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Just when you thought cross country was over, New York junior Brooke Rauber (Tully) proved otherwise.
On Saturday in Mission, California, the Tully High School junior took on a junior field at the USA Track and Field U20 Cross Country Championships and showed both her talent and potential, winning the 6K race in 22:11.
In winning the U20 Championship race, Rauber booked her ticket to the Pan American Cross Country Cup on February 29 in Victoria, Canada. It will be Rauber's first international competition.
Competing in the Junior Open Division, Rauber was paired with both high school and freshman-aged collegiate runners. And out west, just shy of San Diego, Rauber would find a familiar face in Justus Holden-Betts (left), who now runs for Syracuse University -- but whom ran for local Baldwinsville before graduating last year.
The U20 race distance would also feature the traditional international length of 6K. Earlier in the year, running at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships in Pennsylvania, Katelyn Tuohy (North Rockland) took runner-up in her first stab at the 6K in 20:11.
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On Saturday, the race went out slow, something more typical of collegiate efforts. At 2,000 meters, the pace began to drag, so Rauber put on a surge that would separate herself from the pack. Rayna Stanziano went with her but was unable to match the effort.
Rauber crossed the line in 22:11, with a 37-second gap over second place. She would have been seventh at the 6K split for the women's professional division.
The top three athletes now go on to represent Team USA in Canada later this year. This is the fourth rendition of the Pan-Am Cross Country Cup.
Previous venues have been in Colombia (2015), Venezuela (2016) and El Salvador (2018). Rauber recently placed seventh at Nike Cross Nationals, and since then has maintained her speed on the track with a 4:28.79 effort for 1,500m.
The XC competition falls five days after the Section 3 Indoor State Qualifier, and provides one of the few opportunities for international racing after the demise of the Great Edinboro XC Challenge, which was won by Kelsey Chmiel (Saratoga Springs) for the final time in 2019.
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Full Results Below
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2020 USATF XC Championships
Mission Bay, San Diego, CA
January 18, 2020
Overall Junior Women
6K Distance
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PLACE BIB NAME AGE TEAM TIME
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1 #418 Brooke Rauber 17 Homer NY 22:11
2 #419 Rayna Stanziano 18 St. Mary's (CA) 22:48
3 #401 Kalea Bartolotto 18 Northwestern 23:10
4 #404 Bailey Brinkerhoff 18 Utah St. 23:18
5 #414 Sophia McDonnell 18 Bradley 23:23
6 #417 Abigail Osterlund 18 Northwestern 23:25
7 #410 Justus Holden-Betts 18 Syracuse 23:37
8 #407 Karlie Callahan 18 Utah St. 24:04
9 #409 Kayla Fortino 19 Northwestern 24:06
10 #406 Kayla Byrne 18 Northwestern 24:25
11 #421 Jasmine Turtle-Mora 18 Wings of America 24:36
12 #412 Reagan Hoopes 18 Utah St. 24:40
13 #420 Megan Terry 18 Utah St. 24:45
14 #416 Tiajhae Nez 18 Wings of America 25:38
15 #423 Yahaira Zuniga 18 San Diego Mesa Community Colle 26:01
16 #415 Larissa McElroy 15 St. Stephens WY 26:11
17 #413 Whitney James 16 Window Rock AZ 26:34
18 #411 Shaelyn Honahni 17 Tuba City AZ 27:16
19 #403 Breana Biggambler 16 Flagstaff AZ 27:21
20 #402 Alexandria Bewanika 16 Wings of America 27:49
21 #408 Kendra Emery 14 Wings of America 28:28