Women's 10K: Schleif wins in San Francisco, Lauwers storms home

• Caroline Schleif (Metuchen, NJ, age 20) took the women's title in 39:16 (6:19/mi), holding the lead wire-to-wire across a field of 2,080 women.
• Anjali Lauwers posted the fastest closing split among all women (4.62M→Finish), surging from 4th to 2nd and finishing in 39:59 — nearly a minute ahead of her own 2024 result of 43:40 when she placed 10th.
• Just 5 seconds separated 2nd-place Lauwers (39:59) from 3rd-place Elena Miller (40:04), while Vanessa Albornoz (40:27) and Tiffani Williams (40:29) rounded out the top five within 2 seconds of each other.
• Corinna Schlatter, 16, of Saint Helena, CA, cracked the top 10 with a 40:41 — the strongest result among the race's youngest competitors in the lead pack.

Caroline Schleif led from start to finish, and she earned it. The 20-year-old from Metuchen, NJ, ran a measured 6:19/mi to win in 39:16, and she didn't just hold on — she posted the second-fastest closing split among all women over the final stretch. No one could chase her down.

The real drama played out behind her. Anjali Lauwers, also 20, was sitting fourth through the 4.62-mile mark before unleashing the fastest finishing split in the entire women's field. That surge vaulted her past Elena Miller and into 2nd at 39:59. Miller, of Sausalito, held on for 3rd in 40:04 with the third-fastest closing split — she ran the back half well, just not quite well enough to repel Lauwers' charge. For Lauwers, the improvement from 10th place in 43:40 here in 2024 to a runner-up 39:59 in 2025 tells its own story: a full 3:41 faster, six places higher.

The battle for 4th and 5th was its own subplot. Boulder's Vanessa Albornoz (40:27, 6:31/mi) and Los Angeles' Tiffani Williams (40:29, 6:31/mi) — who, at 49, was the eldest athlete in the top ten — finished just two seconds apart. Williams held 5th throughout and posted the fourth-fastest closing split among women, keeping Albornoz from pulling further clear at the line.

Corinna Schlatter, 16, of Saint Helena, deserves a mention as the youngest finisher in the top ten, crossing in 40:41 (6:33/mi) for 6th. Her older sister Jade Schlatter finished 13th in 44:45 — a strong family showing from the Napa Valley contingent. Meanwhile, Sally Zhao of San Francisco finished 16th in 46:00, a 2:01 improvement on her 44:01 from 2023, when she placed 8th — a reminder that 2,080 women toed the line today, and stories worth telling ran all the way through the field.