US Team Archives - Page 3 of 10

2023 Youth European Summer Trip

This summer young orienteers from both the National Team and the Youth Development Program will be embarking on a three week summer trip to Europe to take part in two major international orienteering events. The trip will run from approximately June 19th through July 10th.

First stop on the trip will be to the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) in Velingrad, Bulgaria. Since US Youth are not eligible for the EYOC Championships, they will participate in the concurrent EYOC Tour events June 23-25th.

From Bulgaria, the group will travel on to Baia Mare, Romania for the 2023 Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) running from July 2-9th. Twelve US youth were recently selected to compete at JWOC this year. Non-JWOC youth will take part in the JWOC Tour races being held during the same period.

Plenty of opportunities for sightseeing and cultural activities will be built into the itinerary around the competition days as well as time to do what kids like to do – have fun… A series of fund-raising efforts are planned to help raise money to provide stipends to attending youth to offset travel costs for this trip.

First up will be this weekend at West Point! On Sunday, April 16th, juniors will be hosting a bake sale to raise funds for summer youth travel. Stop by to enjoy some delicious cakes and meet our talented juniors. They would also welcome (and appreciate!) any donations of baked goods. If you’re planning to bring any, please email Keegan at keegan@nullharkador.com to let us know.

There will also be a “Control Challenge” where donors can pledge a particular amount based on the number of controls youth participants visit over a fixed time period – April 17th – June 4th. Final details on the control challenge can be found on the National Team Blog.

You can also make a donation directly to support the Junior Summer Trip by using our secure donation form and pay by credit card, bank ACH or PayPal. The future of our sport depends upon youth and we thank you for supporting this amazing opportunity for our National Team and Youth Development Program youth to gain such valuable experiences in Europe this summer.

Below are a few photos from last summers youth excursions in Portugal and Switzerland.

West Point to Host ’23 WOC Team Trials

Now that the JWOC Team Trials are done and the JWOC 2023 Team has been announced, its time to set our sights on the WOC 2023 Team Trials which will be held this coming weekend at the 43rd West Point National Ranking Event. Since last year’s WOC was a Sprint WOC, this year’s World Orienteering Championships will focus on the forest disciplines of Middle, Long & Relay.

WOC 2023 will be held in Flims Laax, Switzerland from July 11-16. A strong field on both the men’s and women’s side are vying for coveted spots on this year’s team. In order to properly challenge our athletes, the long TT course for the women will be approximately 9.6km with 405m of climb and the men’s TT course will be 13.7km with over 500m of climb on the optimal route. And this is at West Point folks, so it will be a truly epic battle. The M-21+ and F-21+ winners for each race (Middle & Long) will earn an automatic spot on the WOC Team, as well as the athletes with the best combined results. You can read the full WOC Selection Criteria here.

Let’s take a look at who is currently entered, starting with the women. Names in bold type are current members of the US National Team and they are ordered by their current Eventor World Ranking score. Good to see some Junior Squad members stepping up to take a shot.

Over on the men’s side, an interesting mix including three of our european based TeamUSA athletes. Our top two contenders both reside in Switzerland where WOC will be held, but not far behind them are perennial local favorites Greg Ahlswede and Joe Barrett, both of whom have a pretty good handle on what West Point may throw at them, particularly in the long. They will be a couple of interesting races to watch for sure. Who do you think is going to come out on top?

Guess the WOC Team Members!

See how well you can predict who will make the US Team to compete in the World Orienteering Championships in Switzerland this summer!

Pick four Team members and one alternate of each gender. (This may not be the eventual team size.)

Donations are encouraged, but not required. To donate, go to the Donate page on the OUSA website, and select “4 TEAM USA:National Foot-O Team.” Funds will help the team with WOC expenses.

Donation Form (orienteeringusa.org)

The person/people who most closely choose the Team members will get a shout-out in the OUSA Newsletter, (and maybe a map souvenir from WOC).

DEADLINE: please submit this form by 8 AM EDT, 15 April, 2023.

TeamUSA Announces 2023 JWOC Roster

The JWOC Selection Committee – Jon Torrance, Ali Crocker, and Cristina Luis – is pleased to announce the 2023 US Team selected to compete at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) to be held July 2-9, 2023 in Baia Mare, Romania. Accompanying the team will be coaches Evalin Brautigam, Thomas Laraia, and Caroline Sandbo.

Congratulations to our 2023 JWOC athletes!

Men
- Ben Brady (COC)
- Holden Sopoti (USMAOC)
- Ian Dunlap (OLOU)
- Keegan Harkavy (NEOC)
- Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck (NEOC)
- Shawn Mather (USMAOC)
1st Alternate: Max Ahmed (QOC)

Women
- Alex Merka (QOC)
- Anna Campbell (NEOC)
- Hana Myers (USMAOC)
- Lily Addicott (GAOC)
- Paige Suhocki (DVOA)
- Zariah Zosel (COC)
1st Alternate: Greta Leonard (COC)
2nd Alternate: Annika Mihata (COC)
3rd Alternate: Samantha Walker (QOC)

2023 OUSA Nationals Event Recap

March 24-26, 2023

Host: Orienteering Cincinnati
Venues:
- Morehead State University, Morehead, KY
- Carter Caves State Park, Olive Hill, KY
Event Director: Mike Minium
- Ben Hart – Friday Course Setter
- Shin Shimizu – Saturday Course Setter
- Dave Waller – Sunday Course Setter
- Jonas Kjall, OUSA Course Consultant
- Guy Olsen – Registrar, Registration Director
Event Website

Results

Official Sprint Results
- Friday Results by Class
- Friday Results by Course
- Friday Split Times by Course
- Friday Split Times by Age Class
- Official Results at OUSA Rankings
Official Long Results
- Saturday Results by Class
- Saturday Results by Course
- Saturday Split Times by Course
- Saturday Split Times by Age Class
- Official Results at OUSA Rankings
Official Middle Results
- Sunday Results by Class
- Sunday Results by Course
- Sunday Split Times by Course
- Sunday Split Times by Age Class
- Official Results at OUSA Rankings
AttackPoint – Splits and Discussion
WinSplits
- Friday Sprint by class
- Saturday Long by class
- Sunday Middle by class
RouteGadget – maps & gps track analysis

Media

Orienteering USA Official Photos via OUSA Facebook
- Friday Sprint Gallery A [50 photos]
- Friday Sprint Gallery B [60 photos]
- Friday Sprint Gallery C [50 photos]
- Friday Sprint Gallery D [44 photos]
- NOTE: Friday Sprint Galleries A-D [204 photos] also posted to OCIN SmugMug
- Saturday Long Gallery A [60 photos]
- Saturday Long Gallery B [60 photos]
- NOTE: Saturday Long Galleries A&B [120 photos] also posted to OCIN SmugMug
- Sunday Middle Gallery A [60 photos]
- Sunday Middle Gallery B [24 photos]
- NOTE: Sunday Middle Galleries A&B [84 photos] also posted to OCIN SmugMug (coming soon)
OCIN Event Photos at SmugMug
- Carter Caves Scouting & Vetting [37 photos]
- Friday Sprint at Morehead State University [230 photos]
- Saturday Long at Carter Caves [139 photos]
- Sunday Middle at Kiser Hollow [251 photos]
Sprint Photos [50 photos] from Julie Keim at FlickR

2023 WOC Team Trials

The 43rd West Point NRE will host the US Team Trials for the 2023 World Orienteering Championships for the second consecutive year. This year’s WOC will be held in Switzerland, 11-16 July. Following last year’s inaugural Sprint WOC, this year is back to a forest-race WOC, with a Middle, Long, and Relay. Therefore, only the Middle and Long races at the USMAOC event will be used as Trials qualifiers.

The M21 and F21 winners for each race will earn a spot on the WOC Team, as well as the athletes with the best combined results. The Review Panel (Peggy Dickison, Jeff Saeger, and Glen Tryson) will name the remaining athletes, based on a scoring list and petitions. Athletes who wish to be considered for the WOC Team but are unable to compete at West Point must register for the event, selecting “Yes, Competing for selection to the US WOC Team” and “Not participating” under the Race Selection section.

See the Selection Criteria below for more information.

Peggy Dickison
ESC Chairman/Review Panel Chair

US WOC 2023 Team Selection Criteria

The winner of each Middle race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.
The winner of each Long race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.
The athlete with the best combined results in each race (M/F-21+) will receive automatic selection.

Additional information and caveats:

At least two athletes of each gender will receive automatic spots; if one athlete wins both races (and therefore also has the top combined result), the second automatic spot goes to the athlete finishing 2^nd in the Middle race (because we have more starts in the Middle and Relay).
If either the winner of the Middle or Long is also first on the scoring list (a combination of the results of the two races, normalized to be of equal weight), only two automatic spots will be awarded, with the remaining members selected by the Review Panel.
Athletes who wish to be considered for the 2023 WOC Team but are unable to compete at West Point must still register for the event, selecting “Yes, Competing for selection to the US WOC 2023 Team” and “Not participating” under the Race Selection section.
Remaining members of the team will be named by the Review Panel, using petitions, the scoring list, and Trials results.
Any athlete may submit a petition, within an hour of the final race finish, and must explain why they could not attend the Trials, had a subpar result, or were affected by an organizational issue not of their making.
There must be at least three declared and eligible athletes competing in a race for there to be an automatic selection.
The NT will send at least three athletes of each gender, but no more than 6. Most likely is 3-4 athletes of each gender. This year, the US has 8 or 9 race starts for the women (3 middle, 2 long, 3 relay, and potentially a 4^th middle [personal, ie cannot be transferred] start based on the top North American on the IOF ranking list as of 11 May), and 7 starts for the men (3 middle, 1 long, 3 relay, and potentially a 4^th middle).
– As of 4 March, the top North Americans are an American woman and a Canadian man.
If anyone with a personal start wants to compete in additional races at WOC, they must either attend the Trials or submit a petition.

Erik Fey notches solid results for TeamUSA at EYSOC

Update (5 Feb, 2023): This post has been updated to reflect a press release covering the Long & Relay events at EYSOC ’23. Updates can be found beneath the map image below.

The European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships are now taking place in Madona, Latvia from January 31-February 5, 2023. Countries from outside Europe are also able to take part. TeamUSA is being represented by Erik Fey, age 14, who is competing in the 17 and under male youth category. Erik was 16th place in both the sprint race Tuesday and the medium distance Wednesday which the announcer said is the best US result in European Ski-Orienteering Youth Championships ever improving upon Erik’s best result of 18th place last year. Erik was especially pleased today to meet his goal of having the best result of anyone born in 2008 or later.

The sprint race and the medium race were both won by Ritvars Lepeskins from Latvia ahead of Lavio Mueller from Switzerland and Eemil Koskinen of Finland. When asked about his race Erik said, “I am pleased to be in the top 20 and felt better about my race today than yesterday even though the results were the same. Today I had three people in 12 seconds in front of me, so I know I can improve my results if I can push just a little bit harder and eliminate the two small orienteering mistakes I had today. My skis were very fast today. I really look forward to the long race on Friday as it is a mass start race which will be in a one man relay format as I love mass starts. I would also like to thank Orienteering USA for their support and my coaches my father Carl Fey and Henri Hämäläinen for training me.”

This year the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships are being covered on web-TV, so you can watch them and see complete results and GPS tracking at: https://orienteering.sport/event/european-ski-orienteering-championships-2/middle/ European Championships continue on Friday with the long distance race and conclude on Saturday with a relay.

For more information or to send a message to the US Team at the races, please contact: carlffey@nullgmail.com

February 5th update:

On Friday, February 3rd, 2023 the long race of the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships for people under 17 took place in Madona, Latvia. Erik Fey (age 14) was the only American participant and ended up in a solid 16th place, ironically the exact same place he obtained in the sprint and middle distance races earlier in the week. Erik had the best result in the race of anyone born in 2008 or later. The race was won by Ritvars Lepeskins from Latvia followed by Eemil Koskinen from Finland and Filip Mairich from Czech Republic.

On Saturday, February 4th, 2023 was the relay. The home crowd was excited to see Latvia take a step forward in the ski-orienteering world and win the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships. Finland took the silver medal and Czech Republic the bronz. Since there were not three Americans, Erik Fey teamed up with two Swedish skiers Ludvig Markhester and Andreij Kuzmin to ski the relay unofficially—teams with people from more than one country do not count in the official standings. All three skiers had solid performances and the team ended up unofficially in 4th.

The 2024 European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships will take place in Austria together with the Junior World Championships and the World Ski-Orienteering Championships in late January. Hopefully more American ski-orienteers will take place in those races.

Many thanks to Carl Fey for providing OrienteeringUSA with timely press releases and the photos from Latvia.

2023 US National Team Announced

The Selection Committee of Peggy Dickison, Eric Weyman, and Matt Smith are pleased to announce the 2023 US National Orienteering Team.

Placements were based primarily on the Selection Criteria, including OUSA ranking scores, IOF ranking scores, and head-to-head competition. In general, we were most flexible/inclusive with the Juniors, who we understand are still improving and have less consistent results; less flexible/inclusive with the Performance Squad; and least flexible/inclusive with the Elite Squad.

We are excited to see our team grow, with two athletes returning to the Team after breaks, and six Juniors new to the Team.

2023 TeamUSA Elite Squad

2023 TeamUSA Performance Squad

2023 TeamUSA Junior Squad

Applications for 2023 National Team now being accepted.

Since 2022, the National Team, aka TeamUSA, has consisted of three tiers: the Elite Squad, the Performance Squad, and the Junior Squad. The Elite Squad consists of those athletes who consistently perform at a high level and are deemed most likely to be selected for world-championship or elite-competition teams. Performance Squad athletes also perform at a high level but may not yet be consistent picks for international team selection. The Junior Squad encompasses all TeamUSA members aged 20 and under; all three tiers are fully eligible to take part in all team activities and to compete for spots on the international-event teams (subject, of course, to age restrictions or other qualifications for individual competitions.)

This year, the National Team Selection Committee (Peggy Dickison, Eric Weyman, Matt Smith) has published selection criteria that refine what has been done previously and will be used in making selections to the 2023 National Team. The Committee feels it is important to publicize the metrics and qualifications that go into selection decisions to increase the transparency of the process, to recognize the significant accomplishment it is to qualify for the Team, and to establish targets for goal-setting and other efforts of those wanting to qualify. While the performance level required to qualify for the National Team is particularly high of necessity, the Selection Committee reinforces that those who qualify have earned the opportunity to be considered for the Team.

These criteria are guidelines for the Selection Committee and will be considered in total and in context for each applicant. While the Committee values the quality and consistency of training, dedication, attitude, etc., ultimately the highest value is placed on performance and results. OUSA and IOF ranking numbers, results and info from individual races, and consistency of performance are the primary consideration of the Committee who rely on the high confidence of such data. However, these criteria are not strict cut-offs, and the Committee will consider trends and groupings and are willing to make mid-year revisions and/or promotions.

Athletes residing outside the United States who do not have an OUSA or IOF ranking are encouraged to apply if they feel their results qualify them to the Team. In such cases, athletes are requested to submit any national or international level results for the Selection Committee to review. Those who qualify for TeamUSA demonstrate they are the fastest and top athletes of the USA and are capable of performing on the world stage on behalf of the USA. Everyone who meets, exceeds, or approaches these qualifications is encouraged to apply.

The 2023 USA National Team Selection Criteria are published here [~~https://docs.google.com/document/d/19i3s2tR8BPyCp3O3ERT5cjh04n0SCVj6/view~~] Feb 7, 2024 – Link no longer available

To apply to the 2023 National Team, complete the 2023 National Team Application Form, due by 18 January 2023, here [https://forms.gle/Supz5ZjNpTy8fNsm7].

2023 JWOC Team Selection Criteria Announced

The 2023 Junior World Orienteering Championships will take place from July 1-9, 2023 in Baia Mare, Romania. An official pre-JWOC training will be hosted the week prior to the championships, with the US Team intending to participate for at least a portion of it. Orienteering USA’s JWOC Selection Committee will choose up to six young male and six young female athletes to represent the USA at JWOC ’23.

As we return to more normal post-pandemic customs, this year will see a return to a full Team Trials selection event for the 2023 team. The 2023 JWOC Selection committee has coordinated with the organizers of the 2023 Orienteering USA Nationals / Flying Pig XXV to include the 2023 JWOC Team Trials. The event will take place the weekend of March 24-26, 2023 in Kentucky/Ohio and will consist of three races (M/F-20): Sprint, Middle & Long. The latter two are scheduled to be at Carter Caves in Kentucky and the sprint venue has not yet been announced but will be located nearby.

The full JWOC Team Selection Criteria document has now been uploaded to the Orienteering USA Library.

Note to Petitioners: Petitioners who can not attend the Team Trials will still be required to register for the Team Trials as Non-Compete and fill in the declaration page. Petitioning information will be collected through EventReg during registration – whether competing in the trials races, or entering as Non-Compete.

Interested athletes can view Bulletin 2.1 from the JWOC ’23 organizers for more information.

JWOC ’22 Part B Event Recap

November 4-6, 2022

The Forest races scheduled for JWOC ’22 back in July were cancelled when forest access throughout the entire country of Portugal was shut-down due to extreme fire danger. Event organizers pivoted and put together a great Sprint JWOC in its place and elected to defer the forest races until November.

Unfortunately, due to school and other commitments, many members of the originally selected squad from July were unable to return to Portugal a second time to complete the JWOC competition but TeamUSA was still able to send a 7-person contingent this time around.

Returning members from the July squad included Alexis Merka, Anna Campbell, Bridget Hall, Lily Addicott and Holden Sopoti as the lone representative for the men. Oriana Riley, originally an alternate selection for the July team was added to the squad. Rounding out the TeamUSA squad was Emilia Schmidt who was selected for the 2020 JWOC Team but was unable to compete due to cancellation of the event in 2020 by the pandemic.

Be sure to check out the post-JWOC blog post by TeamUSA member Lily Addicott to find out more about our team’s adventures in Portugal.

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