Omaha, Nebraska – October 22, 2023, The United States Track & Field (USATF) Nebraska Association is excited to announce that Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has proclaimed November 5th, 2023 – Nebraska Cross Country (XC) Day!
This will coincide with the First Annual Nebraska XC Festival and USATF Nebraska Cross Country Championships being held on November 5th, 2023, in Beatrice, Nebraska.
According to USATF Nebraska President Mike Maryott, “Our hope for the Festival is that it will become the premiere XC event in the region over the next few years”.
The Nebraska XC Festival will feature multiple USATF Championships including the Nebraska Junior Olympic XC Championship, the Nebraska 5k XC Open Championship, and the Nebraska 5k Master’s Championship, stated Matt Scott, the USATF Nebraska, Long Distance Running (LDR) Chair
We have partnered with the community of Beatrice to host this prestigious event. All of the 2023 races will take place at the Beatrice High School on their Cross Country Course. The Beatrice course has hosted many high school and college XC races and was designed by Beatrice XC Coach, Lyle Claassen, who also designed the course in Kearney that the Nebraska High School XC championships are running each year.
We have worked with the Beatrice Chamber of Commerce and several local businesses to provide discounted lodging and to have multiple vendors that will be onsite the day of the event including some awesome food trucks, and a coffee truck. We will also have a DJ announcing the event and playing music throughout the day.
As the festival grows over the next few years we will be adding more events including coaching clinics and camps, according to LDR Chair Matt Scott. The meet will officially start at 11:30 a.m. on the 5th with the course walk-through and races will start at 12:30 p.m. with the 8 and under Girls race.
The top 15 youth in each age bracket qualify for the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships. “We are looking forward to seeing the top distance runners in the state compete on this great course for a chance to move on” according to USATF Nebraska Youth Chair, Wade Lanum. This year the USATF National Junior Olympics are being held in Louisville, Kentucky on December 9th, 2023.
The Master’s and Open competitors will be vying for a chance to participate in the USATF Club Cross Championships that will be held this year in Tallahassee, Florida on December 9th, 2023.
Athletes can sign up and you can learn more at www.nebraskaxcfestival.com
If you are interested in scheduling an interview with one of our athletes and or coaches, please reach out to Matt Scott at communications@nebraska.usatf.org
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About USATF Nebraska
USATF Nebraska is a 501c nonprofit that is made of volunteers from across the state of Nebraska. Our primary focus is facilitating and promoting Track & Field and Cross Country in Nebraska following the guidance of our national governing body USATF. The Nebraska Association currently has over 10,000 members and sanctions over 40 events each year in the state, including the Nebraska Junior Olympic (JO’s) Championships held each year in June. Our Junior Olympic Championship meet is the second largest youth track meet each year in Nebraska, second only to the High School Championships. The top 8 finishes from the Nebraska JO’s advance on to regionals and a chance to compete at the National Junior Olympic Championships.
About USATF
USA Track & Field (USATF), based in Indianapolis, is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running, and race walking in the U.S. The organization provides leadership for Athletics, the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, and develops and selects Team USATF, #1 in the World.
The organization also provides leadership to school-aged, prep, collegiate, and adult athletic programs and competitions. With more than 30 million adult runners in the US, the organization’s activities are broad, encompassing sanctioning more than 8,000 events annually and nurturing grassroots programs, such as the Junior Olympics, to help develop the future stars of the sport.
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