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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 running strong!
Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com
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
