HOUSTON, TEXAS, January 19 — With the Olympic year behind him, Conner Mantz ended ’24 with the usual bit of self-reflection. Despite some notable achievements booked, the now 2-time No. 1 U.S. marathoner realized, “For the first time in my career I didn’t PR in anything last year. The year before, I PRed in the 1500, in the marathon and that has been it.”
Determined to upgrade his best times to match the pedigree of his 8th-place finish in the Olympic marathon, the 28-year-old BYU alum kicked off ’25 with a PR and it was a biggie as at the Houston Half-Marathon he lowered the American Record to 59:17, paring 26 seconds off Ryan Hall’s venerable 59:43 standard set on the same circuit in ’07.
As valiant as Mantz’s recordsetting effort was, he finished scant inches away from the win, edged at the line by 20-year-old Ethiopian Addisu Gobena, whose final stride resembled a shielding tactic more common on a soccer pitch.
Gobena got the same-time win and course record along with the significant cash upgrade. He said, “I knew that really fast times may be possible here. I wanted to improve my time [60:51], I knew that it could be done, and it turned out to be a really good race.”
Mantz was a bit miffed as to how the finish played out, but was quick to acknowledge Gobena’s efforts to maintain the record pace: “It was close, it was inches, we were finishing together and I passed him right after the line. My goal today was to run a fast time. Obviously, I want to win, but if he’s the one pushing the pace so I can drop almost a minute and a half off my personal best, I’m happy with that.”
American Record chatter abounded heading into the race but prospects dimmed as an Arctic blast blew through Texas hours before the race, dropping temperatures into the mid-30s amid blustery northwest winds, though also delivering a performance-accommodating 25-degree dew point.
Lone pacer Amon Kemboi rode to the rescue as he lit out from the start, blasting an 8:30 opening 3K straight into the wind, bold enough that only Mantz, Gobena, 2-time Houston champ Jemal Yimer and Tanzanian Gabriel Gerald Geay latched onto his lead.
Turning out of the wind, Kemboi’s steady effort netted a pair of 2:46 Ks to cross the 5K mat in 14:02 and the record chase was on. Mantz admitted “going with the pacer into the wind was a shock to the system. Those first couple of miles I was questioning if I was ready to run that pace, but after 5K I felt, ‘This pace feels normal, very manageable.’”
Mantz was more than content to follow as Kemboi carried out his 10K pacing assignment with a steady run of 2:48 kilometers to reach 10K in 28:01 — a robust 59:07 tempo.
“The pace seemed doable and I wanted to be pretty conservative and not be out pushing the pace because I knew we’re going to have that big headwind around miles 10 and 11 and 12,” Mantz said. “I was focused on, ‘How can I make sure I conserve enough energy so that I don’t fade over the last miles?’”
Warming to the competition, Mantz shed his stocking hat as the quartet maintained the high tempo on the tree-sheltered streets around Rice University, and crossed 15K in 42:05 — 59:12 pace. Mantz’s split betters Todd Williams’ 42:22 dating back to Jacksonville ’95, and 3:00 later he passed 10M in 45:16, again significantly faster than Hilary Bor’s 45:56 run last year at Cherry Blossom.
The en route clockings aside, Mantz’s focus was on the faltering pace: “When we headed into the wind, I knew we were slowing closer to my marathon effort and pace. We needed to speed up if we’re going to break 59:40. So, I tried to say to Gobena, ‘Let’s start moving, let’s switch off the lead.’ He doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Amharic, so there’s a big language barrier there but I was very happy when he started pushing the pace.”
Even with the push, the headwinds slowed the pace — to on schedule for a 59:29 finish at 20K (56:23).
With the record secured, Mantz turned his attention to racing the two 28-year-olds — Yimer, who won a 5-man sprint finish last year, and Geay, who ran his 2:03:00 marathon PR behind Kelvin Kiptum at Valencia ’22.
As Mantz began to build into his sprint, the youngster Gobena struck first with a sharp acceleration and the trio of veterans chased him down the long dash to the finish. The Ethiopian held his advantage, blitzing the final 1098m in 2:54, a 2:38.5 K clip, but Mantz closed fast, rounding a bend in the final 50, and the two hit the narrow finish line together with Gobena’s instinctive shouldering the decider.
Geay finished a second back, and Yimer 4th in 59:20 as all four bettered Feyisa Lilesa’s 59:22 course record from ’12.
Reflecting on his finish, Mantz admitted, “I took off a little too late, and it wasn’t a hard move to win. When Gobena passed me, I tried to go again and realized I have a lot more left in the tank.” A split-second too late though in a finish with the AR attached.
“The race was catered really well for me,” Mantz concluded. “The circumstances definitely helped me out, if I didn’t have as many people to push me, I don’t know if it would have happened today with the wind and everything.”
HOUSTON HALF MEN’S RESULTS
1. Addisu Gobena (Eth) 59:17 PR (leader splits: 14:02, 13:59 [28:01], 14:04 [42:05], 14:18 [56:23], 2:54);
2. Conner Mantz (US) 59:17 AR (old AR 59:43 Ryan Hall [Asics] ’07);
3. Gabriel Gerald Geay (Tan) 59:18; 4. Jemal Mekonen (Eth) 59:20; 5. Patrick Dever (GB) 60:11; 6. Hillary Bor (US) 60:20; 7. Wesley Kiptoo (Ken) 60:34; 8. Andrew Colley (US) 60:47; 9. Alex Maier (US) 60:51; 10. Clayton Young (US) 60:52; 11. Marcelo Laguera (Mex) 60:53; 12. Reed Fischer (US) 60:54; 13. Morgan Mcdonald (Aus) 60:58; 14. Ryan Ford (US) 60:59; 15. Morgan Pearson (US) 61:01;…18. Joe Klecker (US) 61:06;… 22. Ben Flanagan (Can) 61:19; 23. Matthew Richtman (US) 61:20;… 25. Shuaib Aljabaly (US) 61:21; 26. Afewerki Zeru (US) 61:21;… 28. Zach Panning (US) 61:25.
