Boston Marathon F18-39: Lokedi Seizes Control Early and Never Lets Go

• Sharon Lokedi won the F18-39 age group in 2:18:51 (5:18/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the 15K→20K segment to build her lead — and she never relinquished it.
• 44 seconds separated 1st through 4th; Lokedi, Loice Chemnung (2:19:35), Mary Ngugi-Cooper (2:20:07), and Mercy Chelangat (2:20:30) all broke 2:21 in a fiercely competitive top tier.
• Jess Mcclain (5th, 2:20:49) and Irine Cheptai (6th, 2:20:54) were separated by just 5 seconds, rounding out a top six that was all inside 2:21.
• Amanda Vestri (15th, 2:24:49), Kodi Kleven (14th, 2:24:48), and Elena Hayday (13th, 2:24:45) finished within 4 seconds of each other — three runners, one tight cluster across positions 13 through 15.

Sharon Lokedi's victory was built on aggression, not patience. She entered the 15K checkpoint in 4th among the women, then surged through the 15K-to-20K segment — the fastest women's split on that stretch — to vault to the lead. From that point forward, her gender place read 1→1→1→1→1: no one got close enough to threaten. Her 2:18:51 at 5:18/mi set the standard in a field of 5,716 F18-39 finishers.

The real chase race unfolded behind her. Loice Chemnung was as far back as 13th among women at 15K, but she ran the fastest women's split from 20K to the half-marathon mark — a decisive catch-up move that hauled her into 2nd by halfway, where she stayed. Chemnung's 2:19:35 was a strong runner-up performance, 44 seconds adrift of Lokedi. Mary Ngugi-Cooper, also 14th at 15K, mounted a similar surge and posted the 2nd-fastest women's split from 30K to 20 miles, climbing to 3rd by the finish in 2:20:07.

Mercy Chelangat and Jess Mcclain traded places throughout — Chelangat was as high as 2nd among women at the half before eventually settling into 4th (2:20:30), while Mcclain, who posted the 2nd-fastest women's split from 20K to the half, finished 5th in 2:20:49. Those two were separated by 19 seconds at the tape. Further back, Annie Frisbie (8th, 2:22:00) and Emily Sisson (9th, 2:22:39) led a deep American contingent, with the top 20 stretching from Lokedi's 2:18:51 all the way to Megan O'Neil's 2:31:31 — a testament to the depth across this age group on a cool, fast Boston morning.