M19 & Under: Ben Kyvik Runs Down the Field in San Francisco

• Ben Kyvik, 19, wins in 2:48:03 — a 6:25/mi effort that put nearly six minutes between him and the rest of the under-19 field.
• Zach Lenkaitis and Corey Liew separated by just 27 seconds at 2nd and 3rd — but Liew's closing charge made it a genuine catch-up story.
• Mario Aluizo's comeback run was the most dramatic trajectory of the day, climbing from deep in the field to 5th place with the 11th-fastest women's split on the 22M→24M stretch.
• Brandon Mai, age 16, was the youngest finisher in the top ten, crossing 7th in 3:05:19.

Ben Kyvik owned this race from start to finish — or close enough. The 19-year-old from Berkeley settled in around 30th among men through the middle miles, then steadily reeled in the field over the back half, moving from 39th at his deepest point all the way up to 30th by the finish. His 6:25/mi average on a breezy, 59°F San Francisco morning was a full 14 seconds per mile faster than the next finisher, and his closing leg (24M to the finish) ranked 19th among all women's splits in that segment — a sign he still had something left when others were fading.

Behind him, Zach Lenkaitis and Corey Liew staged one of the day's better sub-plots. Lenkaitis, the 19-year-old from Ames, Iowa, crossed 2nd in 2:54:17, having made a relentless climb from 85th among men all the way to 47th. But Liew, an 18-year-old from Suisun City, had been moving even more aggressively — he was 156th among men early on and clawed his way to 49th by the gun. His 10.5M→12M split ranked 33rd among women's splits on that segment, and though he finished just 27 seconds behind Lenkaitis, the gap between their gender standings tells the real story of who was running faster when it mattered.

Fifth place went to Mario Aluizo, 19, of Harbor City, and his race chart reads like a highlight reel. Starting 380th among men, he was still 301st at the first checkpoint — then he simply refused to stop moving forward, eventually landing 73rd among men and posting the 11th-fastest women's split on the 22M→24M segment. That kind of late-race surge over 5th through the finish is rare. Preston Lobraico, 4th in 2:56:29, was steady throughout, also closing well with the 30th-fastest women's split on the final stretch. Rounding out the top ten, Jack Biggar (6th, 3:03:34), Brandon Mai (7th, 3:05:19 — the youngest top-10 finisher at just 16), Maximiliano Arce (8th, 3:06:54), and Jeevan Shergill (9th, 3:10:05) completed a competitive upper tier in a field of 150 under-19 runners.