USATF-New England Junior Olympic Cross Country Champ's

Bryant College, Smithfield, RI, November 17, 2002

After a fairly pleasant season of cross country, weather finally caught up with late fall meets. While the rain was lighter than predicted, strong winds and temperatures in the 40's made for tough conditions for young runners at the USATF-NE Junior Olympic championships. The already challenging 4K and 5K courses were shortened due to poor course conditions on the lower woods loop. Nashua PAL, Granite State Flash, and Sentinel Striders all advanced multiple teams to next week's regional meet which will also be held at Bryant College.

The Connecticut association meet was cancelled due to severe icing conditions, and the Maine association meet was also cancelled because of ice, slush, and additional safety concerns. Those associations will still advance their pre-entries to the Region I meet, who will run along with qualifiers from New England, Metropolitan NY, Adirondack NY, and Long Island next Sunday; those races will qualify the youth runners for the National Junior Olympic Meet December in Carrollton GA.