On December 8th, more than 2.100 athletes aged 8 to 18 from all 57 USATF Associations 
competed for boy's and girls' titles in five age divisions at the 2007 USATF National 
Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships presented by Finish Line at Rim Rock Farm 
in Lawrence, Kansas. The Rim Rock Farm course over hill and dale is considered one of 
the most difficult and most "pure" cross country courses in the nation.

The USATF Junior Olympic program's age divisions are bantam (born 1997 or later) 
racing over 3 kilometers; midget (born 1995 or 1996) racing 3 km; youth (born 1993 or 
1994) racing 4 km; intermediate (born 1991 or 1992) racing 5 km; and young men/women 
(born 1989 or 1990) racing 5 km.

PA/USATF's Buffalo Chips Running Club, based in the Sacramento area, won the national 
team titles in the intermediate girls' and young women's age divisions. Kelsey Smith 
(age 16, South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) placed third individually for the Buffalo Chips 
intermediate girls' team, and was narrowly nabbed by less than a second by Team Idaho's 
Elizabeth Brandan at the finish. Crystal Esparza (age 17, Riverbank, Calif.) led the 
Buffalo Chips young women's team with a 4th place individual finish.  Buffalo Chips' 
teams also placed 4th in the youth girls' division, and 5th in youth boys.

Additional PA/USATF club teams that performed admirably included: Pacific United 
(2nd in the intermediate girls' and young women's divisions), and Pleasanton Heat 
(3rd in bantam boys, 4th in midget boys, and 4th in midget girls).

Additional top-10 PA/USATF girls performers included Joelle Slater (3rd in young women, 
Pacific United, Sacramento, Calif.), Corissa Storms (5th in youth girls, Pacific United, 
Cottonwood, Calif.), Maria Malone (5th in intermediate girls, Buffalo Chips, Folsom, 
Calif.), Lauren Petersen (7th in intermediate girls, Pacific United, Sacramento), Hillary 
Kigar (7th in young women, Buffalo Chips, Citrus Heights, Calif.), Kyla Aiuto (8th in
midget girls, Pleasanton Heat, Danville, Calif.), Eleanor Velez (9th in bantam girls, 
Buffalo Chips, El Dorado Hills, Calif.), and Kate Lambdin (9th in young women, Buffalo 
Chips, South Lake Tahoe, Calif.).

Top-10 PA/USATF boys performers included Samuel Blake (5th in bantam boys, Los Gatos 
Athletic Association, Campbell, Calif.), Bradford Avilla, Jr. (6th in midget boys, 
Roseville Express, Wilton, Calif.), Clark Skinner (7th in bantam boys, Buffalo Chips, 
Cameron Park, Calif.), Brynn Sargent (8th in midget boys, Roseville Express, Folsom. 
Calif.), Brandon Nied (9th in intermediate boys, unattached, Reno, Nev.), and Matthew 
Petrillo (10th in young men, Los Gatos Athletic Association, Los Gatos, Calif.).

The Pacific Association is the largest member association of USA Track & Field (USATF). 
We serve northern California and northwestern Nevada. USATF is the National Governing 
Body for track and field, long distance running, and race walking in the United States. 
For more information about the Pacific Association, visit our Web site at www.pausatf.org.

For more information about the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, 
and the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships, including complete 
results, please visit www.usatf.org.

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