Male Overall
For the fourth season in a row, I posted a strong marathon effort to claim the #1 spot, this time with a PR 2:21:51 at the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY, which was good for a lifetime-best age grade of 85.77%. This makes ten seasons in a row atop the Rankings for me; the last time someone else led the way was during spring 2021, when it was currently-third-ranked Forest Braden leading the way. I paired my marathon time with wins at the Democracy Dash 10K in a PR 31:38 and the Jamestown Half Marathon in an injury-hampered 1:12:18.
For the third season in a row, Adam Otstot takes the runner-up spot, on the strength of his 15:31 Weighted Angels 5K, which is good for the stellar age grade of 87.86%, and makes him the third-highest age grader of the season, second among the men. He also picked up wins at the Dash for CASA 5K (16:12), Run for the Hills 5K (16:46), and Luray Half Marathon (1:16:33). Nineteen seconds back from Otstot at Weighted Angels was #3 Forest Braden, who paired that 15:50 with a runner-up effort at the Jamestown Half Marathon in 1:15:25 to make for two masters men in the overall top 3. The fourth- and fifth-ranked runners, Chris Free and Will Jeter, both took their marathon talents to Indianapolis for the Monumental Marathon, where Free prevailed in a PR 2:33:43, while Jeter debuted in 2:38:31. Jeter's best effort of the fall came at his Historic Hillsborough (NC) Half Marathon win, while Free notched wins at the Norfolk Harbor 5K and Mulberry Island Half. Free moves up three spots from his summer #7 ranking, bumping Jeter down one position in the process.
Seventh-ranked Clark Pederson was the biggest mover in this category, improving by six spots from the summer thanks to a pair of fine wins at the PHF 5K on the Runway, a PR 16:21, and the NASA Langley Open House 5K. #13 Mike Kapetanakis has the significantly superior best effort of the fall, 27:02 at the Richmond 8K, compared to twelfth-ranked Zach Emmanuel's 27:32 Neptune 8K win, but Emmanuel gets the nod in the Rankings considering he beat Kapetanakis head-to-head at that Neptune 8K by 30 seconds. There was quite the handful of very fast times by young runners who only raced once this season, several of whom would've comfortably made the top 5 with a second offering.
Male Masters
For the third season in a row, Adam Otstot tops this category, leading the way with an impressive 15:31 Weighted Angels 5K that's good for an age grade of 87.86%. He added wins at the Dash for CASA 5K (16:12), Run for the Hills 5K (16:46), and Luray Half Marathon (1:16:33). Otstot cleared the masters field by over two 10K equivalent minutes during the past two seasons, but had a little more competition this time, with #2 Forest Braden just nineteen seconds behind at Weighted Angels in 15:50. Braden won the head-to-head competition with third-ranked Scott Ickes at the Jamestown Half, and the two combined to bump Thomas Hicks down from the runner-up ranking he enjoyed the past two seasons. Despite being age 52, Hicks notably made the podium at two major 5Ks, Norfolk Harbor and CHAS, to claim his tenth consecutive season in the masters top 4. #5 Shawn Marek scored a pair of wins, highlighted by his 17:17 at the Bra-ha-ha 5K. Despite ninth-ranked Matthew Michels having a slightly better best race, #8 Parry Klages is ranked ahead after he defeated Michels by a close 38:35 to 38:44 at the Bradass 10K.
The triumvirate of Otstot, Braden, and Ickes make for a Williamsburg-exclusive top 3 all with close ties to William and Mary, where Otstot and Ickes were roommates while competing for the Tribe distance program which Braden now coaches. Top one-racer Trevor Cable is another former Tribe athlete and teammate of Otstot and Ickes', and he would've made this list-topping W&M trio a quartet with a second race, which would have earned him a #4 ranking. It would seem this Williamsburg bunch, with perhaps a couple additions, has the potential to fare quite well at some USATF masters team competitions. At 67 years old, you might not think Pete Gibson has much business being ranked as high as twelfth on the masters list, but he certainly proved he belongs with his Rankings-high age grade, an awe-inspiring 92.49% for his 18:16 runner-up effort at the Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K. Gibson moved up a remarkable ten spots compared to his summer ranking.
Male 60+
After falling just short of second-ranked Robert Whitaker in the competition for the top spot the past couple seasons, Pete Gibson left no doubt this fall, clearing the field by almost three 10K equivalent minutes to reclaim the throne that he and Whitaker have battled closely over since the Rankings' inception, and which he last occupied during summer 2022. His imposing age grade of 92.49% for his 18:16 runner-up effort at the Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K is the highest the Rankings have seen since they were started in winter 2018-2019. Beyond his high water mark at Piankatank, which is not a USATF certified course and is therefore not record eligible, Gibson had a dazzling fall, setting state M65-69 records at 5K (Weighted Angels, 18:45), 10K (Grove Trotter, 39:21), 10 miles (Yorktown Battlefield, 1:03:57), and half marathon (Jamestown, 1:26:50). Gibson and Whitaker are two of seven runners returning to the top 8 from last season, with just a little bit of spot-swapping amongst them. Sixth-ranked Stephen Chantry makes his first appearance in the Rankings since spring 2022 when he was ranked third male 60+.
This category really stepped up as a whole compared to last season, with the top 10 going from a 10K equivalent of just sub-47:30 to sub-45, and the cutoff to make the top 25 improving by over two minutes from 51:30 to 49:17. This improvement is made very evident by the bottom half of the list, where several runners dropped five to ten spots from their loftier summer positions. A pair of one-racers ran strong out-of-town efforts which, had they been paired with a second offering, would've earned spots in the top 7.
Female Overall
After making a handful of trips down from Richmond to race in Hampton Roads over the past couple of seasons, Laura Labuschaigne deserves a spot in these Rankings, and takes the pole position. Her race credentials certainly leave no doubt, as after tuning up with a 16:55 win over second-ranked Emma Rogers' 17:12 at the Weighted Angels 5K, she zoomed to a 26:44 runner-up finish at the Richmond 8K, which is good for a female-Rankings-high age grade of 88.65%, and a rare female sub-34 best 10K equivalent. Since Richmond, Labuschaigne also dominated the Dash for CASA 5K in a course record 17:08. Rogers had a fantastic day at Richmond as well, winning the Half in 1:15:40. Both of these fast ladies clear the women's field by about three 10K equivalent minutes, and would've made the men's top 10.
The rest of the top 10 is full of Crawlin' Crab Half performances that made it very easy to rank everyone in the order they finished. After beating sixth-ranked Tiffany Sloan by a narrow six seconds there, #5 Jessica Smith validated her claim to a higher ranking by topping Sloan 2:58:46 to 3:01:28 at the Richmond Marathon. In addition to her Wicked 10K win in 38:43, Sloan was golden at the Mulberry Island Half (1:34:22) and Neptune 8K (31:24). Both Smith and Sloan improve upon their summer rankings by one spot, with a whole new cast of runners ranked ahead of them compared to last season. Tenth-ranked Emily Honeycutt was another win compiler, adding to her Democracy Dash triumph with victories at the Strider XC Classic 5K (20:40) and Norfolk Harbor 5K (19:28). There weren't many significant one-racers, but the few J&A event podium finishers who would've made the top 14 are worth noting. Like the 60+ men, this category improved dramatically compared to last season, with the 10K equivalent to make the top 10 and top 25 improving by almost two minutes in each case, from 41:04 to 39:19 and 46:08 to 44:17, respectively.
Female Masters
After leading this category during the spring and only racing once over the summer, Kris Lawrence is back on top this season after two remarkably consistent 10Ks, Wicked in 40:43 and a Norfolk Harbor win in 40:45 where she finished second overall as only one male could better her swift effort. Had she run another race over the summer, Lawrence would be making it three seasons in a row topping this list by over two 10K equivalent minutes. Kari Tallent records her second runner-up ranking in a row, and sixth consecutive season in the masters top 8. #5 Christine Fernandez is another consistent Rankings regular, with this season marking her seventh in a row in the masters top 7. In addition to her two top races, #7 Megan Schulze picked up wins at the Run for the Hills 5K (21:56), and Run for the Bulls 5K (21:54).
This was yet another category to display a lot more depth than last season, with the cutoffs to make the top 5 (43:46 to 44:53), top 10 (45:23 to 46:05), and top 25 (49:36 to 52:12) all significantly faster than the summer. One-racers Renee Merchant and Tamara Pelletier did well to make the podiums in their single efforts, and could've made the top 6 with a second race.
Female 60+
After finishing in the top 12 the past three seasons, including a runner up ranking during winter 2022-2023, Melanie Hennis did well to top this category for the first time, backing up her short-course Cause for Paws 5K (3 miles) 24:21 with a solid Grove Trotter Chickahominy 10K 55:41 to improve on her summer ranking by 11 spots. Second-ranked Debra Price just aged up into this category, and while her best-race Runway 5K is somewhat superior to Hennis' best efforts, her subpar second effort, a 36:45 Wicked 5K, makes it impossible to award her the top spot. #3 Maria Jacob is back in the top 5 for the third time this year after going unranked last season, this time with a nice pair of sub-2 half marathons. Fourth-ranked Marie Shay is in the top 4 for the third season in a row, and sixth of seven, duplicating her ranking from the summer. Shay did beat Hennis by over a minute at Chickahominy, but was too far behind the top 3's best efforts to be ranked any higher.
Joey Hallock has a long history of topping this category, and would've netted another #1 ranking and cleared the field by over two 10K equivalent minutes with a second race. For the second season in a row, 15 or more ranked runners returned from the previous season, remarkable consistency for this category. The top 3 from the summer, though, including Hallock, did drop, leaving the door open for the many consistent runners in this season's top 15 to improve upon their summer rankings.
Races
In order to be considered for these rankings, a race must have open entry to all, have full results listed on a website, and preferably list age, gender, and city of residence of all runners. Road and cross country races will be considered. Any race that is known to have an actual distance significantly different from its advertised distance will have its actual, or more accurate best-guess, distance displayed in parentheses. Races will fall into the following seasons based on the following boundaries: spring is the first full weekend of March up to but not including Memorial Day weekend, summer includes Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, fall is from after Labor Day to before Thanksgiving, and winter includes Thanksgiving races up to but not including the first full weekend of March.
