If you know of additonal JO XC photo Web sites, email us the links to post here.
Midget Boys Division start: an amazing group of youth athletes!
Scott Taggart / gentlearc.com photos
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!
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.
Youth Girls running strong!
Check out how successful our athletes were in the results below with photos.
Bantam Girls, L to R: 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 (L to R): 2nd place – Richard Reed (Unattached) 11:24; 7th place – Timothy Falls (Pleasanton Heat) 11:30; 12th place – Kent Slaney (Palo Alto Lightning) 11:37
Bantam Boys continued (L to R): 14th place – Gavin Hill (Castro Valley) 11:39; 16th place – Alexander Sokol (Pleasanton Heat) 11:43; 23rd place – Sampson Reynolds (Pleasanton Heat) 11:50
Bantam Boys Team Scores: Pleasanton Heat (4th place); Roseville PAL Express (14th place); Silver State Striders (16th place)
