F18-20 Half Marathon: Vanderbilt Runs Down the Win in Napa

• Emily Vanderbilt, 1:35:27 (7:17/mi) — wins the F18-20 field by 3:09 over runner-up Jade Schlatter.
• Schlatter surges late — moving from 136th to 126th among women on the back half with the 111th-fastest women's split on the 6.9M→Finish segment.
• Tight battle for 6th–7th: Vivian Bohmer (1:50:49) and Bella Crotty (1:51:04) finished just 15 seconds apart, with Sophie Widawsky (1:50:22) rounding out a three-way cluster across 5th–7th inside 42 seconds.
• A field of 14 spread from 1:35:27 to 3:00:21, with Izzie Malan closing out the F18-20 race at a 13:45/mi pace.

Emily Vanderbilt, 20, of Napa, came home in 1:35:27 at 7:17/mi to claim the F18-20 title — running on home turf in 55°F and humid morning air. Her race wasn't without drama: she drifted from 97th to 109th among women through the middle stretch before rallying back to 99th on the final push to the finish. That closing effort also produced the 83rd-fastest women's split on the 6.9M→Finish segment — a meaningful gear-change that sealed the win.

Jade Schlatter, 18, of Saint Helena, was the story of the second half. After crossing the 6.9-mile mark in 136th among women, she ran the back half with the 111th-fastest women's split in the field, climbing to 126th at the line and finishing in 1:38:36 (7:31/mi) — a clear catch-up on the field, even if the 3:09 gap to Vanderbilt was too much to close. Taylor Tam (1:41:11, 7:43/mi) rounded out the podium in 3rd, while Anura Bracey (1:43:41, 7:55/mi) finished 4th — both Tam and Bracey logging the 132nd and 133rd-fastest women's splits respectively on the 3.1M→6.9M segment before fading in the women's standings through the final miles.

The middle of the F18-20 field produced its own micro-race: Widawsky (1:50:22), Bohmer (1:50:49), and Crotty (1:51:04) were separated by just 42 seconds across 5th, 6th, and 7th. From there, the field spread out considerably — Nikki Nguyen (2:02:03), Soraya Johnson (2:08:10), Amanda Bui (2:10:48), and Alisha Jain (2:11:54) each carved out their own finish in the 9:00–10:05/mi range, with Candy Arroyo (2:22:12) and Sophie Thomsen (2:26:48) following. Izzie Malan completed all 14 F18-20 finishers at 3:00:21.