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GREAT AMERICAN ANNOUNCES 2002 PLANS
Charlotte, NC - Saturday, February 02, 2002 -- The organizing
committee of The Great American Cross Country Festival announced
today that the 2002 event will be held at the Ballantyne Resort,
which is located outside of Charlotte, North Carolina and twenty
minutes from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
The Festival will open on Friday, September 27 and continue through
Saturday evening, September 28, 2002. Great American includes 35
cross-country races, promoted as Nike's Great Races of America,
a Friday night pasta dinner, a wildly successful Saturday night
Harrier's Ball and celebrity athletes. New to 2002 will be a free
golf outing for coaches and celebrity athletes on Friday and Saturday.
Ballantyne, a former hunting preserve nestled in the gentle foothills
of the southern Piedmont, features an 18-hole golf course designed
for championship tournaments and large spectator crowds. The resort
also includes four hotels, a convention center, a variety of restaurants,
a state of the art spa, an indoor swimming pool, and a full size
fitness center.
The 5K and 8K cross-country courses, will weave through wooded
sections adjacent to the golf course, over lush grass lawns on the
golf course fairways, around lakes and ponds and over ridges with
vast panoramic views of the Piedmont.
"Ballantyne offers an ideal combination of hotels, restaurants
and most importantly an outstanding course," said Rick Hill,
Executive Director of Great American." Upon arrival teams will
not need to leave the property until Sunday morning. "All hotel
rooms within the resort will be within an easy walk of the course,
package pick-up, restaurants and group functions," Hill added.
The primary resort hotel has a number of large public gathering
areas suited for the Great American format. "A major benefit
of Great American is the sharing of knowledge and the creation of
new friendships. The resort hotel has several living room areas
where coaches and athletes can sit in informal gatherings over-looking
the golf course," Hill said. The resort also includes a Marriott
Courtyard, a Staybridge Suites where an entire team can stay in
one suite and an executive lodge. Charlotte's newest regional mall,
500 overflow hotel rooms and a 22-screen cinema, are also located
within five minutes of the resort.
The Ballantyne Cross Country course will be a challenging, all-grass
running surface, not typically seen in the south. One important
aspect of Ballantyne is that the course has a controlled access.
Entry into the starting and finish areas will be by way of a secured
tunnel under a ridge. The start will be in a natural tree lined
amphitheater adjacent to a very large and steep hill, which is terraced
to hold several thousand spectators. The finish is along a lake
framed by hills for excellent spectator viewing. Spectators will
be controlled by stonewalls, creeks and footbridges. However, almost
the entire race will be visible from several strategic viewing points.
The 2002 event projects 5000 runners from 40 states, Canada, Great
Britain and Mexico to compete in one of 35 races. The event has
grown from 1800 runners in 1999 to approximately 4600 runners in
2001. However, the event will focus more on elite level competition
in the coming years and meet organizers will restrict growth through
a number of standards and qualification requirements. "It has
always been our intent to be a premiere in-season cross-country
meet and we have achieved that goal at the high school level. We
now plan to make major in-roads into achieving that same level of
competition in youth, collegiate and adult divisions, " Hill
announced.
Past Great American winners of the girls' division were Bingham
(UT) in 1999 and Saratoga Springs (NY) in 2000 and 2001. The boys'
divisional winners were The Woodlands (TX) in 1999, Mountain View
(UT) in 2000 and Kingwood (TX) in 2001. Historic powers that have
also participated include Bend (OR), Bowman (ND), Campbell County
(WY), Christian Brothers Academy (NJ), Flathead (MT), Long Beach
Poly (CA), Londonderry (VT), Manchester Central (NH), and Mead (WA).
However Hill added, "Teams are selected without regard to any
outside ranking and well before any polls are released. A win in
Great American only determines which team was the best on that day
among the attending teams. Great American is more about education
and creating a shared identity among a highly diverse group of athletes
than establishing bragging rights for any one team. I hope, in time,
we will be measured by our development of better citizens than any
other standard."
The Friday evening races will include elementary and middle school
races, collegiate races and an Open race for post collegiate runners
with an Adult Club Championship. The Saturday High School races
will include the highly competitive Race of Champions, an Invitational
Division, Small School Challenge and Parochial School Race. To maximize
competition, the Open High School race held the past three years
has been eliminated and now all teams in the Invitational will compete
against each other in combined scoring of several sections.
Great American's 2002 date is one week later than in previous years
and falls within in the period in which teams can earn points for
at large bids to the NCAA Championship. "This new date, had
made an immediate and major impact in the quality of our meet at
the collegiate level," reported Hill. "In recent years
many of the best high school runners in the nation have run in Great
American events. Now, we will see many more of them return in the
collegiate division and the overall depth of the collegiate races
will come up to the level of excellence previously achieved in the
high school races".
In 2001, North Carolina State won both the men and women's collegiate
races. The women's race also featured Brigham Young University,
the eventual NCAA Champion, Arkansas, and University of North Carolina.
The men's race included Michigan and individual champion Alan Webb
who has won every Great American race he has run in for the first
3 years of the meet's existence.
Hill stated, "In the past few years, Great American's Collegiate
races were largely regional competitions with a few notable additions
like BYU and Michigan. In 2002, you will see top collegiate teams
from every region of the nation. This is an important enhancement
of our Festival as it gives high school runners a chance to observe
many of the nation's top collegiate programs and a chance for top
individuals to be observed by collegiate coaches before the early
NCAA signing period".
Last year, Saratoga Springs (NY) won the high school Girls' Race
of Champions and Kingwood (TX) won the Boys' Race of Champions.
Both teams remained undefeated in 2001 and won their state championships
and they will return in 2002 with deep and talented squads. The
balance of the high school team field will be announced in May and
elite individuals in early June.
As of February 1, over 300 teams had requested entry forms and
approximately 80% of the team spots in the Race of Champions and
Seeded Invitational races were taken.
Teams seeking entry into the meet should send a self-addressed
envelope with $2.00 in postage to Great American, Cross Country
Festival, 8710 Lake Challis Lane, Charlotte, NC and enter the meets
Registration data base by going to GreatAmericanSports.com.
For additional information contact: Rick Hill, Executive Director.
Great American Cross Country Festival Inc. 704-752-1887. E-mail:
[email protected]
2002 Great American XC Festival
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