F30-34 Half Marathon: Nicole Clancy Takes Command Early and Never Looks Back

• Nicole Clancy won the F30-34 age group in 1:23:48 (6:24/mi), posting the fastest women's split from Mile 4 to Mile 10 and moving from 2nd to 1st among women by that same stretch.
• Emma Grupe held a steady 3rd among women throughout, finishing 2nd in the age group in 1:33:10 — a gap of 9 minutes 22 seconds behind Clancy.
• Jennifer Schmidt closed with the 5th-fastest women's split on the Mile 10-to-Finish stretch, finishing 3rd in 1:38:33.
• The F30-34 field spanned nearly 2 hours 35 minutes from Clancy's 1:23:48 to Beatriz Zapien's 3:58:49, with 18 women finishing across the warm Folsom morning.

Nicole Clancy didn't just win the F30-34 age group — she made a statement across the entire women's field. Running at a 6:24-per-mile clip, she sat 2nd among all women through the early miles before surging to the front by Mile 4, a lead she never relinquished. The Mile 4–Mile 10 segment was where the race was decided: Clancy's split there was the fastest of any woman on the course, and by the time the field reached Mile 10, the outcome was settled.

Emma Grupe of Folsom was a model of consistency, holding 3rd among women from start to finish and crossing in 1:33:10 at 7:06 per mile. Her 3rd-fastest women's split through that same Mile 4–Mile 10 stretch shows she was racing the course hard, even if Clancy was simply in another gear on the day. Jennifer Schmidt of Auburn rounded out the podium in 1:38:33, saving some of her best running for the final miles — her 5th-fastest women's split on the Mile 10-to-Finish leg was a strong close on a warm afternoon.

Behind the podium, Lara Sozer and Jessica Clark waged their own battle in the 1:59–2:01 range, with Sozer moving from 23rd to 16th among women over the course of the race and Clancy finishing just over two minutes ahead of Clark. It was a competitive, spread-out field on a 74°F day in Folsom — 18 women finished, and every one of them earned it.