DyeStat.com – News – U.S. Men’s and Women’s Teams Both Achieve Bronze Medals in Bathurst at World Athletics U20 Cross Country Championships

Ellie Shea places 10th to help American women capture first team medal in event history, with Leo Young securing 16th to lead U.S. lineup to first podium finish since 1982 and eighth all-time medal at meet, as country’s elite prep athletes shine in Australia

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Seven high school athletes, including four national champions, contributed to the most memorable day in meet history for American competitors Saturday at the World Athletics U20 Cross Country Championships at Mount Panorama in Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia.

For the first time since the addition of the women’s Under-20 race to the event schedule in 1989, the U.S. team captured a medal, relying on four top 20 finishes to secure bronze with 54 points.

Ethiopia won its fourth consecutive women’s Under-20 team gold with 15 points and Kenya placed second with 22 points.

The American men’s Under-20 lineup also rose to the occasion with four top 25 performances to capture bronze, the first medal for the U.S. since finishing third in 1982 in Rome.

It marked the eighth all-time team medal for the American men in 44 editions of the Under-20 global competition, including five championships (1974-77, 1981), plus a silver in 1980 and the aforementioned bronze in 1982.

Kenya edged Ethiopia by a 22-23 margin for the men’s Under-20 team title, the first gold for the country since 2015 in China.

Leo Young from Newbury Park High in California – the USATF U20 champion Jan. 21 in Virginia – took 16th in the men’s 8-kilometer race to lead the Americans, clocking 26 minutes, 3 seconds.

Young became the first U.S. men’s Under-20 athlete to place in the top 20 since Matt McClintock achieved 20th in 2013 in Poland.

Marco Langon, a freshman at Villanova, finished 19th in 26:16, helping the Americans have two athletes place in the top 20 for the first time since German Fernandez was 11th and Chris Derrick took 15th in 2009 in Amman, Jordan.

Air Force Academy freshman Max Sannes was 21st in 26:24 and Kole Mathison, the Champs Sports national champion representing Carmel High in Indiana, capped the American team scoring with a 25th-place performance in 26:42.

Wisconsin freshman Micah Wilson took 27th in 26:50 and Washington freshman Evan Jenkins earned 53rd in 28:00.

Ellie Shea, a junior at Belmont High in Massachusetts representing Emerging Elites, overcame an early fall to regroup and place 10th in the women’s 6-kilometer race in 21:48.

It marked the first top-10…