JWOC Team Trials COVID-19 Contingency Plan

Attention:

All junior athletes registered or who may still register to participate in the JWOC 2020 Team Trials races that are part of the Junior Nationals.

The Cascade Orienteering Club (COC) Contingency Plan for COVID-19 response includes following the Washington state and local health plans regarding hosting any events. The COC board is further exploring postponement alternatives should the virus spread to the point that state or local officials shut down the Junior Nationals for the currently scheduled time.

Should the Junior Nationals be postponed, the JWOC 2020 team selection will not be postponed. Additionally, if the Junior Nationals are not postponed, there may be athletes affected by travel or quarantine restrictions and/or personal concern that traveling to the Junior Nationals will put their families and communities at risk. In all of these circumstances, team selection will be done by evaluation of Type I petitions using the reviewing rubrics listed in the JWOC Selection Criteria. 

For that reason, JTESC encourages all juniors intending to try out for the JWOC 2020 team to submit a Type I petition (missing JWOC Team Trials races, and any long-term issues) which can be used on short notice if the meet is postponed or a decision not to travel is made. 

Any junior registered to participate in the Team Trials, may give “Covid-19 Contingency Petition” as reason for the petition.  The completed Type I petition should include as much of the requested information as possible, and be sent to  ousajuniorprogram@nullorienteeringusa.org by Friday, April 10, 2020 (this is the deadline for all Type I petitions).

Type I Petitions include:

  • Evidence that the petitioning athlete has run a 3k time trial. Links to results from significant races over the past 12 months, including championships, other national competitions, and/or international competitions. Head-to-head competition against athletes who are also declared JWOC Team candidates should be highlighted.
  • Evidence of the petitioning athlete’s training activity during the 3–12 months leading up to JWOC Team Trials. This should include links to training logs, descriptions of training camps attended, and coaches and/or other athletes who could verify that the training submitted is accurate.
  • If applicable, a detailed explanation of the petitioning athlete’s situation and how it precluded him/her from participating in one or more JWOC Team Trials races, or four or more rankable races. The explanation should highlight any inconsistencies in training and/or racing that might be relevant to the situation.

OUSA Welcomes New Communications Manager

OUSA is pleased to announce that Clinton Morse will be taking the position of National Communications Manager. Clinton will be taking over OUSA’s website and social media content, as well as our email newsletter.

The emails webmaster@nullorienteeringusa.org and newsletter@nullorienteeringusa.org will be transitioning to Clinton shortly.

We also express huge thanks to those volunteers who have been handling these areas recently. Janet Tryson has been maintaining our website content for the past 14.5 years, and Boris Granovskiy and Allison Brown have compiled and edited the newsletter for the last three years.

Many thanks to Janet, Boris, and Allison, and welcome to Clinton!

New OUSA Administrator

Orienteering USA is pleased to announce that Amy Winston will be taking over our contact and administrative duties. Amy will be the primary OUSA contact and will handle memberships, financial correspondence, and SafeSport account requests. The appropriate email for these issues is contact@nullorienteeringusa.org.

We would also like to express colossal thanks to Sandy Fillebrown, who has handled these duties for the past several years as a volunteer while we got our financial house in order. 

Many thanks to Sandy, and a big welcome to Amy!

IOF Foot O Event Advisers Clinic

The IOF has scheduled a FootO Event Advisers Clinic for July 28, 2020, at Northstar Resort in conjunction with the Cal-O-Fest and NAOC.

If you don’t already know what an Event Adviser is, the clinic probably isn’t for you at this time but you can learn more at the IOF Clinic webpage if your curiosity is nevertheless piqued.

Since it is a requirement that a national orienteering federation endorse the application of anyone wishing to become an Event Adviser, any American orienteers who would like to take part should contact me using my OUSA email. Entries will be accepted by the IOF through July 12.

–Jon Torrance, OUSA VP Competition

2019 Competitive Award Winners!

The annual OUSA Competitive Awards are given to top American orienteers in several categories for outstanding competitive performance over the course of the past year. The Awards Committee members are Susan Grandjean, Boris Granovskiy, Linda Kohn, Jeff Saeger, and Ken Walker Sr.

This is the tenth year for these awards, and the fifth year that Orienteering USA members had the opportunity to vote for the candidates. The committee thanks all those who submitted nominations and who took the time to vote for your top OUSA athletes. We had a near-record number of votes cast this year! The vote totals were used as the main component in final award selection.

The Orienteer, Junior, and Comet of the Year award winners each receive a $500 travel grant to help them continue to improve their skills. Additionally, the Honorable Mentions in the three individual categories will receive $100 travel grants.

The Awards Committee would like to thank two anonymous donors for their generous contributions to the travel grants.

Previous Competitive Award winners

Here are the 2019 winners and recipients of honorable mentions (HM). Congratulations to all the winners!

Orienteer of the Year

Awarded to the best U.S. orienteer in 2019, based on results at national and international events

Anton Salmenkylä (CSU / Helsingin Suunnistajat, Finland)

Anton Salmenkylä, CSU

Anton had an outstanding WOC for Team USA. His 37th place in the middle distance final is the best-ever U.S. men’s middle result at WOC. He also ran an excellent second leg for the men’s relay team that finished 20th — the men’s best relay result at WOC since 1991.

Honorable Mention

Sharon Crawford (RMOC)

Sharon Crawford, RMOC

The ageless Sharon continued her string of top international and national results across a multitude of orienteering disciplines. Among her 2019 highlights were double gold medals in F75+ at the World Masters Championships in Ski Orienteering and a gold medal in the Women’s Ultra Veteran category at the World Rogaining Championships with her Australian teammate. In Foot-O, Sharon won all F75+ races in the U.S. Masters Championships, the U.S. SML Nationals and the annual West Point Meet. She is ranked in the top 5% of all brown course runners.

Junior Orienteer of the Year

Awarded to the best U.S. orienteer in 2019 under the age of 21, based on results at national and international events.

Julia Doubson (BAOC)

Julia Doubson, BAOC

Julia was the top U.S. female in the Sprint (62nd) and Middle (52nd in the A final) distances at JWOC and took a step up to F21 towards the end of the season, earning a gold and two silver medals at the U.S. Nationals. She is ranked third in F21.

Honorable Mentions

AJ Riley (DVOA)

Anthony Riley, DVOA

AJ peaked towards the end of the season, with a string of top results in the fall. The highlight was his weekend of forest races at the U.S. Nationals in California, where he became the U.S. champion in the long distance in M21 and won a silver medal in the middle distance. This helped him to rise to fifth in the U.S. rankings in M21 as an 18-year-old.

Thomas Laraia (MNOC)

Thomas Laraia, MNOC

Thomas won the long and sprint distance races at the JWOC selection races and followed that up with a strong JWOC. In Denmark, he qualified for the Middle distance A-final and finished 52nd in the final, following up on a strong 57th place in the Sprint final.

Comet of the Year

Awarded to the U.S. orienteer who has made the most progress in their orienteering results during the 2019 season.

Joseph Barrett (QOC)

Joe Barrett, QOC

Joe Barrett returned to competitive orienteering after a multi-year hiatus for college in Oklahoma and immediately made an impact on the national scene, with a bronze medal at the M21 U.S. Long Distance Championships as the highlight, in addition to multiple podium finishes at National Ranking Events. He is currently ranked eighth in the U.S. in M21 after being unranked in 2018.

Honorable Mention

Bridget Hall (NEOC)

Bridget Hall, NEOC

Bridget convincingly made her first JWOC team in 2019, after finishing second and third in the JWOC selection races. She qualified for the middle distance B-final at JWOC, was the top F-20 competitor at several National Ranking Events, and finished the year ranked second in F-20 with a ranking of 81.1, a climb from sixth place and 74.7 in 2018.

Team of the Year

Awarded for the best team competitive performance during the 2019 season.

U.S. Men’s Relay Team at WOC

Left to right: Greg Ahlswede, Anton Salmenkylä, Morten Jørgensen

The team, consisting of Morten Jørgensen, Anton Salmenkylä, and Greg Ahlswede, finished 20th of 36 nations, which was the best U.S. men’s relay result at WOC since 1991, when considerably fewer nations participated.

Announcing the 2020 U.S. National Team

The Selection Committee* has named the following athletes to the U.S. Senior National Team:

Elite: Greg Ahlswede, Alison Crocker, Morten Jørgensen, Anton Salmenkylä

Performance: Giacomo Barbone, Eric Bone, Tori Borish, Alison Campbell, Will Enger, Sydney Fisher, Åsne Skram Trømborg

Development: Joseph Barrett, Brigitte Bordelon, Evalin Brautigam, Julia Doubson, Martin Heir, Michael Laraia, Thomas Laraia, Tyra Christopherson

Senior Team selection is based on the following criteria:

  • Senior Elite Team: athletes who consistently produce top-level US results in F21 or M21
  • Senior Performance Team: athletes who frequently produce strong US results in F21 or M21, at or near the level of the Elite Team
  • Senior Development Team: athletes who have demonstrated potential to reach Performance and/or Elite level with further training and experience.

Congratulations to all the athletes!

*The Selection Committee consists of Peggy Dickison, Cristina Luis, Glen Tryson, and Eric Weyman.

Announcing 2020 U.S. WUOC Team

Congratulations to the following who were selected to represent the U.S. in Smolensk, Russia at WUOC2020, July 14-18:

  • Diana Aleksieva (QOC) – University of Virginia
  • Isabel Bryant (CSU/NEOC) – Wellesley College
  • Tyra Christopherson (COC) – Montana State University
  • Julia Doubson (BAOC) – Amherst College
  • Martin Heir (Fossum IF/Norway) – Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Michael Laraia (MNOC) – University of Minnesota
  • Thomas Laraia (MNOC) – University of Edinburgh
  • Anthony Riley (DVOA) – Stanford University
  • Danny Riley (alternate) – Cornell University
  • Peter Zakrevski (HVO) – Rutgers University

Thank you Peter, Erin, and Greg! –from the National Junior Program

On behalf of former, current, and future members of Orienteering USA’s National Junior Program and their families, we extend a huge thank you to Peter Gagarin, Erin Schirm, and Greg Ahlswede for their vision, support, expertise, and hard work in establishing and expanding the NJP and taking junior orienteering in the U.S. to the next level.

As we embark on the next stage, we appreciate the strong foundation provided by Erin, Greg, and Peter on which we will continue to build the NJP.

Junior Team Executive Steering Committee

It starts at home!

Roundtable 8pm EST Jan 18, 2020, on Strategic Plan

Help the OUSA Board develop a Strategic Plan for OUSA.

The Board will host a roundtable at the Georgia Navigator Cup to present results from the Strategic Planning Survey and solicit responses from the membership.

Where: Covington Hampton Inn – event hotel meeting room

When: 8:00 pm, Saturday, January 18, 2020

After Saturday’s event, at 8:00 pm Tori Campbell will present the results of a survey we conducted last fall. What! You didn’t get the survey? Well this is your chance to participate because a discussion will follow the presentation. We want your input.

Teleconference info for those unable to attend in person:

Join Hangouts Meet

meet.google.com/owg-ynxb-ajg

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/owg-ynxb-ajg

Phone Numbers

(‪US‬)‪+1 414-622-0109‬

PIN: ‪179 460 696#