New England Elite wins 15-18 team title at Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championships in Kentucky

Youth harriers brought their cross country season to a close at the USATF Junior Olympic Champioinships held last weekend at E.P."Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky.  Near perfect weather conditions and a well know historic course (site of multple NCAA Championshis) made for spirited racing  for much of Saturday, but lightning and heavy rain came in just ahead of the boys 15-18 start, delaying that race until Sunday morning. 

The meet was among the largest ever Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships with 3054 athletes and representing 273 teams from across the country - and 3 races among the boys and girls six age divisions found over 400 finishers and 40 scoring teams.

The one day delay did not bother the New England Elite Boys 15-18 team as they recorded one of the day's lowest scores to win the club title in their division. The team score combines the age 15-16 and 17-18 entries in the single race, and medalists Patrick Noonan (2nd 15-16) and Michael Eddy, (3rd 17-18) led the charge.  With Tyler Mogavero and Greyson Duane in the overall top 10 and Geremia Ortega 26th, NEE proved too strong for their challengers.

On Saturday, the New England Elite Girls almost matched the boys' efforts, finishing in second in their 15-18 race.  Kata Clark (15-16 3rd, 18:39.6) and Georgia Brooks (17-18 3rd, 19:11.2) provided low scoring numbers for the team total. NEE also placed fourth in the Girls 13-14 and Boys 11-12 races.

Sentinel Striders returned to Rhode Island with a pair of top 10 finishers in the two largest (430+) races; Xavien Rudd (4th, Boys 9-10) and Cooper Magill (9th Boys 11-12) capped sussessful seasons.   
In the Girls 13-14 race, Lauren Raffetto (Canton MA) scored a hard earned 9th place; so dense was the front pack that 24th place was just 9 seconds behind.. 

Scoreboard of team placings and top New England finishers by race.

Division	Top finisher / in top 10	Team placing
Girls 8/U	58.Mia Pearl, Cheetah, 8:45.6	14. Nashua PAL 334
Girls 9-10	32.Addalie Rader, Natick MA, 11:59.0	21.Nashua PAL 578
Girls 11-12	28.Natalie Crawford, Sentinels, 11:13.7	16.Sentinel Striders 484 26.Waltham TC 601 32.New England Elite 800
Girls 13-14	9.Lauren Raffetto, Canton MA, 14:10.5	4.New England Elite, 157 6.Waltham TC 249 19.Nashua PAL 532 25.Sentinel Striders 640
Girls 15-18	15-16 3.Kata Clark, NEE, 18:39.6 8.Lucy McLean, NEE, 19:11.6 17-18 3.Georgia Brooks, NEE, 19:11.2 8.Anna Fondakowski, NEE, 19:50.6	2.New England Elite 50 6.Valhalla RC 149
Boys 8/u	14.Everett Smith, Cheetah, 7:35.1	8.Cheetah RC 234 15.Nashua PAL 408
Boys 9-10	4.Xayvien Rudd, Sentinels, 10:51.8	11.Sentinel Sttriders 356 22.Nashual PAL 544 25.Cheetah RC 592
Boys 11-12	9.Cooper Magill, Sentinels, 10:16.6	4.New England Elite 251 9.Cheetah RC 313 14.Sentinel Striders 374
Boys 13-14	33.Isaac McNaughton,GSF 12:55.1	8.Granite State Flash, 324 11.Waltham TC, 358 19.Rumford Road Runners 507
Boys 15-18	15-16 2.Patrick Noonan, NEE,16:24.9 4.Tyler Mogavero, NEE,16:37.6 5.Greyson Duane, NEE,16:40.4 17-18 3.Michael Eddy, NEE,16:46.5	1. New England Elite, 26 9.Granite State Flash, 227 12.Nashua PAL, 259 43.Granite State Flash B, 1305

Full Meet Results
The Championsihp meet will return to Louisville in 2024 on December 14..