Important! PLEASE READ FULL MESSAGE. Includes 2018 USATF Championship Season Information
PDXC Results
We had a great showing yesterday at the PDXC Middle School Championships! We were very excited to see everyone out and competing, getting a taste of what Championship style racing will look like as we head in to our JO season. Results can be viewed here.
Halloween Run
Tomorrow is our annual Halloween Run at our Nike and North Portland locations! Sherwood athletes are welcome to attend either practice for a Halloween run. Sherwood coaches will have a normal practice on Tuesday for athletes who are not interested in the Halloween run.
Parents at the Nike location are encouraged to come out, dress up and help the coaches with it. Practice will likely be short tomorrow so parents please be ready to pick up your kids closer to 6:30pm.
USATF Championship Season
PLEASE READ FULL MESSAGE
After the Middle School State Meet (different than USATF State Meet), we will begin the USATF Junior Olympic part of our season. In contrast to our meets so far this season where all ages raced together, the USATF races are separated by age and gender. See below of all USATF details.
USATF Age Groups
Boys 8 and under (2010 or later birth year)
Girls 8 and under (2010 or later birth year)
Boys 9-10 (2008, 2009 birth year)
Girls 9-10 (2008, 2009 birth year)
Boys 11-12 (2006, 2007 birth year)
Girls 11-12 (2006, 2007 birth year)
Boys 13-14 (2004, 2005 birth year)
Girls 13-14 (2004, 2005 birth year)
USATF Season Details
State - Corban University, Salem, OR on Saturday, November 10th
All BTC Athletes are eligible to compete at the state meet. Cost is $10 per athlete to enter and will be collected with sign-up.
Regionals – Franklin Park, Yakima WA on Saturday, November 17th
Running at regionals requires competing and qualifying at the State Meet on Saturday November 10th. Most BTC runners will qualify for regionals individually or as a part of the team (see qualification criteria below). Cost is $15 per athlete to enter and will be collected with sign-up.
We will send out a link for entries to Regionals after the State meet.
Nationals - Reno, Nevada on Saturday, December 8th
Running at Nationals requires competing and qualifying at the Regional Meet on Saturday, November 17th (see qualification criteria below). Please note we will likely qualify one team of 8 runners in ALL age groups. Last year, we had 44 kids qualify and run at Nationals in Tallahassee, Florida. We will send out flight and hotel information for nationals soon. If you are even thinking about the possibility of going to Nationals we strongly recommend that you look into a hotel room in the next week or two before they all fill up. If you end up not going you can cancel the hotel room after regionals at no charge.
Signing Up for USATF State Meet (Saturday, November 10th)
Just as we have done all season, we will send out an internal sign-up and enter kids in the meets, BUT for the USATF season we CANNOT enter any child that has not already joined USATF AND provided proof of age.
Parents, you are responsible to get your child registered with USATF and assigned to the Bowerman Track Club. Don’t wait too long to do this! (Steps below)
We are aware you can get the next two years of memberships for the price of one if you wait until Nov 1st. If you know that you will be able to send in all of your sign-up materials on November 1st, it's ok to wait until then BUT MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CARE OF IT ON NOVEMBER 1ST. The age verification takes a day or two so it will be a quick turn-around to get everything taken care of in time. If you aren’t sure if you have a current USATF membership use this link to check https://www.usatf.org/membership/help/number.asp .
3 STEP SIGN-UP PROCESS
STEP 1. Purchase a current USATF membership
Here is the link for the sign up:
http://www.usatf.org/Products---Services/Individual-Memberships.aspx
Our Club Number is 0820
(If you aren’t sure if you have a current USATF membership use this link to check https://www.usatf.org/membership/help/number.asp )
STEP 2. Proof of Date of Birth (birth certificate, passport)
Send a copy of birth certificate or passport to usatfmembershiporegon@gmail.com
(you only need to do this if you haven’t done so in a prior year)
STEP 3.
We will send out a State meet sign up as we’ve done all year. We will enter the athlete in the race.
There is a $10 per registration fee to be paid when signing up for the race. Please complete steps 1&2 before step 3.
Location: Corban University, Salem OR
The deadline to complete STEP ONE and TWO is End of day Nov 2nd.
State, Regionals, Nationals Qualification Process
State meet is November 10th in Salem, OR – this is the qualifier for regionals – The kids will run separate races in two year age groups (shown above). Most of our kids will qualify (top 35 individuals and top 5 teams in each age group)
At the state meet we will spread the best kids between 2 or 3 teams to maximize the number of teams we qualify for regionals.
The regional meet is November 17th in Yakima, WA – this is the qualifier for the Nationals meet on Dec 8th in Reno, Nevada. Probably about 50% of our kids will qualify from regionals to nationals. The top 30 individuals and top 5 teams advance in each age group. We will likely qualify a team in every age group.
At the regional meet we will field our strongest teams with selection based on finish position at the state meet.
At the national meet we will field our strongest teams with selection based on finish position at the regional meet.
If you want advice on whether your child will qualify – email us directly or catch me at practice – I’ll be happy to advise you on the approx. odds. youth@bowermantc.com.
More information will follow in the coming weeks but this is an informative document to look over the next few weeks.
National Hotel Block:
JO National Championships are on December 8th in Reno, Nevada. We are looking to reserve a hotel block in the area and will have more details coming soon. You are welcome to book your own accommodations if you please. It is not a requirement to book travel with the team. However, we find it great for the team to all be located in the same spot. Again, expect an announcement soon.