Bigfork High School graduate Makena Morley won the Amway River Bank Run 25k in Grand Rapids, Mich., over the weekend. The race served as the USA 25k national championships and was Morley’s first national title.
“I’ve never run this distance before, my longest race has been a half [marathon],” Morley said before the race. “I know I can do 13 [miles], so make it to 13 and we’ll see how the last two and a half goes.”
From the start, Morley went out with the lead pack of women, which whittled down to a group of six by 10 kilometers. At mile nine, Morley and Erika Kemp began to break away from the field and after a long uphill stretch, Morley gapped Kemp and was alone by the time she hit 12 miles.
Morley passed the half marathon mark in 1:10:27, faster than she’d ever run that distance and held on to finish in 1:23:17 for the full distance. Her time was a course record by more than 30 seconds, breaking the previous mark set by Asics teammate Emma Bates in 2019.
With the win, Morley gained 22.5 points on the USA Road Running Circuit, moving her to second place overall in the series. She finished second at the USA 20k championships in Connecticut in September and placed third at the 15k championships earlier this year. There are two races left in the road circuit, the 5k and half marathon championships in November and December respectively.