F19 & Under: Van Zandt Leads Wire-to-Wire in San Francisco's Fog

• Caterina Van Zandt won the F19 & Under race in 3:17:55 (7:33/mi), more than 11 minutes clear of the field.
• Maeve Klement ran the race of her life from the back, climbing from 68th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 47th by the finish — good for 2nd in 3:29:04.
• Luella Shepard, age 17, posted the 53rd-fastest women's split on the 14.95–18 Mile stretch and surged from 176th among women early on to crack the top 100 before finishing 4th in 3:41:23.
• 5th and 6th were separated by just 8 seconds — Laila Corzo (3:43:07) edging Jessica Tsai (3:43:15).

Caterina Van Zandt, 19, from Roseville, CA, owned this race from the opening miles. Her gender place hovered in the high teens all day — she was sitting 20th among women at the first checkpoint and crossed the finish line 19th among women — a model of controlled, consistent racing across 26.2 miles in cool, damp San Francisco conditions. Her 7:33/mi average was the standard for this field, and her 18th-fastest women's split on the Garmin Hill Challenge segment (miles 10.87 onward) showed she wasn't coasting when the course tilted upward.

The most dramatic journey belonged to Maeve Klement. The 19-year-old from Jackson, CA started deep — 68th among women — and kept sinking through the early miles, bottoming out at 74th among women by the 10.87-mile mark. Then something clicked. She posted the 25th-fastest women's split on the Garmin Hill Challenge segment and reeled in runner after runner over the second half, finishing 47th among women and 2nd in the F19 & Under field in 3:29:04 (7:58/mi). That's a comeback story written entirely in the back half.

Alexa Martinez Jaquez, 19, from Monterrey, rounded out the podium in 3:32:19 (8:06/mi), posting the 47th-fastest women's split on the 18–25 Mile segment to close strongly after a difficult middle stretch that had her sliding as far back as 68th among women. Behind her, Luella Shepard — just 17 years old and racing on her home turf in San Francisco — was one of the day's most impressive movers, climbing from 176th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 74th before settling into 4th in 3:41:23. Her 8:27/mi effort across a 70-finisher field that stretched all the way to the 50-plus runners not individually listed here makes her one to watch as she grows into the distance.