Kenyan Men Roll To Perfect Score For U20 Title; Ugandan Women Edge Kenya On Tiebreaker

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

John Nepolitan Photos

TALLAHASSEE -- Jackson Spencer noticed the yellow shoe stuck in the "Everglades" section of Apalachee Regional Park and hoped it didn't belong to one of his teammates. 

Turned out, it was the right shoe of Tyler Daillak, a freshman at Cal Poly, who lost it with a wrong step on the second pass by the mud pit and ran half of Saturday's U20 race with nothing more than a sock to protect his foot. 

Daillak's gritty effort to keep going and finish 16th in the race was the key to the young U.S. team finishing with a team bronze medal in front of throngs of American supporters lining the course. 

Spencer, coming off an historically strong high school cross country season, said after the first of four laps on the 2-kilometer course that only one person passed him. That was Daillak.

On his first pass through the blue-dyed water feature, Daillak's shoe came untied. So it wasn't secure when he took that fateful pass through the mud. 

The gravel on the forested section of the course punctured the bottom of his toe, but he kept on. Daillak (12th), Spencer (18th), Daniel Skandera (19th) and Aidan Torres (22nd) contributed to the U.S. medal, it's first since 2023. 

With Ethiopia not fielding a full team due to Visa issues, one of the meet's big-three, the U.S. was able to take advantage of that absence. 

Kenya's men scored a perfect 10 points (four runners score at Worlds) and Frankline Chebet won the title in 23:18 with teammate Emmanuel Kiprono two seconds behind. 

The women's U20 team title went to a tiebreaker between Kenya and Uganda, who both finished with 29 points. 

The difference came down to Kenyan fifth runner Miriam Chemutai Kibet, who was 11th, and Nancy Chepkwurui, who was 12th. They were separated by 12 seconds. Kenya won the team title. 

Ethiopia, again without a complete team, went 1-2-5 with its three runners. 

Marta Alemayo of Ethiopia won her second U20 title in 18:52 to go with the one she won in Belgrade, Serbia in 2024. Wosane Asefa was 26 seconds back in second. 

New Jersey high school standout Blair Bartlett boldly went out with the leaders for a while and was the top American finisher in 16th place (20:36). 

Japan earned bronze for its first team medal since 2019 with 87 points and the U.S. team finished fourth with 108.