:09:17) leading that chase pack. For all 23 finishers who braved the cold and the wind on a December Saturday in Huntsville, getting to the finish line in those conditions was its own reward.