Published May 6th, 2026
BY TULLAH McCOLL
Three Carmel High School seniors and one 2025 CHS graduate have just competed in one of the most well-known marathons in the world right in Carmel’s backyard, The Big Sur International Marathon, where they ran 26.2 miles of Highway 1’s scenic coastal views, an athletic endeavor most people consider around the age of 30, rather than 17 or 18.
Despite Lucca Gomez-Jolley’s unstructured and go-with-the-flow training approach, he managed to finish with an impressive time. Courtesy of LUCCA GOMEZ-JOLLEY
Current senior Bodhi Melton has spent the last four years of high school involved in track and field, and he was excited to be one of the few 17-year-olds in the race, placing first in the 16-19 age bracket and 50th overall out of 2,491 runners.
“I never really liked running, but I just did it and I was kinda good at it,” says Melton, who averaged a 7:02 mile pace and finished in 3 hours and 4 minutes, 11 minutes faster than the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.
Inspired by a friend and fellow senior who ran the marathon two years back, both Melton and Lucca Gomez-Jolley decided to take on the athletic endeavor, where Gomez-Jolley placed second in their age bracket after Melton, and both felt content placing where they did.
Both runners’ training was loosely structured, and Melton took advantage of his track practices. In the weeks leading up to the race, he ran about 10 miles on weekdays and longer runs of around 16 miles on the weekends.
Bodhi Melton (left) and Lucca Gomez-Jolley (middle) finished the Big Sur Marathon in first and second place within their age group of 16- to 19-year-old runners. courtesy of BODHI MELTON
Though Gomez-Jolley’s athletic career in high school did not involve track and field or cross country, with a passion for fitness and health, for him running came as a fun, new way to burn calories over the past year.
“I really enjoy the peaceful nature of it, not having anyone around me and just being able to focus on what I’m doing,” says Gomez-Jolley, who placed 129th overall in the race, with an end time of 3 hours and 18 minutes.
As both Melton and Gomez-Jolley get ready to head off to college in the fall, this race acts as a closing to this chapter of their lives and a place they hold close to their hearts, but both feel they won’t run for a while after this experience, but continue to enjoy other forms of cardio.
“It’s the perfect place to do it since we’re from here, and it’s really challenging, but super cool,” says Gomez-Jolley.
Current senior Bailey Stewart ran alongside her best friend Eva Malentieva, who graduated a year earlier from CHS last spring and is currently a student at California State University Monterey Bay.
Bailey Stewart and Eva Malentieva (from left) supported each other through the 26.2-mile journey to the finish line. courtesy of BAILEY STEWART
“I started running as a stress reliever for college applications and everything going on around the middle of junior year, and I realized I really liked it and had a lot of fun,” says Stewart, who has played golf for CHS the last four years.
Stewart and Malentieva explain running together as a more exciting form of exercise and something that allows them to spend time outside and with each other, in addition to being a support system through more difficult sections of the course like Hurricane Point, where elevation increases over 500 feet.
Both motivated to have a good time and check off a major bucket list item, the two completed their goal in making it under the six-hour limit and having the opportunity to do it together as their last big event before the distance of college.
With their futures ahead of them, all four runners’ accomplishment in completing the Big Sur Marathon is an important moment in leaving their adolescence behind, and for some, leaving the place they have learned to call home and never forgetting the connections and motivation that have gotten them to where they are today.
