Nashville Marathon 2016 Results: Men's and Women's Top Finishers

Scott Wietecha and Melanie Kulesz navigated the rain-soaked streets of Nashville, Tennessee, to win the 2016 Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon on Saturday.

Wietecha is the race's overall champion for the fourth consecutive year. His finishing time of two hours, 25 minutes and 42 seconds is his second-best mark during that streak. Kulesz also became a back-to-back winner and improved her finishing time over last year's triumph by more than five minutes.

Here's a look at the top finishers from this year's race courtesy of the event's official site:

Rank	Runner	Country	Time
-	Top Men's Finishers	-	-
1	Scott Wietecha	USA	2:25:42
2	Brian Shelton	USA	2:34:43
3	Christopher Capps	USA	2:38:43
4	Jason Grimes	USA	2:45:08
5	David Adams	USA	2:47:31
-	Top Women's Finishers	-	-
1	Melanie Kulesz	USA	2:59:12
2	Maria Beran	USA	3:01:55
3	Megan Hovis	USA	3:04:52
4	Shandra Moore	USA	3:08:34
5	Marykate Kausel	USA	3:10:57

Runners arrived to downtown Nashville in the early morning hours and were met with a passing rainstorm. WSMV noted race officials decided to delay the start because there was lightning in the area at the 7:15 a.m. local start time.

Shelley Mays of the Tennessean provided a look at the conditions:

Although the pavement remained wet, things cleared up enough to get the race underway shortly before 8 a.m. Julie Edwards of WKRN reported more than 30,000 runners were expected to participate in the Music City event, which also included half marathon and 5K races.

WKRN's Neil Orne passed along a view of the start from above:

It didn't take long for Wietecha to assume his usual spot in front of the pack once the field settled in. He led by nearly 30 seconds at the 10K mark and steadily grew his lead in the miles that followed, leading by more than a minute at the halfway point.

Meanwhile, Kulesz easily pulled away from the field on the women's side. She set a terrific pace in the early going, stretching her advantage out to nearly 20 seconds within the first 5K, and she never looked back as the edge grew to more than two minutes in the opening half of the race.

Nashville Metro Councilman Colby Sledge highlighted some of the event's sights and sounds:

There were no comebacks over the final miles as Wietecha and Kulesz cruised to the finish line to retain their titles. It was a rock-solid showing for both runners, who set the standard during the opening stages and never relented during the 26.2-mile journey.

Sam Brown of the Tennessean showcased the men's champion crossing the finish line:

Ultimately, a day that began quite gloomy as rain moved through the city didn't prevent the annual event from taking center stage for the 17th time. Even though there weren't any all-time records broken, the winning times were solid given the conditions.

Wietecha and Kulesz have established themselves as the runners to beat in the Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon over the past couple of years. Assuming they continue to return, they figure to arrive as the favorites to repeat once again in the 2017 edition.

Post-Race Reaction

Brown passed along comments from Kulesz, who admitted there was a lull during the second half of the race, but she managed to push through to get the win:

"

Since I won last year I said, 'well, I have to win again.' I trained really hard. I felt great through mile-18 and I don't know what happened. Actually, I know what happened: it got hilly. It was the hills that got me, but it was just all about sustaining it in the end.

"

Mike Organ of Tennessean added reaction from Wietecha. It wasn't any simple outing for him either, despite emerging as the champion once again.

"My legs were heavy and they wouldn't respond very well," he said. "I had the flu a little over two weeks ago and that jacked me up for a little while. I just tried to be extra patient this year."