Home
Contacts

2009 National USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships

Rancho San Rafael Park - Reno Nevada

December 12, 2009

Pacific Association Athletes Shine through the Snow!

by Maura Kent with photos courtesy of Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com

For complete results visit the 2009 National JOXC Championships Homepage

More incredible photos & videos can be viewed at these links:

Pleasanton Heat TC Web Site

Flicker Account for shortCHINESEguy

Scott Taggert - Gentlearc.com Photos (coming soon)

YouTube Bantam Boys Start

If you know of additonal JO XC photo and/or video Web site posts , email us the links to place here.

start in snow
Midget Boys Division start: an amazing group of youth athletes!

Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com photo

The night before the big races ... the 2009 USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country National Championships ... the skies dropped 4"-6" of snow on the course.  This on top of 6"-10" that had fallen several days earlier.  Throughout the day of the competitions it continued to snow but that didn't slow down the talented youth athletes of the Pacific Association (PA).  To ensure athletes could compete in their events all races were delayed by one hour to allow everyone time to gain access to the park.  This was due to the challenges cars had maneuvering through the snow filled roads into Rancho San Rafael Park, Reno, NV.  For the third year in a row the PA rented a tent for our athletes to stage in before and after their events which helped in dealing with the wet and cold environment.  
 
To earn All American status an athlete had to finish in the top 25 individuals or their team had to finish in the top 3 teams.  How exciting to be able to recognize All American Pacific Association athletes in each age group that was contested.  To cap it off ... two PA athletes won their divisions:  Christine Bayliss of Roseville PAL Express won the Midget Girls race and Sam Blake of Los Gatos won the Midget Boys race ... this is his second year in a row winning a national title!
 
One amazing story came from the third place finisher in the Youth Girls race.  At approximately the 800m mark her right shoe came off when the girl behind her stepped on the back of her shoe.  She still managed the run the last 2 miles without her shoe.  Along the way someone handed her the shoe so she could carry it across the finish line since it held her timing chip.  Way to go, Clare Carroll of Roseville PAL Express.  Do have stories or pictures to share of PA youth athletes who competed in the National USATF Junior Olympic meet?  Submit them to the PA webmaster so they can be posted to our website and shared with the rest of the youth athletes.
 
The trip to Reno was worth the effort.  Check out how successful our athletes were in the results below.

  • Bantam Girls
    • 2nd place - Julia Bounds (Pleasanton  Heat) 12:05
    • 10th place -  Rylee Woen (Santa Rosa  Express) 12:32
    • 20th place - Blanca Sosa (Silver State  Striders) 12:47
      • Team Scores:
        • Pleasanton Heat (6th  place)
        • Roseville PAL Express (13th  place)
  • Bantam Boys
    • 2nd place - Reed Richard  (Unattached) 11:24
    • 7th place - Timothy Falls  (Pleasanton Heat) 11:30
    • 12th place - Kent Slaney (Palo Alto  Lightning) 11:37
    • 14th place - Gavin Hill (Castro  Valley) 11:39
    • 16th place - Alexander Sokol (Pleasanton  Heat) 11:43
    • 23rd place - Sampson Reynolds (Pleasanton  Heat) 11:50
      • Team Scores:
        • Pleasanton Heat (4th  place)
        • Roseville PAL Express (14th  place)
        • Silver State Striders (16th  place)
  • Midget Girls
    • 1st place - Christine Bayliss (Roseville  PAL Express) 10:55
    • 6th place - Chloe Pigg (Roseville PAL  Express) 11:33
    • 23rd place - Eleanor Velez (Unattached)  11:54
      • Team Scores:
        • Roseville PAL Express (12th  place)
        • Pleasanton Heat (14th  place)
        • Modoc Braves (18th  place)
  • Midget Boys
    • 1st place - Samuel Blake (Los Gatos AA)  10:12
    • 3rd place - Steven Sum (Los Gatos AA)  10:32
    • 16th place - Peter Schlachte (Pleasanton  Heat) 10:54
    • 19th place - Mason LaBodie (Silver State  Striders) 11:01
    • 25th place - Andrew Dobrowski (Silver  State Striders) 11:07
      • Team Scores
        • Los Gatos (2nd place)
        • Pleasanton Heat A (3rd  place)
        • Pleasanton Heat B (18th  place)
  • Youth Girls
    • 3rd place - Clare Carroll (Roseville PAL  Express) 15:28
    • 13th place - Sophie Hartley (Diablo  Valley) 15:43
    • 24th place - Kristina Martinez  (Unattached) 16:11
      • Team Scores
        • Buffalo Chips B (8th  place)
        • Roseville PAL Express (10th  place)
        • Diablo Valley Track (15th  place)
  • Youth Boys
    • 3rd place - Kevin Poteracke (Santa Rosa  Express) 13:52
    • 11th place - Connor McCarthy (Pleasanton  Heat) 14:09
    • 13th place - Spencer Cudworth  (Unattached) 14:15
    • 17th place - Caton Avilla (Pleasanton  Heat) 14:18
    • 21st place - Aidan Goltra (Pleasanton  Heat) 14:21
      • Team Scores
        • Pleasanton Heat A (1st  place)
        • Pleasanton Heat B (12th  place)
        • Roseville PAL Express (13th  place)
  • Intermediate Girls
    • 4th place - Jessie Petersen (RF United)  19:17
    • 8th place - Emma Freeman (Buffalo Chips  B) 19:28
    • 9th place - Shelby McIntyre (Buffalo  Chips B) 19:30
    • 11th place - Brooke Holt (Buffalo Chips)  19:39
    • 18th place - Savannah Camacho (San Luis  Distance Club) 19:51
    • 19th place - Natalie Dimits (Pleasanton  Heat) 19:53
    • 23rd place - Shayna Powless (Buffalo  Chips D) 20:05
    • 24th place - Haley Kroll (Pacific United)  20:06
      • Team Score
        • Buffalo Chips B (2nd  place)
        • Buffalo Chips D (4th  place)
        • Pacific United (5th  place)
  • Intermediate Boys
    • 15th place - Parker Duel (Pleasanton  Heat) 16:47
    • 20th place - Mathew Ruppenthal (Asics  Aggie B) 16:52
    • 23rd place - Nathanael Williams  (Unattached) 16:57
    • 25th place - Christopher Bolt (Asics  Aggie) 17:03
      • Pleasanton Heat (5th place)
      • Asics Aggie Running (7th  place)
      • RF United (10th place)
Youth Girls
Youth Girls running strong!

Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com

Clare Carroll
3rd place - Clare Carroll (Roseville PAL  Express) 15:28 - How tough can she be? Missing a shoe and still taking third place in the Youth Girls Division!

Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com

  • Young Women
    • 4th place - Kelsey Smith (Buffalo Chips)  19:27
    • 5th place - Breanna Lewis (Buffalo Chips)  19:28
    • 6th place - Hayley Scott (Buffalo Chips)  19:30
    • 10th place - Michelle Mowry (Buffalo  Chips) 19:43
    • 13th place - Katherine Mcfarren (Buffalo  Chips) 20:05
    • 14th place - Christine Zavesky (Buffalo  Chips) 20:09
    • 15th place - Maureen May (Buffalo Chips  B) 20:10
    • 16th place - Kristine Lozoya (Buffalo  Chips) 20:10
    • 20th place - Demery Kirsch (Unattached)  20:23
    • 22nd place - Sarah Brandt (Pacific  United) 20:30
    • 23rd place - Sara Howard (Ascis Aggie)  20:32)
      • Team Score
        • Buffalo Chips (1st place)
        • Buffalo Chips B (4th  place)
        • Asics Aggie Running (6th  place)
  • Young Men
    • 4th place - Geoffrey Hull (Unattached)  16:22
    • 13th place - Benjamin Heck (RF United)  16:34
    • 14th place - Amje Akoukhadijeh  (Unattached) 16:36
      • Team Score
        • RF United (6th  place)