M55-59: Lienau Dominates Two Cities 10K in Fresno

• Jason Lienau won the M55-59 group in 42:17 (6:48/mi), finishing more than 9 minutes clear of second place — the largest margin in the group.
• Lienau surged from 38th to 10th among men in the second half, posting the 13th-fastest 1M→Finish split in the men's field.
• Jason Quigley (51:18) and Ronald Herms (51:53) battled for the podium, separated by just 35 seconds across 6.2 miles.
• Places 4 through 6 — Britter, Jahromi, and Santiago — finished within 33 seconds of each other, from 56:01 to 56:34.

Jason Lienau made the M55-59 race his own from the moment the field spread out. Running 6:48 per mile on a warm November morning in Fresno — 74°F under clear skies — the 56-year-old from Clovis climbed from 38th to 10th among men in the back half of the race, a surge that tells you everything about how his day unfolded. His 13th-fastest 1M→Finish split in the men's field wasn't just good for his age group; it was a statement across the entire men's race.

Behind him, the real drama was a two-man chase. Jason Quigley (55, Fresno) and Ronald Herms (58, Clovis) ran the second and third spots in 51:18 and 51:53 respectively — a 35-second gap that stayed tight all the way to the line. Both made strong moves in the final stretch, with Quigley's 55th-fastest and Herms' 59th-fastest 1M→Finish splits among the men keeping them well clear of the pack chasing them down.

The battle for fourth through sixth was its own miniature race. Matt Britter (56:01), Shaz Jahromi (56:24), and Vicente Santiago (56:34) — all from Fresno or Clovis — finished within 33 seconds of one another, each running right around 9:05 per mile. Further back, the group thinned considerably, with Oscar Rosales and Steven Monke crossing within six seconds of each other just past the hour mark, and 25 men in all completing the M55-59 field on a sunny Central Valley morning.