FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Winitz
Pacific Association/USATF Communications Manager
Tel: (650) 948-0618 Direct
PACIFIC ASSOCIATION STRONG AT USATF NATIONAL CLUB AND NATIONAL JUNIOR OLYMPIC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
FOLSOM, CALIF. – December 13, 2007 – Last weekend, Pacific Association/USA Track and Field athletes and teams turned in outstanding performances at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships and the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.
USATF NATIONAL CLUB CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
The USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, held December 7 in West Chester, Ohio, featured the top clubs from across the United States vying for top honors and bragging rights as the nation’s top cross country team. Over 110 clubs and 1,130 competitors participated at the event with clubs competing for a total prize purse of $25,000, with $20,000 going to the top open teams. Open and masters races were held at distances of 10-kilometers for men and 6-kilometers for women. The event was held under cloudy skies, with temperatures beginning in the high 30s.
In the open men’s championship club competition, the Pacific Association’s Asics Aggies Running Club finished third and Oakland, Calif.-based Transports adidas Racing Team finished fourth. The Asics Aggies’ squad was led by 2007 Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo All-American Phillip Reid (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) who finished 11th overall. Transports adidas’ first finisher was recent University of California-Berkeley standout Giliat Ghebray (Union City, Calif.) who finished 9th. 2006 Stanford University graduate and Watsonville, Calif. resident Brett Gotcher (currently training in Albuquerque, New Mexico) was 7th overall, and first PA/USATF man.
Among open women, Katy Trotter (Palo Alto, Calif.) finished 4th overall, representing her Peninsula Distance Club (no scoring team) well. Kara June (San Luis Obispo) finished 19th, and was the top scorer for the Asics Aggies, which was the top placing PA/USATF women’s team (13th).
Led by Ryan Warrenburg’s (Blowing Rock, NC) overall win, the men from North Carolina-based ZAP Fitness won their second consecutive USATF national team championship, while the Run Ohio Racing Team won the women’s title.
In the masters championship, PA/USATF’s San Francisco-based Impala Racing Team placed first in the women’s age 50 to 59 division and Marin County, Calif.-based Tamalpa Runners placed 2nd in the men’s age 50 to 59 age division. Michele Montgomery (Kentfield, Calif.) was the top scorer for Impala and Brian Pilcher (Ross, Calif.) anchored Tamalpa’s team.
USATF NATIONAL JUNIOR OLYMPIC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
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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