F20-29 Half Marathon: Sierra Williams Surges to the Title on the Streets of San Francisco

• Sierra Williams, 21, wins in 1:29:24 (6:49/mi) — the fastest finish in the F20-29 field of 238, with the 4th-fastest women's split on the final 10.9M-to-Finish stretch sealing the deal.
• Kurstin Kalisek runs 1:31:27 to take second, powered by the 11th-fastest women's split on the 5M–10.9M segment — and she was already racing hard this weekend, having claimed 2nd in the women's 5K on Saturday.
• Hannah Ryan, 1:33:02, finishes third — a meaningful step forward from her 6th-place women's finish here in 2022 (1:27:19 was a different race distance context, but the podium climb is real).
• Just over five minutes separates the top four, with Katherine Benninger (1:34:05) rounding out the podium positions.

Sierra Williams came to San Francisco and made a statement. The 21-year-old from Owasso, OK, was sitting 18th among women at the first checkpoint, but that ranking tells only the opening chapter. She moved to 12th, then 8th, then locked in 7th among all women by the finish — and within the F20-29 field, she was simply untouchable. Her 6:49/mi average across San Francisco's famously punishing hills, in 60°F humidity-heavy air, was the fastest pace in the group by a clear margin, and her 4th-fastest women's split on the back half confirmed she was accelerating, not surviving.

Kurstin Kalisek's story is arguably the most remarkable of the weekend. The Oakland runner ran 1:31:27 here — good for second in F20-29 — but that came just a day after she stood on the women's podium in the Saturday 5K. Backing up a competitive 5K with a 6:59/mi half marathon effort is no small feat, and her 11th-fastest women's split on the 5M–10.9M segment showed she had real gas in the middle miles.

Hannah Ryan made the local crowd happy. The San Francisco native crossed in 1:33:02, climbing from 28th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 19th by the finish, with the 11th-fastest women's split on the 10.9M-to-Finish stretch. She also ran this race in 2022, finishing 6th among women in 1:27:19 — the podium this time around in F20-29 represents a different kind of reward. Behind her, Katherine Benninger (1:34:05) held her position steadily through the second half, posting the 22nd-fastest women's split on the back end to secure fourth. The gap from Benninger to fifth-place Alicia Yue (1:38:25) was over four minutes — the front four were in a race of their own.