165 Young Coloradans and 16 Teams Set to Compete at National Junior Olympic Championships in Kentucky

Colorado Entry & Results Scoreboard

The 2023 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships will occur tomorrow (9-Dec) in Louisville, KY.  The competition is at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, the site of numerous NCAA championships, including the 2012, 2015, and 2017 Division 1 championships.

A total of 3225 athletes are entered from across the country.  The top 25 finishers in each age division will earn all-American honors and recognition at the awards ceremony.

165 Coloradans, representing 11 clubs, are entered in the championships.

Clubs with athletes competing in Louisville are (# of athletes):
 •  Blazers Track (1)
 •  Boulder Mountain Warriors (33)
 •  Bruins Racing (13)
 •  Colorado Coyotes (18)
 •  Elevated Distance Training (19)
 •  Kokopelli Kids (37)
 •  Mountain Movers XC (2)
 •  Peak Performance Running (13)
 •  Peak Runners (2)
 •  Penguins XC Track Club (1)
 •  Rock Creek Track Club (11)

The following Colorado athletes won Region 10 titles last month and should contend for all-American honors:
GIRLS
 • Avery Piala (9-10 Girls, Peak Performance Running)
 • Mckenna Groen (13-14 Girls, Kokopelli Kids)
BOYS
 • Greyson Romero (7-18 Boys; Penguins XC Track Club)
 • Robert Stepanov (9-10 Boys; unattached)
 • Jackson Ferguson (13-14 Boys; Peak Performance Running)
 • Alexander Gilbert (15-16 Boys; Bruins Racing)

Stepanov returns to defend the national title he won last year in Texas while Romero will look to improve on his third-place finish in the 7-8 division. Piala finished fifth last year in the 9-10 division and, like Stepanov and Romero, is considered a contender for the national title this year. Groen just missed out on all-American honors last year, finishing 27th in the 11-12 division, and despite moving up a division, will look to crack into the top-25 this year.

Teams that won regional titles last month and will contend for top-ten team finishes are: Elevated Distance Training (7-8 Boys), Kokopelli Kids (9-10 Boys), Rock Creek Track Club (11-12 Girls), Kokopelli Kids (13-14 Boys), Boulder Mountain Warriors (13-14 Girls), Bruins Racing (15-18 Boys),  and Bruins Racing (15-18 Girls).

Visit the Colorado event coverage page to see the complete list of Colorado entries and to navigate to the live results. Additionally, following the championships, the complete Colorado Results Scoreboard will be available on the event coverage page.