This past weekend was one of the most successful race weekends our youth and junior program has ever had. Congratulations to all of the youth and junior coaches on an incredible National Championship weekend! In addition to USAT Youth and Junior Nationals we had athletes compete int he Culpepper International and Sprint as well as the Cul De Sac 5k on Monday.
Endorphin Fitness had an AMAZING showing at the Youth & Junior National Championships. We will cover the overall team accomplishments and then go into detail on each race. In the Youth/Junior elite races on Saturday, we placed 11 athletes in the top 20, and in the youth elite girls race specifically, EF athletes took 9 of the top 21 spots with Parker Albright taking the overall win. In the Youth Age Group race, EF athletes stood on top of podium in 5 of the 9 age groups and took 2nd nationally in the team competition. Here is how each race broke down:
Youth Elite Female – Endorphin Fitness dominated this race with 9 of our 12 girls placing in the top 21. Parker Albright led the way with her first national title followed by Zoe Van Winckel in 6th after they both individually staged break aways on the bike. A big pack of EF girls followed with Megan Buchanan taking 9th, Abby Church 11th, Mackenzie McConagha 13th, Emme Cate Heilbrun 15th, Grace Sheehy 17th, Chloe Ramirez 19th, Hannah Ye 21st, Bridgette Kim 35th, Hope Frost 38th, and Jessica Blazek 39th.
Youth Elite Male – Kieran Haug exited the water in a personal best 3rd position and formed a strong pack behind the 2 leaders before having a fantastic run to finish 6th. Coleson Lindsey had a brilliant breakthrough race crossing the line in 21st but missed the penalty box so was ultimately DQ’d unfortunately (His penalty was for not putting his swim cap into the transition bin). Justin Free set the fastest bike split of the day to finish 28th followed by Pace Palmer in 42nd, Ben Poling in 55th, and Mitchell Gillem in 58th.
Junior Elite Female – Emily Landeryou led the way after a super strong swim and bike to finish a personal best 19th. Lexi Christie was next in 30th followed by Kaitlyn Yasnowsky in 43rd, Bella Burke in 54th, Maya Sweeney in 55th, and Carson Everman in 62nd.
Junior Elite Male – Strong race start to finish by Jared Eytcheson to finish 20th followed by Matthew Piper in 44th, Chris Lloyd in 47th, and Robbert Siemers in 68th who all pushed the pace together on the bike. Cameron McConagha also had a strong race finishing 74th.
Elite Team Relay – We formed 3 teams for the mixed team relay with the team of Parker Albright, Emily Landeryou, Chris Lloyd, and Matthew Piper finishing 7th overall followed by the team of Hannah Ye, Grace Sheehy, Justin Free, and Cameron McConagha in 17th and the team of Megan Buchanan, Zoe Van Winckel, Ben Poling, and Kieran Haug in 27th.
Youth Age Group Races – EF athletes won 5 of the 9 age groups, had 7 total podiums, and took 2nd nationally as a team. Congratulations to Jennifer Zheng, Luke Rosser, Eve Frost, Hazel Wells, and Ian Henderson who all won national titles in their age groups. Josie Nunziata and Maddie Fisher took silver in their age groups with Maddie posting the fastest bike split of the day. Samantha Kayne and Presley Evans took 4th in their age groups and Jude Gillespie 5th in his. Rounding out the top 10 included Kai Dove in 7th, Ian Hasheider in 9th, and Tate Frost, Olivia Christie, and Ava Larkin all in 10th. Also, strong races from Gabe Nunziata (11th), Mikaela Garza (12th), Lucy Nunziata (13th), Jimmy Beard (14th), Isabella Larkin (16th), Lucas Van Winckel (18th), Jack Rosser (21st), Mason Dove (22nd), Jimmy Beard (48th), and Caleb Harlow (58th).
In the Culpepper races, Marisa Ruotolo had a big breakthrough race taking 2nd overall! Bill Deaton won his age group and was 5th overall at the Culpeper Sprint. Stephen Tan also won his age group. Meredith Walsh and Julie Julian were 2nd in their age group, Alex Tan 3rd, Blaze Prax 7th, and Brian Prax 9th in their age groups. Alex Cancado and Walt Walter both raced in the international race and both finished 4th in their age groups!
Matt Winheim had a strong result at the last Cul de Sac 5k in temps over 100 degrees!