Two Cities Marathon 5K — F40-44: Sran Dominates with a Sub-25 Finish

• Susan Sran, 40, Clovis — won the F40-44 group in 24:48 (7:59/mi), finishing more than 3 minutes and 20 seconds clear of the field.
• Tight podium battle: Carmelita Maldonado (2nd, 28:12), Stephanie Alaniz (3rd, 28:31), and Geni Bird (4th, 28:54) were separated by just 42 seconds across three places.
• Yvette San Souci and Joy Michalitsis both clocked 31:11 — same displayed time, with San Souci edging 7th place and Michalitsis taking 8th by the finest of margins.
• 62 women finished in the F40-44 group, with the top 20 ranging from 24:48 to 36:39.

Susan Sran set the tone early and never looked back. Her 24:48 — a 7:59/mi pace — was a full 3:24 faster than second-place Carmelita Maldonado's 28:12, a gap that speaks to a dominant, wire-to-wire performance in the F40-44 group. At 40, Sran was the youngest woman on the podium, and she made it count.

Behind her, the race for 2nd through 4th was genuinely compelling. Maldonado (43, Fresno) held off Stephanie Alaniz (44, Coarsegold) by 19 seconds, while Alaniz in turn kept Geni Bird (44, Clovis) at bay by another 23 seconds. All three ran between 9:05 and 9:18 per mile — a closely matched trio who made the podium hunt worth watching to the finish line.

The battle for 7th and 8th produced the race's most dramatic moment on the clock: Yvette San Souci of Visalia and her fellow Visalian Joy Michalitsis both registered 31:11, with the timing system separating them by a sliver to award San Souci 7th. Just behind them, Keisha Kamplain (9th, 31:24) and Rosie Mata (10th, 32:06) kept the mid-pack racing honest all the way to the tape.

Further back, a cluster of runners between 35:32 and 35:48 — Kristina Kuykendall (15th), Cindy Jones (16th), Tosha Manning (17th), and Sara Marker (18th) — were packed within 16 seconds of one another, a reminder that the competitiveness in this group ran deep across all 62 finishers.