NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

2003 Albuquerque XC Junior Olympics - from George Green

Here is an update of how California teams fared in the top 3 award positions
at the USATF Nationals.

Midget Girls
1. Southern California Roadrunners, San Diego
2. Los Gatos Track Club

Youth Girls
1. Buffalo Chips (Sacramento)

Intermediate Girls
1. Buffalo Chips (Sacramento)
2. Valley United Striders (Granada Hills)

Bantam Boys
3. Valley United Striders (Granada Hills)

Youth Boys
2. Equalizers Track Club

-George Green

Yesterday at the USATF National Junior Olympic Youth Cross Country
Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, San Diego’s Southern
California Road Runners won the Midget Girls (born in 1991 – 1992) National
Championship. What’s remarkable about this accomplishment is two of the top
girls on the team succumbed to the mile-high altitude with breathing
problems. The team, however, was deep enough to overcome this deficit and
win over Los Gatos Athletics (California) by a score of 79 to 103. The third
place team was Wasatch Athletics out of Provo Utah with 107 points. Three
Roadrunners were named All-Americans by finishing in the top 25 out of the
300 plus field. Erin Gillingham placed 2nd over the 3k course in 11:33.7
followed by Haidee Ortiz (8th in 12:19.7) and Dede Spinler (17th in
12:25.7). The remaining team members’ order of finish were Vanessa Zucker,
Tiffany Duffy, Shanna StLaurent, Bridget Nicolai and Sallie Privett. Out of
all races, seven individual Roadrunners qualified as All-Americans. In the
Bantam division (born in 1993 – 1994.) Darren Fahy placed 3rd in the boys’
race and Maegan Garritson 19th in the girls’ event. In the Midget Boys’ race
Parker Stinson made the cut in 21st place. In the Youth Boys’ division (born
in 1989 – 1990) Travis Kuhlman placed 18th. Out of all 10 divisions (5 girls
and 5 boys), and over 2,500 runners the SCRR’s midget girls were one of only
two California teams to win a National Championship and is the only youth
team in San Diego dedicated to distance and cross country running and we
took 46 runners to the Nationals. Details about the team and how to join can
be found at our web site at: http://scrr-sd.com.

2003 Albuquerque Xc Junior Olympics - from Joe Hartman
Winners
Females:
Youth Girls: Nicole Cochran, South Hill (WA) 4k, 15:50
Inter Girls: Meredith Snow, Unattached (Mo.) 5k, 19:14
Young Women: Amber Harper, Sojourners (UT) 5k, 18:47
Amber Harper was designated the female athlete of the meet
Quote from Albuquerque Journal: BYU freshman Amber Harper: "I thought I was done running after (the NCAA meet). But I love USATF. It's just so fun."

Boys:
Youth Boys: Matthew Freker, Issaquah (WA) 4k, 14:15
Inter Boys: Joseph Parker, Silver State Striders (NV) 5k, 16:51
Young Men: Brandon Hebert, Team Provo (UT) 5k, 16:44
Joseph Parker was designate the male athlete of the meet.

There were 2700 runners at the meet hosted by the New Mexico Associaton of USATF. The meet director was Ron Mascarenas. Saturday's hi in Albuquerque was 44 degrees in brilliant sunshine. The Lovelace Soccer Complex, perched on a mile high mesa approximately 18 miles north of downtown Albuquerque, is often windy and Saturday was no exception. As the various courses wound their way through the 32-field complex, there were precious few trees to stop the wind which was probably driving at 10-15 mph with slightly higher gusts. The day turned out actually be quite nice compared to Friday, when up to 3 inches of snow from an early morning storm covered the course and canceled the course walkthrough. A much bigger factor was the high altitude which left many runners' lungs burning for hours after the race. The race was run nearly entirely on grass surface which was slightly softer on the lower-elevation fields. The Top 25 runners in each of the 10 races received USATF medals and hand-made, hand-painted native-American pottery. Ron and Liza Mascarenas and the New Mexico Asscociation were extremely friendly hosts and thousands of runners will have great memories from thier stay in the southwest.

National Championship Competitors!! - Dec 13th New Mexico

Region 14 - Central Calif/Pacific/Northern Nevada

Region 15 - Hawaii, So Nev, San Diego, So Calif

Race Schedule - Sat 12/13
Age Division Year of Birth Distance Start time
Bantam Girls 1993 or later 3000m 10:00am
Bantam Boys 1993 or later 3000m 10:30am
Midget Girls 1991-1992 3000m 11:00am
Midget Boys 1991-1992 3000m 11:30am
Youth Girls 1989-1990 4000m 12:00pm
Youth Boys 1989-1990 4000m 12:30pm
Intermediate Girls 1987-1988 5000m 1:00pm
Intermediate Boys 1987-1988 5000m 1:30pm
Young Women 1985-1986 5000m 2:00pm
Young Men 1985-1986 5000m 2:30pm

Regional Championships

USATF Junior Olympic Cross-Country

2003 Championships - December 13, 2003
Lovelace New Mexico Soccer Complex - Bernalillo, NM (north of Albuquerque)

National Finals Meet Information

Athlete Passport Booklet Link