Lightning Running Club Youth Runners Capture 2012 National Cross Country Championship Titles
Terre Haute, IN, December, 1, 2012 – Competing at the meet venue for the collegiate national championships that has seen top US elite runners, such as Olympic medalists Shalane Flanagan and Galen Rupp race to NCAA cross country championships, sixty runners from Maryland’s Frederick-based Lightning Running Club (LRC) youth runners raced their way to top individual and team national honors at the Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships (CCCNYC) in Terre, Haute, Indiana. Racing into strong Midwest headwinds, their accomplishments included two individual national championships; an individual national runner-up and three third place individual awards; and two podium (top 3) national team championship awards.
In individual age-group competition, Brin Strouse, from Urbana, won her fourth consecutive national youth cross country championship, by winning the 11-year old girls race 3,000 meter race. Her teammate, Nandini Satsangi, from Germantown, earned her second consecutive National Runner-up award.
In the Bantam boys’ 3,000 meter race, Tamrat Snyder (age 10) from Gaithersburg, won his second consecutive national championship.
Nathan Davis, also from Urbana, finished third in the nation in the 12-year old boys 3,000 meter race. Also finishing third in the nation, were Sydney O’Clery from Mt. Airy in the Girl’s 7-year old 2,000 meter race and Taylor Hardesty of New Market in the Girl’s 10-year old 3,000 meter race.
Overall, LRC XC had a total of 28 national medalists (top 25) in individual age-group competition:
Primary 7-year old girls: 1. Sydney O’Clery ; 13. Christa Sadd; 22. Annabelle Geisler
Primary 8-year old girls: 10. Abigail Acton
Primary 8-year old boys: 7. Cole Williamson; 10. Sean Rivard; 24. Max Baba
Bantam 9-year old girls: 20. Joelle Sadd
Bantam 10-year old girls: 3. Taylor Hardesty; 5. Samantha Hardesty; 8. Emily Baba; 22. Anna Willson
Bantam 10-year old boys: 1. Tamrat Snyder; 9. Hunter Bergstrom; 20. Roman LaRocco
Bantam 11-year old girls: 1. Brin Strouse; 2. Nandini Satsangi; 15. Kayla Sadd; 25. Olivia Geisler
Midget 12-year old girls: 24. Ashlin Davis
Midget 12-year old boys: 3. Nathan Davis; 6. Ryan Lockett
Youth 14-year old girls: 13. Jennifer Simmons
Youth 14-year old boys: 24. Micah Hewitson
Intermediate ages 15/16 boys (5,000 meter race): 20. Greyson Strouse
Race of the Americas age 6 and under 800 meter Run: Girls – 6. Eden Williamson (age 6); Boys – 4. Matthew Acton (age 5); 7. Aaron Sadd (age 5)
In age-group team competition, the LRC Bantam (age 9/10) girls’ team led by Taylor Hardesty, Samantha Hardesty, and Emily Baba and tenacious performances from five additional team members – Anna Willson, Rachel Hall, Joelle Sadd, Ashlyn Cooper, and Alexandra Dean – claimed a National Runner-up team championship award. The LRC Bantam boys’ team garnered a National third place team championship award led by the top 10 finishes of Tamrat Snyder and Hunter Bergstrom and the gritty racing performances of fellow team members Roman LaRocco, Ben Lausch, Davis Miller, Colin Acton, Colin McMynne, Pavan Satsangi, Blake O’Clery, and Zachary Cooper.
LRC also had three additional top 10 age-group team performances:
Primary boys: 4. Lightning Running Club (Cole Williamson, Sean Rivard, Max Baba, Nick Redman, Nate Wooster, Gabriel Rossi)
Midget girls: 5. Lightning Running Club (Brin Strouse, Nandini Satsangi, Kayla Sadd, Ashlin Davis, Olivia Geisler, Sara Danner, Michaela Redman)
Primary girls: 6. Lightning Running Club (Sydney O’Clery, Abigail Acton, Gabriella Papillo, Christa Sadd, Annabelle Geisler)
Meet coverage, including complete individual and team results can be found here: http://www.youthcrosscountry.org/results.html.
LRC is a developmental running club for youth (ages 4 to 14) in Frederick and its neighboring counties. LRC offers a fall youth cross country program (mid-August to December; visit www.lrcrun.org or contact Dr. Darcy Strouse at lrc_xc@yahoo.com for program information), a spring track and field program (March to July; contact Bill Gerhold at billygmd@aol.com for program information), and a Distance Running and Road Racing (DR3) program for youth and their parents (January to May; visit www.lrcrun.org or contact Dr. Darcy Strouse at lrc_xc@yahoo.com for program information).
Tamrat Snyder (left) and Brin Strouse (right) en route to winning their individual CCCNYC National XC Championships. Pictures courtesy of Lightning Running Club (Coach Darcy Strouse).
Lightning Running Club National Runner-Up 9/10 Year Old Girls 3 km Team Champions. Pictured (left to right) Ashlyn Cooper, Joelle Sadd, Anna Willson, Rachel Hall, Samantha Hardesty, Alexandra Dean, Talyor Hardesty, Emily Baba, Coach Darcy Strouse. Picture courtesy of Lightning Running Club (Coach Darcy Strouse).