M18-20: Diotte Leads Wire-to-Wire in Napa's Youngest Men's Field

• Alex Diotte wins in 3:14:36 (7:25/mi), climbing from 147th to 107th among men in the second half of the race.
• Gap at the top: Diotte finished 6:18 ahead of runner-up Will Clemens (3:20:54), with 3rd through 4th separated by just 27 seconds.
• Closest battle: Cole Logrande (3:28:06) edged Berjo Eldemir (3:28:33) for 3rd — but it was Logrande who made up the ground late, posting the 171st-fastest men's split on the 20M-to-finish stretch while Eldemir faded from 147th to 211th among men over that same window.
• Youngest finisher: 18-year-old Youqi Lu placed 5th in 3:37:17, running the 151st-fastest men's split on the final stretch to climb from 317th to 259th in the men's field.

Alex Diotte came to Napa from Saint Eustache, QC and left no doubt about who owned the M18-20 field. Running a steady 7:25/mi, he was already pulling clear of his peers at the halfway point and kept climbing through the men's field all afternoon — moving from 147th among men at the half to 107th by the finish. His 94th-fastest men's split on the 13.1M-to-20M stretch was the engine of that surge, and the 6:18 margin he built over Will Clemens by the finish line made this one of the more decisive wins in the field.

Clemens (3:20:54, 7:40/mi) held 2nd comfortably enough, but the real drama unfolded behind him. Berjo Eldemir of Hillsborough looked like a podium threat through the middle miles — he was 147th among men at the 20-mile mark — but faded badly over the final stretch, slipping all the way to 211th in the men's field. That opened the door for Cole Logrande, who ran the 171st-fastest men's split from 20M to the finish to claim 3rd in 3:28:06, just 27 seconds clear of Eldemir's 3:28:33.

Beyond the podium, 13 runners completed the point-to-point Silverado Trail course in conditions that were cool and manageable at 48°F. Fremont's Youqi Lu, one of three 18-year-olds in the field, was the standout among the younger athletes, finishing 5th in 3:37:17 with a strong closing split. At the back, Isamar Alcazar Ortiz of Napa finished 13th in 5:41:14 — every finisher here covered 26.2 miles, and that counts.