The 2024 USATF Cross Nation Championships might be held this weekend in Mechanicsville, Va., simply exterior of Richmond. The highest six finishers in every race will earn the best to characterize the US at this 12 months’s World Cross Nation Championships, to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 30.
It’s a busy 12 months so far as world competitions go. There’s the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow from March 1-3 and naturally the Olympics in Paris from August 1-11. Various US athletes might be specializing in qualifying for these meets, beginning with the US Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3. However there are nonetheless just a few notable names among the many entries for USA XC.
Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker, each of whom are actually coaching in Virginia after coach Ben Thomas was rehired by Virginia Tech, are the largest names within the males’s discipline. Their greatest competitors figures to return from reigning USA XC champion Emmanuel Bor, his brother Hillary (a three-time US steeple champ), Anthony Rotich (Third at ’23 USA XC), NAZ Elite’s Ahmed Muhumed (eighth within the 5,000 at 2023 USAs), and Virginia native Drew Hunter.
Weini Kelati, who set the American document within the half marathon in Houston on Sunday, and 2023 USA XC Sixth-placer Katie Izzo lead the ladies’s discipline, whereas the ladies’s U20 race must be very sturdy because the US chases a second consecutive group medal in that occasion at Worlds.
It’s going to be a cold one. The excessive on Richmond on Sunday? 31 levels Fahrenheit.
The races might be streamed dwell on Saturday afternoon by RunnerSpace+ (requires subscription). Right here’s what it’s good to know forward of time.
What: 2024 USATF Cross Nation ChampionshipsWhen: Saturday, January 20Where: Pole Inexperienced Park, Mechanicsville, VirginiaHow to observe: Dwell on RunnerSpace+*Entries
Schedule (all occasions US Japanese)
Article continues under participant.
12:30 p.m. U20 women1:15 U20 men2:00 Open women2:50 Open males
Males’s race: Emmanuel Bor tries to repeat as Teare and Hocker step up
One 12 months in the past, Emmanuel Bor dominated this race, main by as a lot as 11 seconds at 7k and happening to win by 4. Bor has a terrific observe document at USA XC — he was additionally 2nd in 2020 and 2019 — however didn’t run effectively over the second half of 2023, ending thirteenth within the 5,000 at USAs after taking fifth the 12 months earlier than. At 35 years outdated, can he regain his prior kind?
Hillary Bor doesn’t have the cross nation pedigree of his older brother (he was eighth final 12 months and 4th in 2019) however is coming off an enormous 12 months through which he ran 8:11 within the steeple and gained US street titles at 15k (43:11) and 10 miles (46:11).
One other runner who had an enormous 2023 season was Ahmed Muhumed of HOKA NAZ Elite. The 2022 Florida State grad ran pbs of 13:16 and 27:56 final 12 months and was 4th with half a lap to go within the 5,000 at USAs earlier than operating out of gasoline and fading to eighth. In November, he completed 2nd on the US 5k street champs and was the highest American (fifth general) on the Sound Operating Cross Champs in Austin.
Anthony Rotich (2020 champ, Third final 12 months) and Reid Buchanan (seventh final 12 months) have been additionally close to the entrance at USA XC in 2023. And Drew Hunter, who was a Foot Locker champion in highschool and completed eighth within the 1500 at USAs final 12 months, is an intriguing addition to Saturday’s begin listing.
A lot of the eye in Richmond will deal with former US 1500m champions Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker. The 2 have been teammates on the College of Oregon from 2019-21 and skilled collectively as professionals underneath coach Ben Thomas in 2022 earlier than Teare left to hitch the Bowerman Observe Membership. Although Teare ran pbs of three:32 and seven:34 final 12 months with BTC, he didn’t make the 1500 closing at USAs a 12 months after profitable the title and is now reunited with Hocker and Thomas, solely now they’re based mostly in Blacksburg, Va., as Thomas is again teaching at Virginia Tech. This might be Teare’s first race since leaving BTC.
Whereas 10k is on the longer aspect of Teare and Hocker’s vary, each have had previous XC success. Teare’s most up-to-date cross nation race ended up with him crawling throughout the end line (LRC submit race interview) however he was Sixth at NCAA XC as a 20-year-old in 2019 and was an NCAA 5,000m champion on the observe in 2021. Hocker was a Foot Locker champ in highschool and gained the 2022 USATF Membership XC champs (although that race featured a unfastened defintion of “cross nation”) earlier than launching right into a profitable 2023 observe season.
Teare and Hocker are proficient sufficient to contend for the win, nevertheless it’s unclear whether or not both will run World XC if chosen. Hocker’s agent Ray Flynn advised LetsRun he wasn’t positive about Hocker’s plans; Teare’s agent Isaya Okwiya advised LetsRun his plans are to run the 2-mile at Millrose adopted by USA indoors, with the remainder of his winter schedule TBD. It might merely be the case that each males needed to run USA XC as a result of it’s solely a three-hour drive from their coaching base. Regardless of the cause, it’s encouraging to see two of US distance operating’s brightest stars operating right here in a 12 months when many others are skipping out.
Who wins the 2024 USA XC males’s title?
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Ladies’s race: Kelati favored regardless of fast turnaround from Houston Half
Can we give some props to Weini Kelati? On Sunday in Houston, she set the American document of 66:25 in her debut half marathon. Six days later, she’s operating USA XC in Richmond. And her coach Stephen Haas advised LetsRun she plans on operating World XC if chosen and operating the Olympic Trials on the observe in June.
Final 12 months, Kelati didn’t run for 10 days earlier than USA XC attributable to harm however made the group in fifth and completed twenty first at World XC. This time, we all know she’s in improbable form. So long as she is recovered from Houston, she’ll cruise onto the group and might be favored to win.
Kevin Morris photograph
Attempting to run USA XC and World XC does make it slightly extra sophisticated for Kelati to pursue a spot on the Olympic group since she nonetheless wants the Olympic customary in each the 5,000 (14:52) and 10,000 (30:40). The excellent news for Kelati is {that a} sturdy cross nation season may help her within the 10,000. Keep in mind, eight Olympic 10,000 spots are awarded based mostly on cross nation rankings and also you want three performances from the final 18 months to get a rating. Kelati already has one efficiency within the rating interval (World XC final 12 months) and operating USA XC and World XC this 12 months would give her two extra.
The dangerous information for Kelati is that the rankings method overvalue sure meets and method undervalue nationwide championships. For instance, Katie Izzo obtained 1220 factors for ending second on the Sound Operating Cross Champs in November. The winner of USA XC receives solely 1080 factors — the identical quantity awarded to the Twelfth-place finisher on the Sound Operating Cross Champs.
It’s an absurd system, and it signifies that if Kelati does need to attempt to make the Olympics off her cross nation rating, she must run one of many three remaining World Cross Nation Tour Gold meets: the Botswana Worldwide on January 27, Sirikwa Traditional in Eldoret on February 3, or the Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor in Portugal on February 25 (there’s additionally a meet in Belgium nevertheless it’s the day after USA XC). The reality is, Kelati might have missed her window to qualify this fashion as 10 of the 14 Gold stage meets for 2023-24 have already been held.
One lady who didn’t miss her window is Katie Izzo. The 27-year-old, who was Third at NCAA XC in 2019 when Kelati gained it, is the one American who has made a concerted effort to chase cross nation rating factors and she or he has been rewarded for it. Right here’s a video from the latest one on December 23, the place Izzo defeated a shallow 11-person discipline in Zaragoza, Spain, and earned 1150 factors — 70 greater than she would get for profitable USA XC.
Because of that run, her runner-up end on the Sound Operating Cross Champs, and a Third-place end at Venta de Banos in Spain on December 17, Izzo now occupies one of many Olympic qualifying spots for Paris.
Izzo, who was Sixth at USA XC and thirty first at World XC in 2023, can be operating in Richmond on Saturday and might be among the many high contenders ought to Kelati falter. HOKA NAZ Elite’s Abby Nichols (15:09 5k pb), USATF Membership Cross champ Amanda Vestri of ZAP Endurance (15:21 5k pb), Portland State alum Katie Camarena (4:08 1500/15:14 5k), and Emma Hurley (2nd at ’23 US 15K champs) may also be in rivalry to make the group.
Who wins the 2024 USA XC ladies’s title?
Your vote has been counted. Thanks!
Present outcomes.
Let me vote.
U20 races: US ladies’s bronze medal group from 2023 appears to run it again
Final 12 months’s US U20 groups loved their most success at World XC for a era. Each groups completed Third in Australia, with the lads incomes their first group medal since 1982 and the ladies incomes their first group medal ever. A lot of the males’s athletes have aged out or should not returning in 2024, however most of the ladies are operating it again.
4 athletes rating per group at World XC, and three of the US’s scorers from 2023 might be racing on Saturday to attempt to make the group once more: Ellie Shea (tenth at ’23 World XC), Karrie Baloga (thirteenth), and Zariel Macchia (nineteenth). The fourth scorer, Irene Riggs (Twelfth) turns 20 on December 28 of this 12 months, which means she is 4 days too outdated to compete within the U20 race in 2024.
These aren’t the one high athletes operating this weekend. Allie Zealand, who was the US’s #6 runner at World XC final 12 months (thirty fourth) has taken a step ahead this 12 months and was 2nd at Foot Lockers in December. And we haven’t even talked about the pre-race favourite: Leah Stephens, who completed forty third at NCAA XC in November and was the #4 runner on NC State’s title group as a real freshman. No matter group finally ends up representing the US in Serbia in March goes to be very sturdy.
Discuss 2024 USA XC on our world-famous fan discussion board / messageboard: 2024 USATF Cross Nation Champs – Hocker, Teare, Kelati and extra!!
Extra: Dyestat U20 Preview: Ellie Shea, Zariel Macchia, Allie Zealand, & Karrie Baloga all return from final 12 months’s bronze-medal profitable US women’ group
