Rocket City 10K: Steven Decker Jr. Dominates the M35-39 Field

• Decker Jr. wins by a massive margin: His 38:56 (6:16/mi) was more than 9 minutes clear of 2nd-place Stephen Greene's 48:04 — a gap that made the M35-39 victory essentially a race of his own.
• Tight podium battle behind him: Greene (48:04) and Kurt Van Wagenen (48:42) were separated by just 38 seconds, with Zachary Tselis-Jackson lurking another 67 seconds back in 4th.
• Crowded middle pack: Six runners — from Jorge Gonzalez (5th, 51:10) through Dallas Harper-Staub (7th, 51:57) — finished within 47 seconds of each other, making positions 5 through 7 a genuine battle.
• Deadlock at 11th: Alex Fruge and Woohyun Park both clocked 55:59, and with identical displayed times, their places were decided by the finest of margins — Fruge edged ahead for 11th.

Racing in 29°F with a 16 mph wind cutting through Huntsville, the M35-39 group sent 27 runners to the line — and one of them was in a different race entirely. Steven Decker Jr.'s 38:56 at 6:16 per mile wasn't just a win; it was a statement. The 35-year-old local covered the 10K at a pace that left the rest of the age group more than nine full minutes behind, a margin so large it raises the question of whether anyone else even knew he was out there.

Behind Decker, the real competition was the podium fight. Stephen Greene and Kurt Van Wagenen ran within earshot of each other for virtually the entire race — Greene finishing in 48:04, Van Wagenen in 48:42. Tselis-Jackson's 49:49 kept him in the conversation for bronze but couldn't close the gap.

From 5th through 7th, the race got genuinely interesting. Jorge Gonzalez (51:10), Weston Thomas (51:13), and Dallas Harper-Staub (51:57) were never more than 47 seconds apart — three runners from the north Alabama area grinding through the cold and wind with no clear separation until the finish line settled it. Patrick McQuaid rounded out the top eight in 53:23, while a deep mid-pack cluster bunched between 55:49 and 58:46 across positions 10 through 19.