This past weekend prep stars Allie Zealand, Berkley Nance, and Maddie Gardiner put on a show in the USATF U20 National Championships for Cross Country. The top six finishers from each race advance to compete in the World Cross Country Championships to take place in Serbia on March 30th.
Finishing 2nd overall in the girls 6K race was Allie Zealand. She ran a time of 20:31.9 and finished in second by under a second. Finishing in fifth in that race was Gardiner who ran 20:48.2. Both athletes averaged 3:28 or faster by kilometer.
In the boys race Nance finished in 6th running 24:25.2 for the 8K distance. That time featured an average of 3:03 per kilometer.
This race has been circled on the calendar for all three athletes for quite some time. They all ran extremely well during the XC season and finished as our state runners of the year and VA #1 for subjective rankings. Gardiner finished third in our rankings on the girls side.
It should be noted though that Berkley has not only been focusing on this event but also tearing it up indoors on the track. He won the VA Showcase two mile in a national leading performance of 9:05.64. That time ranks 12th all-time for the state of Virginia.