Boutin and Riley run to National Junior Olympic Titles in Texas

Results 

On Saturday (10-Dec), 88 athletes representing nine (9) clubs from USATF New York competed at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in College Station, Texas.  The event was held on the Texas A&M University Dale Watts Croups Country Course. A total of 2828 athletes and 226 teams from across the country competed in the championships.

Races were contested in 6 age divisions (8 & under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18) for boys and girls.  The top 25 finishers in each age division earned all-American status and the top 3 teams were presented with championship recognition. 
 
A total of 16 athletes from the New York association earned all-American honors with two winning national titles and two teams running to runner-up finishes.  

The storylines of the day for the New York athletes were the national titles won by Abigail Riley (VO2Max Track Club) and Nate Boutin (Prospect Park Youth Running) and the near win by the Prospect Park Youth Running 15-18 Girls.

BOOKEND WINS FOR RILEY AND BOUTIN

The titles won by Riley and Boutin bookended the championship schedule as Riley ran to victory in the 7-8 girls division, first race of the day, and Boutin captured the 17-18 Boys title during the last race of the day. Riley, who won the Region 1 title in November, was simply dominating over the 2 km course as she won by 24 seconds over the 2 km course running 7:10. Her VO2Max TC teammate Ari Pennicooke finished third running 7:36; just 2 seconds behind runner-up Mackenzie York of California.

At last year's championships in Kentucky, Boutin won the 15-16 division by 17 seconds and eyed a second consecutive title this year but in the 17-18 division. While his margin of victory was much smaller this year he did manage the win again. His time of 15:54 defeated Judah Alexander-Macias of Texas by two seconds. Boutin's Prospect Park teammate Sebastian Margetts finished fourth running 16:15. Their team finished a close second to the Sentinel Striders in the team scoring - 35 points to 37 points.

SPEAKING OF CLOSE FINISHES

In the next to last race of the day Rose Coats (Prospect Park Youth Running), who declined a spot at the Champs Sports High School Nationals in San Diego to compete with her teammates in Texas, finished second in the 17-18 girls race running 18:05. She led her team to a second place team finish as they actually tied with their Region 1 rivals New England Elite but lost on the tie-breaker (5th runner finish).  Both teams scored 45 points. Backing up Coats as the team scorers were Bella Stenhouse, Maxine Paul-Emile, Linden Cafcules, and Baila Ashe.

THE RUNNING BOSCHENS 

The Boschen family, who compete for the Westchester Striders, had four siblings competing in the championships.  The youngest of the "Running Boschens, Cyrus Boschen finished fourth in the 7-8 division running 7:10 over the 2 km course.  In the very next race, his older sister Aria Boschen ran to a third place finish in the 9-10 girls division stopping the clock at 11:21 on the 3 km course.  Both earned all-American honors. In the 11-12 division Hudson Boschen finished 106th and in the the 15-16 division "big sister" Sage Boschen finished 44th.

THE ALL-AMERICAN ROLL CALL

Below is the complete roll-call of 2022 All-Americans from New York:

7-8 Boys            

4. Cyrus Boschen (Westchester Striders T&F)
6. Harvey Hightower (Prospect Park Youth Running)

7-8 Girls            

1. Abigail Riley (VO2Max Track Club)
3. Ari Pennicooke (VO2Max Track Club)
15 . Alison Cleary (Prospect Park Youth Running)
 

9-10 Girls            

3. Aria Boschen (Westchester Striders T&F)

11-12 Girls            

24. Saffa Ellis (Prospect Park Youth Running)

15-16 Boys            

10. Aaron Gill (Prospect Park Youth Running)

15-16 Girls            

4.  Maxine Paul-Emile (Prospect Park Youth Running)
9.  Linden Cafcules (Prospect Park Youth Running)
17. Baila Ashe (Prospect Park Youth Running)
21. Clare Mahedy (Prospect Park Youth Running)

17-18 Boys            

1. Nate Boutin (Prospect Park Youth Running)
4. Sebastian Margetts (Prospect Park Youth Running)

17-18 Girls            

2. Rose Coats (Prospect Park Youth Running)
6. Bella Stenhouse (Prospect Park Youth Running) 
11. Oona Vali (Prospect Park Youth Running)

The complete New York results scoreboard can be found here.

Next year's championship will be held in Lexington, Kentucky on December 9.