Recupero, Lanese, Beeler, Rain City Flyers win national Junior Olympic titles in Kentucky

Pacific Northwest Results Scoreboard

Last Saturday (11-Dec), 135 athletes representing 11 teams from the Pacific Northwest association competed at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Paris, Kentucky. 
 
A total of 2548 athletes and 175 teams from across the country competed in the championships.  

Pacific Northwest clubs that fielded complete scoring teams were: West Seattle Road Runners (6 teams), Rain City Flyers (3 teams), and Federal Way Track (1 team)

Races were contested in 6 age divisions (8 & under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18) for boys and girls.  The top 25 finishers in each age division earned all-American status and the top 3 teams were presented with championship recognition. 

The athletes were confronted with tough competition and less than optimal conditions on a wet and muddy course with strong gusty winds.  The schedule was delayed twice due to the weather.  Devastating tornados on Friday night were recorded just two counties away.  
 
The storylines of the day for the Pacific Northwest athletes were the three individual national titles that were won by Vincent Recupero (13-14 boys), Quenton Lanese (9-10 boys) and, Elin Beeler (9-10 girls) and the team title won by the Rain City Flyers in the 11-12 boys division.  

A total of 20 athletes from the Pacific Northwest association earned all-American honors and three (3) teams earned top three finishes.

GET THE BROOM OUT; IT'S A SWEEP IN THE 13-14 BOYS DIVISION

In the 13-14 boys Vincent Recupero (Rain City Flyers) led an association sweep as he stopped the clock at 14:00 to win the national title.  

Sam Soto (Whisper Running) and Brodie Thomas (unattached) finished second and third, respectively.  Both recorded 14:18 as their times.

Also earning all-American honors in the division were Tanner Cameron (unattached) and Andrew Kolenski (Rain City Flyers) finishing 19th and 24th, respectively.  

Led by Recupero and Kolenski the Rain City Flyers finished sixth in the team competition with a score of 197 points.

Q REPEATS

Two years ago Quenton Lanese (Barron Park Striders) won the national title while competing in the 7-8 division so expectations were pretty high for the young man.  Despite taking a fall in the first 400m he was able to recover and go on to win by 21 seconds over the 3000m course.  His time was 11:13.

Micah Weber (Federal Way Track) finished 14th running 12:01 to earn all-American honors.  Weber led his Federal Way Track team to a fifth place finish with the West Seattle Road Runners finishing next in sixth place; just 9 points behind Federal Way.

ELIN FOR THE WIN

The third national title was earned by Elin Beeler (Cascade Striders). Beeler won the 9-10 division running 11:41.  This was her second all-American honor of her young career as she finished 24th in the 7-8 division in 2019.

Ella Haber (Rain City Flyers) ran 12:31 to place ninth and join Beeler as an all-American.

Despite not placing any runners in the top 45, the West Seattle Road Runners used a strong pack of runners to finish fifth in the 9-10 girls team competition with 137 points.

LET IT RAIN; WE WILL STILL WIN 

Two years ago The Rain City Flyers finished third in the 9-10 boys. With four of their top five runners returning they had hopes of an even better finish.  This year competing in the 11-12 boys division they placed four runners in the top 32 to win the team title over Region 13 rival Bowerman Track Club; 90 points to 123 points.  They were led by the all-American efforts of Henry Herb and Zach Davis who finished 8th and 10th, respectively.  Herb ran 11:09 while Davis stopped the clock at 11:17.  John Herb, Jr., Henry's twin brother, finished 30th and Ansel Janes was two places back in 32nd. Benjamin Kauppila rounded out the team scoring with a 95th place finish. Janes was the new member to the team that helped them jump to the top of the podium.

CAN YOU SAY "ALL-AMERICANS"

Seven other locals earned all-American honors on the day.

In the 7-8 girls division, Martina Rodriguez-Villen (Rain City Flyers) ran to a fourth place finish running 8:11 over the 2 km course. West Seattle Road Runners teammates Beau Sitzmann and Teagan Kemper finished 14th and 25th, respectively.

In the 7-8 boys competition, Dylan Yeager (unattached) ran 8:07 to finish tenth.

In the 11-12 girls division, Rain City Flyers teammates Corinne Hudders and Ciana Johnson finished 12th and 16th respectively, running 12:19 and 12:25 for 3 km.  Their low sticks led their team to a second place finish.  The other scoring team members were Emilia Rosauer (33rd), Anna Haber (57th), and Lilly Lendrum Fort (84th).

Taylor Sletner (unattached) ran 16:21 over 4 km to finish 23rd in the 13-14 girls race.

In the 15-16 boys race, Ammon Wagner (Snohomish Track) finished 9th running 17:38 for 5 km.

In the 17-18 girls race, Isabelle Jones (unattached) grabbed the last all-American spot with her 25th place finish.
 
Below are all of the Pacific Northwest team finishes:
1.  Rain City Flyers (11-12 boys)
2.  Rain City Flyers (11-12 girls)
3.  West Seattle Road Runners (7-8 girls)
5.  Federal Way Track (9-10 boys)
5.  West Seattle Road Runners (9-10 girls)
6.  West Seattle Road Runners (7-8 boys)
6.  West Seattle Road Runners (9-10 boys)
6.  West Seattle Road Runners (11-12 girls)
6.  Rain City Flyers (13-14 boys)
16. West Seattle Road Runners (13-14 girls)
 
For a complete list of how all the Pacific Northwest athletes and teams finished click here.
 
Next year's championships will be held on December 10 in College Station, Texas.
 

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