USATF XC National Championships RECAP

Last weekend, the first USATF National Championships of this Olympic cycle was run. The USATF XC National Championships were held at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday. Today I will be talking about the four main races that went down on that day. Every other year, this championship is also used as a qualifier for the World Athletics XC Championships (This year in Belgrade, Serbia), top finishers of each race make up the USA roster. This year it just so happened that it would be that way. 

The first race I will talk about is the U20 Women’s 6k. Zariel Macchia won the race in 20:31 ahead of fellow seventeen year old Allie Zealand who finished in second place, in 20:31.9, and freshman at NC State Jolena Quarzo, in 20:44, placing third. Macchia is a junior at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, New York, and earlier this year she placed tenth at Foot Locker Nationals in December. Zealand is also a junior, and she has had a great high school cross-country season this year. She placed 13th at Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) and then she would go on and place second at Foot Locker Nationals a week later, also as of late she has signed a NIL deal with New Balance. Quarzo before this race had won her Nike Cross Regionals race her senior year in high school, and she went on to place 37th at NXN that same year. 

The next race I will talk about is the U20 Men’s 8k. In this race, Kevin Sanchez of Notre Dame, who ran unattached, won by 11 seconds over Kole Mathison, and Noah Breker, who finished  second and third respectively. Sanchez won this race in 24:07, before this, in high school Sanchez found success. He won two Texas state championships and ran in many other top races. Mathison, of Colorado University, and Hoka NIL athlete also ran unattached in this race, and ran 24:18.4. Like Sanchez he is also familiar with success in high school cross country. He placed fourth at NXN his senior year and he won the CHAMPS Nationals race ( the predecessor of Foot Locker Nationals) later that year. The third-place finisher, Breker is a college freshman at North Carolina, and for this race, he ran unattached. Last year, Breker placed second behind Mathison, at CHAMPS Nationals, and before that, he placed seventh at NXN. In this particular championship race he ran 24:21. 

Moving on to the next race, the Women's 10k. In this race, the newly cemented American record holder in the half marathon came to this race and won a week after her record was run. Weini Kelati, of Under Armour Mission Run Dark Sky, won this race in 32:58.6. Behind her was Emma Grace Hurley, Hurley is an alumna of Furman University, and in this race, she ran 33:35.9. Before this, Hurley ran PRs of 15:42.94 in the 5000m, 8:51.34 in the 3000m and 4:47.52 in the mile. To round out the podium, Katie Camarena placed third in 33:40.3. Camarena just recently signed with Tinman Elite sponsored by Adidas, based in Boulder, Colorado. She has run multiple fast PRs such as 2:05.52 in the 800m, 4:29.75 in the mile, and 15:14.10 in the 5000m. 

The final race I will talk about is the Men's 10k. Cooper Teare, from Nike, won this race in 29:06.2. If you're not familiar with Teare, he won a couple of NCAA titles while at Oregon, and in 2022 he won the US National Championships in the 1500m. In second place, Anthony Rotich finished in 29:11.3. Rotich is a multiple-time US National Champion and he is a four-time NCAA Champion. The final member of this podium was Ahmed Muhumed of HOKA NAZ Elite. Muhumed, finished in a time of 29:12.3. Muhumed holds PRs of 4:04.25 in the mile, 7:48.01 in the 3000m, and 13:16.09 in the 5000m. 

All of these athletes and a few more will represent the USA in Belgrade, Serbia on March, 30th, 2024.