TALLAHASSEE – Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the best runners in the world Saturday at Apalachee Regional Park as the United States hosted the World Cross Country Championships for the first time since 1992.
The friendly crowd and entertainingly challenging course boosted Team USATF to a series of top-five finishes in the five team competitions, highlighted by a bronze for the U20 men.
Kenya won a third straight men's U20 team gold with a perfect score of 10 as they put their first four men across the finish line before any other nation. Uganda picked up silver in the team standings with 31 points, but it was the bronze for Team USATF that stood out. Matching their finish at Bathurst, Australia, in 2023, the Americans were led by Tyler Daillak, who apparently lost his shoe and timing chip along the way but was 16th in 24:46 to help the squad score 75 points.
Nike Cross winner Jackson Spencer took 18th in 25:00, just ahead of Daniel Skandera's 25:02 in 19th. USATF champion Aidan Torres was the final scorer, placing 22nd in 25:20. Salvador Wirth placed 30th in 25:39 and Dylan Maloney was 53rd in 27:03.
Torres in 21st and Spencer in 24th went through the first kilometer in 2:50. Those two stayed in close contact through 3K, with Torres 20th in 9:00 and Spencer 21st in 9:03, and Skandera surged into 24th in 9:06. Wirth was 37th at 9:14.
At the halfway point Torres was 19th in 12:12, one second ahead of Spencer in 21st, and Skandera was 23rd in 12:16. Spencer passed Torres by 5K, taking over 19th in 15:27, two seconds ahead of Torres and Skandera in 20th and 21st, respectively. Wirth picked up two places to sit 36th in 15:48.
Continuing to pick off runners, Spencer was 18th at 6K in 18:40 and Skandera passed Torres for 20th, while Wirth steadily moved up into 34th. Over the penultimate kilometer Skandera moved up to Spencer's shoulder as the duo were 17th and 18th, and Torres held on in 21st with Wirth pushing through the ranks in 31st.
Completing a hat trick with his third straight individual title in the men's 10K, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo stormed away from the star-studded field in the final kilometers to win by 18 seconds in 28:18. The man who took silver behind him in those two previous races, Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi, was again the runner-up, this time clocking 28:36. Kenya's Daniel Ebenyo earned bronze in 28:45.
USATF champion Parker Wolfe was the top American in 12th at 29:28, with Wesley Kiptoo two places behind him in 29:34. Graham Blanks placed 19th in 29:41and Nico Young 36th in 30:19 as Team USATF scored 81 points for fourth place. Ahmed Muhumed was the other U.S. finisher, taking 46th in 30:53. USATF runner-up Rocky Hansen was a late withdrawal.
Kiptoo boldly moved to the front through 2K in 5:39 and stayed in the lead for another kilometer before being absorbed by the pack at 4K. Wolfe was 15th at the halfway mark, splitting 14:32 for 5K, and Kiptoo was 18th with the same time. Blanks had moved up to 22nd in 14:35, and Young was 35th in 14:46.
At 8K Wolfe was 12th in 23:31, two places and five seconds ahead of Kiptoo, with Blanks gaining ground to sit 19th in 23:44. Heading into the final kilometer Wolfe held position as Kiptoo assumed 13th and Blanks stayed in 19th, but Young couldn't improve in 36th.
Ethiopia's women had four runners in the top seven to take the team trophy in the senior 10K race, scoring 19 to top Kenya (36) and Uganda (37). Moving up from fourth in 2024, Agnes Ngetich of Kenya crushed the field for the individual crown with a 31:28 that put her 42 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger. Ednah Kurgat turned in the best U.S. individual finish since Shalane Flanagan's bronze in 2011, crossing the line 10th in 33:28 to help Team USATF score 83 for fourth place.
Karissa Schweizer was 17th in 33:58, with Katie Izzo 25th in 34:25 and Grace Hartman 32nd in 34:47. Emily Venters was 33rd in 34:48, and USATF champion Weini Kelati ended up 40th in 35:25 after an aggressive first half that saw her in the top 15 through 8K.
Kelati was 10th at 2K in 6:12, five seconds ahead of Kurgat in 19th and the other four Americans in the top 26. By the 5K mark, Kelati (16:11) and Kurgat (16:20) were 11th and 12th as the pack started to stretch out a bit. Schweizer was 22nd in 16:45, one second in front of Hartman in 25th, with Venters and Izzo sitting in 27th and 28th another second back.
With 2K to go Kurgat had moved ahead of Kelati, passing 8K in 26:34 in 11th, 23 seconds up on Kelati in 13th, and Schweizer had improved to 16th in 27:05. Hartman was 26th in 27:29, two places ahead of Venters and Izzo. Kurgat picked up one spot over the next kilo and was 10th with 1000 meters to go, while Schweizer eased up into 14th and Izzo 24th. Kelati gamely hung on in 28th side-by-side with Hartman and Venters.
Easily defending the U20 women's title she won at Belgrade in 2024, Ethiopia's Marta Alemayo dominated the 6K race in 18:52, winning by 26 seconds to lead a 1-2 finish for her country. For the first time in Championships history, a nation other than Ethiopia or Kenya finished atop the podium, with Uganda winning a tiebreaker with Kenya as both tallied 29 points. Japan earned team bronze with 87, and Team USATF's runners scored 108 to match their fourth-place finish from 2024.
Nike Cross Nationals runner-up Blair Bartlett was in the top 10 through the first kilometer, holding eighth in 3:03, and then fell back to 15th over the next kilo, going past 2K in 6:25. She maintained that place through 3K in 9:54, with teammate Daniela Scheffler moving up to 17th in 10:08. At 4K, Bartlett was 16th in 13:32, 11 seconds up on Scheffler in 18th, and Abigail Sewell was the third U.S. runner in 38th.
Bartlett closed very strongly to take 16th in 20:36, and Scheffler ended up 20th in 20:53. Sewell also moved up over the final loop to place 33rd in 21:23, while Caroline Barton rounded out the scorers for the American quartet in 39th at 21:35. Norah Hushagen took 53rd in 22:33 and Avery Marasco-Johnson was 58th in 23:01.
The mixed relay kicked off festivities, and last year's NCAA indoor 3000 champion Ethan Strand was the first American to toe the line. Team USATF had never mounted the podium in the previous four editions of this event, with a fourth-place effort in 2019 the best finish, but a high-powered middle-distance group elevated American hopes.
Strand, a World Championships 1500 semifinalist at Tokyo in September, ran a brilliant leadoff leg to hand off with a one stride lead over Kenya, clocking 5:12 for his circuit. Sage Hurta-Klecker, who was fifth in the 800 at Tokyo last fall, fell back on the second loop and was sixth at the pass after a 6:10 split, 11 seconds adrift of leaders Australia.
Hurta-Klecker handed off to Wes Porter, and the Virginia runner acquitted himself well with a savvy 5:18 carry that put the U.S. squad in third at the final exchange, nine seconds behind the leaders. Reigning USATF 2K champion Gracie Morris couldn't hold that position, dropping back to fifth and crossing the line in 22:43 after a 6:03 split. It was the third time the Americans have finished fifth in the event. Australia captured the gold in 22:23 ahead of France (22:26) and Ethiopia (22:34), with 2024 champions Kenya (22:42) in fourth, the first time the country failed to medal in the event.
Complete results are available here.