The USA Track and Field (USATF) Junior Olympic New England Association meet is on November 12 in Attleboro, MA. This meet is optional, and in the past, some but not all of our runners have participated in the USATF meet. You will need to sign your child up for this meet.
The USATF meet brings together runners from MA, RI, NH, and VT. Junior Olympic athletes compete in age groups. The age groups (7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18) are determined by the child's age as of December 31, 2023.
Here is the link for information about the USATF meet:
https://newengland.usatf.org/events/2023/2023-usatf-ne-junior-olympic-cross-country-champio
You will see on this page that there is November 19 Region I meet in Queensbury, NY. There is also a December 9 USATF national meet in Louisville, KY. The top 30 finishers in each race of the November 12 Attleboro meet will qualify for the Regional I meet. The Region I meet is a qualifying meet for the national meet. There are NO qualifying standards for the November 12 meet in Attleboro, and that meet is open to all.
In past years, kids from the Longmeadow track and XC programs have run in the USATF meet, and some have gone on to the regional and national meets. To be frank, the competition is keen at this meet, but it is a great opportunity to run a personal best against talented competition and to be part of a professional meet with running clubs from four of the six New England states.
Participating in this meet requires advance sign-up and becoming a member of USATF, if your child is not already a USATF member. November 8 at 11:59 pm is the deadline for signing up for the November 12 meet. There are 3 steps. Please keep in mind that the age verification step is not instantaneous, so you should start this three-step process before November 8. USATF's deadlines have no flexibility.
1. Make your child a member of USATF, if he or she is not already a member. If your USATF membership has expired, it will need to be renewed. It is $30 for the year, and it allows your child to participate in fall XC meets through USATF. Here is the link for USATF membership:
https://www.usatf.org/home/top-utility-nav-content/membership
2. Once your child is a USATF member (you will get instant email confirmation once you register online), you will need to verify your child's age. Here is the USATF video that explains how to do that.
https://vimeopro.com/user44435707/usatf-connect-member-tutorials/video/403329154
3. Register your child for the November 12 meet on Athletic.net. Please note that you will be registering your child as "unattached" because Longmeadow Parks and Rec is not an official USATF club. Here is the link on athletic.net for the November 12 meet: