M20-29: Bailey Williams Wins a Sub-1:11 Showdown in Santa Rosa's Mist

• Bailey Williams wins in 1:10:47 (5:24/mi), the fastest finish in the M20-29 field of 223.
• Top-three separated by just 28 seconds: Thomas D'Anieri 2nd in 1:10:55, Jacob Milburn 3rd in 1:11:15.
• Williams, D'Anieri, and Milburn all surged over the final stretch, posting the 5th-, 6th-, and 8th-fastest splits on the 7M→Finish segment among women — while Matthew Peters, who entered that segment 6th in the men's field, ran the 20th-fastest women's split on that leg and slipped to 5th by the line.
• A sharp drop-off after 6th: Kiernan Elam finished 6th in 1:11:58, then Zach Lewis 7th in 1:13:24 — a 1:26 gap to the next finisher.

In cool, misty conditions — 56°F and nearly saturated air — the M20-29 race at the Santa Rosa Half Marathon delivered a genuinely fast and tightly contested front end. Bailey Williams, the 24-year-old local from Santa Rosa, crossed in 1:10:47 at 5:24/mi to claim the win. Thomas D'Anieri (San Francisco, 27) gave chase all the way to the line, finishing just 8 seconds back in 1:10:55. Jacob Milburn, also out of San Francisco, rounded out the podium in 1:11:15 — a 28-second window covering all three.

The finish-leg story is where the race turned. Matthew Peters (22, Redondo Beach) had worked his way to 6th in the men's field by the 7-mile mark, ahead of both D'Anieri and Milburn at that point. But over the final stretch, Peters ran the 20th-fastest women's-field split on that segment while Williams, D'Anieri, and Milburn each pushed through the 5th, 6th, and 8th fastest respectively — a clear surge from the eventual podium that swallowed Peters and dropped him to 5th at 1:11:37.

Jose Villagomez (26, Santa Rosa) slotted in at 4th in 1:11:33, just four seconds ahead of Peters, making for a remarkably compressed top five — all within 50 seconds of the winner. Kiernan Elam (28, Sacramento) closed out the top six in 1:11:58, and from there the field spread out quickly: Zach Lewis took 7th in 1:13:24, with the rest of the top 20 ranging from 1:14:15 (Juan Pablo Arredondo Ambriz, 8th) to 1:26:39 (Gary Shen, 20th) across a 223-man field.