F20-24 at Rocket City Front Half: Tellefsen Dominates in Tough Conditions

• Anna Tellefsen won the F20-24 group in 1:27:57 (6:43/mi), finishing 2nd among all women in the race.
• Tellefsen posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-Finish stretch, confirming she got stronger as the race went on.
• Emma Burnley, the hometown runner from Huntsville, claimed 2nd in the age group in 1:46:10, logging the 10th-fastest women's split over that same closing segment.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd was 18 minutes 13 seconds — and from 2nd to 14th, another 71 minutes separated the field across 70°F heat and 17 mph winds.

Anna Tellefsen made the F20-24 race look like a solo time trial. The 22-year-old from Spartanburg, SC crossed in 1:27:57 at a 6:43-per-mile clip, a mark that placed her 2nd among all women on the course. She held that gender position from the 10K checkpoint all the way to the finish line — no slipping, no fading — and her 2nd-fastest women's split on the back half of the course tells you she was running the race in reverse, getting sharper as others felt the weight of the conditions.

Emma Burnley of Huntsville made the most of her home course to claim 2nd in the age group in 1:46:10. She moved up a spot in the women's field over the closing stretch, backed by the 10th-fastest women's split from 10K to the finish — a strong back-half showing in a field that was clearly feeling the 70-degree December day and the persistent wind. Haley Jones, also from Huntsville, rounded out the podium in 1:52:18, though she ceded a few spots in the women's field over the second half, finishing 25th among women.

Behind the top three, the age group spread wide. Abigail Wistner (2:06:07) and Brooke Rickert (2:12:17) filled out the top five, with a cluster of Huntsville runners — Ashburn, Boze, and Minton among them — making it a distinctly local affair through the middle of the pack. Arlie Carnagey of Warrior, AL, brought it home last in 2:57:12, completing a field of 14 that ran the full spectrum from elite-adjacent to hard-earned finisher. In weather more suited to spring than December, every one of them earned it.