Category: National Team

JWOC 2025 Recap

June 26-July 3, 2025

Last updated July 4

Team USA was represented by 12 athletes at this year’s Junior Orienteering World Championships, held in Trentino, Italy. Here are photos, maps, and results from this year’s event!

Sprint Relay

The Mixed Sprint Relay is a race between teams of four athletes–two women and two men—in a fast, head-to-head competition with a total winning time of under one hour. In the heat of the afternoon, Team USA athletes pulled off impressive performances, utilizing their speed and wit to race around the streets of Levico Terme. Although blazing temperatures made the race more challenging, the competitors raced hard and smart, enough to earn a promotion in their starting rank for next year’s JWOC, a win against their neighbors (and friendly rivals) to the North – Canada, and gelato for the team. 

Only the top team from each country counts for the official results, and in the case of the US that was USA 2: Paige Suhocki, Ben Cooper, Alex Eriksson, and Danny Buchholz, coming in 32nd.

Official Results
Map/Live tracking: Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4

Sprint

With starts throughout the morning, Team USA battled less heat, but more hills and a more technical city sprint on their second day of competition. Still, the juniors kept their brains sharp, navigating well through the cobblestone streets and tunnels of Cembra, and delivered strong performances (and photo finishes) throughout. 

Ben Conley (92nd) and Greta Leonard (125th) posted the top results for Team USA this day.

Official Results
Maps and routes on Livelox

Long

Team USA stared down daunting course statistics (8.0km with 410m climb for F20/10.0km with 500m climb for M20) to carry out super solid races in the woods of Fornace. After finding their way around fields of pits deeper than two Coach Dylans, taking strategic route choices across several impressively long legs, and using their strength to take on hill after hill, the team had a renewed excitement for forest racing … and for their rest day. 

Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck (104th) and Paige Suhocki (111th) clocked in with the fastest time for US athletes today.

Official results
Maps and routes on Livelox

Middle

Team USA took on a new forest for the middle distance race. While the course statistics looked less terrifying, these woods were significantly less forgiving, with blackberry bushes that tore into our athletes and bumpy hillsides that rolled Ian’s ankle (He wisely chose to DNF, but is recovering well!)

The athletes who made it out alive performed solidly, tackling hills, marshes, and an uphill finish chute to all land themselves well under an hour in the woods.

Official results
Maps and routes on Livelox

Forest Relay

With three full teams, and one mixed team with a South African friend/lead leg, Team USA took on the relay, on a similar map to their middle. Now knowing what to avoid (green vertical slash and marshes), our athletes bested even more slopes, the distraction of running with others in the woods, and any navigational challenges thrown their way. 

The team ended the competition cheering on their coaches in the coaches race, reflecting on their accomplishments, and preparing to enjoy themselves a well-deserved banquet!

Official results
Tracks and maps for Men LEG 1 – LEG 2 – LEG 3
Tracks and maps for Women LEG 1 – LEG 2 – LEG 3

Support Team USA this summer!

This summer Orienteering USA is providing support to 30 National Team and Youth Development Program athletes participating in events in Europe. Some, like Ali Crocker (CROC), are veterans competing for the last time at the World Orienteering Championships. Others, like youngsters Kendal O’Callaghan (RMOC) and Alex Eriksson (ICO), are part of OUSA’s first officially supported team to the European Youth Orienteering Championships. All of our athletes are training hard now and preparing for their summer competitions and training camps, and we’ll keep you updated on all the action.

Here’s a schedule of events featuring Team USA orienteers this summer:

In addition to cheering these athletes on from home, you can also lend a hand financially. Help these athletes reach their summer fundraising goal of $6,000 ($200 per athlete)!

Make a donation by using via OUSA’s donation page (select “4 National Team”) and then share the image above on social media to get others to pitch in!

April OUSA Member Spotlight: Keegan Harkavy

The OUSA April Spotlight is on National Team member (Elite Squa) Keegan Harkavy, from Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is a transcript of an interview with Keegan in April, 2025. It has been edited for clarity and length.

Cristina Luis: Welcome Keegan! I would like to hear how you got your start orienteering.

Keegan Harkavy: I had always known what orienteering was because I grew up next to Barb [Bryant] and growing up next to Barb, it’s kind of a foregone conclusion that you’ll know what orienteering is. I think somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I remember Barb always trying to get me and my two sisters to do it.

But it really started in sixth grade when she came into my school to teach us orienteering. And I can’t really remember what we did. I think we did some maze-Os, maybe some grids, but I remember really enjoying it. I was quite good at it and as a hyper-competitive sixth grader that was something that was exciting. I remember just having a good time and, Barb being Barb, she got really excited about this and pushed to get a team from Cambridge Street Upper School to go to Junior Nationals. 

(more…)

March OUSA Member Spotlight: Ali Crocker

Ali Crocker running at 2022 Masters Nationals.

This is a transcript of an interview with Ali in March, 2025. It has been edited for clarity and length.

Cristina Luis: Ali, I would like to hear about your athletic background, from the beginning, and how that melds into orienteering. 

Alison Crocker: From the very beginning? Okay.

As early as you want to go. It doesn’t have to be the very beginning.

Okay. I think at my earliest ages I was dragged along to running races with my parents. Totally loved doing all the kids’ races. So I was active from the beginning, and then probably the first serious sport I did was cross-country skiing, up through young juniors. I went to a ski academy for one year–where Alex Jospe currently coaches. I just went there for the winter trying to take skiing really seriously. But then I went to a boarding school where there was more snow than at my house so I could ski but still do academics. And it was there that I discovered two new sports. First, I discovered rowing, which I took seriously for quite a while during all of high school.

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2025 JWOC Team Selected

The JWOC Selection Committee is pleased to announce the team to represent the US at the 2025 Junior World Championships (JWOC), which will be held in Trentino, Italy, from 26 June to 4 July.

Men:

  • Ben Brady
  • Ben Conley
  • Ian Dunlap
  • Alex Eriksson
  • Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck
  • Ludvig Hagwall
  • 1st alternate, Ben Cooper
  • 2nd alternate, Lenni Kallela

Women:

  • Danny Buchholz
  • Anna Campbell
  • Anna Green
  • Greta Leonard
  • Paige Suhocki
  • Zariah Zosel
  • 1st alternate, Kendal O’Callaghan
  • 2nd alternate, Sophie Howes
  • 3rd alternate, Kate deBlonk

Congratulations to all the athletes! We wish them the best of luck in the European forests.

Peggy Dickison, National Team ESC Chair & Chair of WOC Review Panel
JWOC Selection Committee: Jon Torrance, Brenda Blacklock, Ethan Childs, Will Enger, Tyra Christopherson, and Julia Doubson

2025 WOC Team Selected

The WOC Review Panel is pleased to announce the team to represent the US at the 2025 World Orienteering Championships (WOC) in Kuopio, Finland, from 7 to 12 July. Regional champs in the Middle and Long races—for North Americans, last summer’s NAOC races—earn personal starts in those WOC races. Joseph Barrett thus earned a long start at this year’s WOC, and Ali Crocker earned both a middle and a long start.

2025 WOC Team

Men:

  • Joseph Barrett
  • Ricardo Schaniel
  • Anthony Riley
  • Thomas Laraia
  • 1st alternate, Greg Ahlswede
  • 2nd alternate, Anton Salmenkylä

Women:

  • Ali Crocker
  • Lily Addicott
  • Alison Campbell
  • Evalin Brautigam
  • 1st alternate, Bridget Hall
  • 2nd alternate, Siri Christopherson

Congratulations to all the athletes! We wish them the best of luck in the European forests.

Peggy Dickison, National Team ESC Chair & Chair of WOC Review Panel
WOC Review Panel: Glen Tryson, Jeff Saeger, Ioana Flemming, Peggy Dickison

Western States Champs / US Team Trials

Feb 28-Mar 2, 2025

Host: Bay Area Orienteering Club

Venues:

  • Friday: Presidio, San Francisco, CA
  • Saturday & Sunday: Calero County Park, San Jose, CA

This event served as the Team Trials for the Junior World Orienteering Champs (Fri, Sat, Sun) and the World Orienteering Champs (Sat, Sun). Additionally, combined scores for the best two of three days were used to determined the winners of the Western State Champs, an informal competition for orienteers residing in one of the western states (those states with a peak above 10,000′).

Photos by Evalin Brautigam and Cristina Luis

Results, Photos, and Maps

Announcing the 2025 US National Orienteering Team

The Selection Committee (Peggy Dickison, Matt Smith, and Will Enger) is pleased to announce the 2025 US National Orienteering Team.

The committee received 55 applications and 45 athletes were selected to the National Team, earning a place on one of three squads: Elite, Performance, and Junior. Those athletes on the Elite Squad are those who we would expect to make up the WOC Team if the trials were held now. Performance athletes are those who in any given race can perform at the Elite level and may develop into an athlete capable of competing for the WOC Team. Junior athletes, those under 21, are only eligible for the Junior Squad. They are eligible to compete for the WOC and the JWOC teams.

We welcome six new members to the Team, one returning member, and one promotion from Performance to Elite. 

Look for these Team members in the US Team Blog, helping at NREs and local events, and coaching. All are fine representatives of orienteering, and we look forward to seeing what they are capable of this year.

Congratulations to all the members of the 2025 National US Orienteering Team!

2025 US National Orienteering Team

  • Elite Squad
    • Lily Addicott – Promotion – GAOC
    • Greg Ahlswede – DVOA, Escondite (Spain)
    • Joseph Barrett – NMO
    • Evalin Brautigam – WCOC
    • Alison Campbell – DVOA, STAG (Scotland)
    • Alison Crocker – CROC
    • Thomas Curiger – OLC Kapreolo (Switzerland), OK Orion (Sweden)
    • Sydney Fisher – EMPO
    • Bridget Hall – NEOC, MNOC
    • Keegan Harkavy – NEOC
    • Thomas Laraia – MNOC
    • Anthony Riley – DVOA
    • Danny Riley – ECO
    • Ricardo Schaniel – Bussola OK (Switzerland)
  • Performance Squad
    • Diana Aleksieva – QOC
    • Eric Bone – COC
    • Jessica Colleran – COC
    • Shawn Mather – USMAOC
    • Kirsten Mayland – DVOA
    • Alex Merka – QOC, OB Říčany
    • Dylan Poe – ICO, OCIN
    • Oriana Riley – DVOA
    • Mathew Rogers – New to team! – COC
    • Collin Thompson – New to team! – USMAOC
    • Grace Zoppi – SMOC, COC
  • Junior Squad
    • Ben Brady – GrizO
    • Danny Buchholz – COC
    • Anna Campbell – TSN, NEOC
    • Ben Conley – GrizO, COC
    • Ben Cooper – COC
    • Kate deBlonk – New to team! – GrizO, NEOC
    • Ian Dunlap – OLOU
    • Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck – NEOC
    • Anna Green – New to team! – SMOC
    • Ludvig Hagwall – Järla Orientering (Sweden)
    • Sophie Howes – COC
    • Min-Jae Kuo – New to team! – NEOC
    • Greta Leonard – COC
    • Kendal O’Callaghan – New to team! – RMOC
    • David Rogers – New to team! – COC
    • Jackson Rupe – COC
    • Adalia Schafrath-Craig – New to team! – BOK
    • Paige Suhocki – DVOA
    • Samantha Walker – QOC
    • Zariah Zosel – COC, GrizO

The Lookback: 1979 World Orienteering Championships

US Team for the 1979 World Orienteering Championships in Tampere, Finland. From left to right: Pat Dunleavy, Peter Gagarin, Steve Tarry, Linda Taylor, Jim Pugh, Virginia Lehman, Mikell Platt, Sharon Crawford, Eric Weyman, Beth Skelton, Betty Anderson, Gail Gagarin.

Shortly after sending out the December, 2024 OUSA Newsletter I received an email from Jim Pugh with the 1979 WOC team photo you see above, and the suggestion to include it in an upcoming newsletter. This seemed like a great idea. With a few more photos from Jim, plus some stories and maps from Peter Gagarin, this little look back into the past was born. Enjoy this peak into the US team’s past!

–Cristina

Map of the Individual courses for WOC 1979, annotated with routes for the top men and women.

Some memories from Peter Gagarin from the World Orienteering Championships in Tampere, Finland, in 1979 –

The team was selected at Team Trials in May at Quabbin (days 1 and 3) and Mount Hermon School (day 2) in Massachusetts. Women: Sharon Crawford, Beth Skelton, Betty Andersen, Linda Taylor, Virginia Lehman. Men: Eric Weyman, Mikell Platt, Steve Tarry, Jim Pugh, Peter Gagarin. Many of us lived in the Northeast and we got together on several weekends for training before heading to Finland in late August.

It was really hard orienteering. The forests were hilly with lots of thick vegetation; the ground was very soft and hard to run on. There were just two events, individual and relay, with the maps for both drawn at 1:20,000. And yet we had some excellent results, especially from our women. Sharon Crawford was 32nd out of 69 in the individual, certainly one of our best results ever, and the women finished 10th out 17 in the relay, which I think is our best ever. Eric Weyman was our best in the men’s individual, 53rd of 78, and the men finished 14th out of 19 in the relay. [Link to results on the IOF webpage.]

The women’s relay team was really something. Beth Skelton ran the opening leg, a good run for her, and then Sharon on the second leg had her usual good run. Third leg went to Betty Andersen, though that was in doubt until the last moment – she had taken a fall in the individual, landing on a stump someplace on her ribs, and was really hurting. But she wanted to run. I put her through some sort of test that morning to see if she really could run and she passed, and so when Sharon came in, off went Betty on the anchor leg.

There was no GPS in those days, no TV from the forest. I think there were a couple of radio controls, but at the finish you just wait, as the better teams keep coming in. And then there she was, 10th, first of the English-speaking countries, ahead of Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, plus France and Poland for good measure. It was really amazing.

I ran just the relay, first leg, not perfect but a good run. It was raining. My map case wasn’t sealed, and the map got wet, and the ink for the courses wasn’t waterproof and it started to run, but it held up just well enough to tell where my controls were. The ink kept running for quite a while after I had stopped running, so it looks almost impossible to read now. It wasn’t that bad.

Map from the men’s relay at the 1979 World Orienteering Championships.

The map for the individual shows the routes of the medalists and my map for the relay is shown. Also, just for comparison, the next map I went orienteering on back home, Estabrook Woods in Concord, Mass. Quite the difference.

Map from a local event at Estabrook Woods in Concord, MA later the same month as WOC.

National Team applications now open!

Each year, the National Team represents the United States at international orienteering events around the world. From World Cup races to the World Orienteering Championships and Junior World Orienteering Championships, our athletes compete at the highest level and showcase the best of Team USA.

Athletes selected for the National Team are grouped into three squads: Elite, Performance, and Junior. Additional athletes may also qualify mid-season through team trials or a petition process to compete in specific international championships.

Apply Now: National Team application / Selection Criteria

The National Team application deadline is January 12, 2025—don’t miss this chance to compete on the world stage and represent TeamUSA!

As previously announced, the JWOC and WOC Team Trials will take place at the BAOC event Feb 28-Mar 2. For WOC and JWOC selection criteria and more information about the National Team, please visit the National Team page.