FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Omaha, Nebraska – October 5, 2026 – USA Track & Field (USATF) Nebraska is excited to announce that the 2026 Nebraska XC Festival and USATF Nebraska Cross Country Championships will be held on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at Walnut Creek @ Papillion La Vista South High School, 10799 Hwy 370, Papillion, NE 68046. You can register and learn more at www.nebraskaxcfestival.com and nebraskausatf.org.
November 8 is officially Cross Country Day in Nebraska, thanks to Governor Jim Pillen.
The Nebraska XC Festival will feature the USATF Nebraska Junior Olympic XC Championship and the Community 5K Open Championship. The Community 5K Open Championship is open to all runners of every age, including masters-age runners (there is no separate masters race), and no USATF membership is required to run it.
The 2026 festival will be our fourth year hosting the event. This year we’ll be moving to Walnut Creek, which has also hosted many high-level championship meets, including the Omaha Metros and the prestigious Nebraska Junior High State Championship.
“We can’t wait to watch Nebraska’s best cross-country runners battle it out on a true championship course. A huge thank-you to the Papio South coaches for sharing their beautiful home course with us,” said Matt Scott, USATF Nebraska LDR Chair.
The course will open at 10:00 a.m. for the course walk-through, and races start at 11:00 a.m. The Junior Olympic races are:
- 8 & Under: 2K
- 9-10 and 11-12: 3K
- 13-14: 4K
- 15-18: 5K
The Community 5K Open Championship has a rolling start throughout the day, so runners start at various times.
The top 15 finishers in each Junior Olympic age division qualify for the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on December 12, 2026, in Lafayette, Louisiana.
All athletes must register on Athletic.net at www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/285355/info by Friday, November 6, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. CT. Junior Olympic athletes need a current USATF membership with a verified date of birth; no USATF membership is required for the Community 5K Open Championship. Date-of-birth verification can take up to 5 business days, so we encourage Junior Olympic athletes to join or renew and upload their DOB documents now at usatf.org.
“Our goal for the festival is that it will become the premiere XC event in the region over the next few years,” said Mike Maryott, President of USATF Nebraska.
As the festival grows over the next few years, we plan to add more events, including coaching clinics and camps. We are also looking for volunteers and officials for race day. If you would like to help, email communications@nebraska.usatf.org.
For more information, visit www.nebraskaxcfestival.com and nebraskausatf.org. If you are interested in scheduling an interview with one of our athletes or coaches, please reach out to Matt Scott, USATF Nebraska Communications Chair, at communications@nebraska.usatf.org.
Check us out online and Get Social:
- Festival website: www.nebraskaxcfestival.com
- USATF Nebraska website: nebraskausatf.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/nebraskausatf/
- X (Twitter): x.com/usatfnebraska
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/usatfnebraska/
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/usatfnebraska
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/@USATFNebraska
About USATF Nebraska
USATF Nebraska is a 501(c) nonprofit run by 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. Learn more at nebraskausatf.org. The Nebraska Association currently has over 10,000 members and sanctions over 40 events each year in the state. Those include the Nebraska Junior Olympic (JO) Championships, held each June, which is the second-largest youth track meet in Nebraska after the High School 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, the top-ranked team 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, its activities are broad. They include sanctioning more than 8,000 events annually and nurturing grassroots programs, such as the Junior Olympics, that help develop the future stars of the sport.
Media contact:
Matt Scott, Communications Chair, USATF Nebraska
communications@nebraska.usatf.org
#usatfnebraska #usatffuturestars #JourneyToGold #nebraskaxcfestival #NebraskaXCDay