With nearly 200 participants surrounding them in both the 5k and 10K races, five members of the Grand Canyon University Running Club earned medals in their respective groups at the 2024 Arizona Half Marathon Sunday morning in Peoria. In addition, two Lopes finished among the top 4 finishers in the 5K, while GCU freshman Ethan Smith crossed the tape 2^nd overall in the event's 10K portion.
 
In the 10K, Smith averaged just over six minutes per mile in crossing the tape at 37 minutes and 58 seconds – just a little over two minutes away from winning the entire race. Smith narrowly won his Male 18-24 age group, though, topping Zifeng Huang by just nine seconds in earning a 1^st-place medal. Meanwhile, fellow freshman Sophia Marasco also ran a powerful race, finishing 2^nd in her Female 18-24 age group for a medal with a time of 46:53, earning 7^th place overall in the race.
 
On the 5K side, two Lopes' freshmen - Styliano Regas and Thomas Dawson – battled each other throughout the race in the Male 18-24 division, with Regas narrowly nosing Dawson out for a 3^rd-place medal with a time of 19:19, just 23 seconds faster than Dawson, who finished 4^th. Those times, though, were good enough to earn Regas and Dawson top-5 finishes in the overall standings. On the women's side, Lopes' sophomore Kara Batie brought home the other 1^st-place medal for GCU, winning the Female 18-24 division with a time of 23 minutes, 36 seconds. Right behind her to grab the 2^nd-place medal in the age group was Lopes' teammate Ava Smith (24:54). Batie earned a 4^th-place finish among females overall, while Smith finished 6^th-best.
 
Finally, Regas and Dawson had a good pacesetter to help them, since Lopes' Head Coach Anthony Vela also participated in the 5K, placing 3^rd overall and 2^nd among males with a time of 18:36.
 
The full results for all Lopes' participants in the race are below:

NAME	RACE	AGE GROUP	PLACE	TIME	NOTES
Ethan Smith	10K	M 18-24	1st	37:58	2nd male, 2nd overall
Sophia Marasco	10K	F 18-24	2nd	46:53	2nd female, 7th overall
Stylianos Regas	5K	M 18-24	3rd	19:19	3rd male, 4th overall
Thomas Dawson	5K	M 18-24	4th	19:42	4th male, 5th overall
Kara Batie	5K	F 18-24	1st	23:36	4th female, 14th overall
Ava Smith	5K	F 18-24	2nd	24:54	6th female, 20th overall
Anthony Vela (HC)	5K	M 18-24	2nd	18:36	2nd male, 3rd overall