Alpha Crush Running Club Completes 2013 Fall Cross Country Season

Post date: Jan 13, 2014 9:25:36 PM

Alpha Crush roster expands to almost 100 youth athletes and the clubs sends more athletes to the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships than ever before.

Alpharetta, GA – January 2014 – Alpha Crush Running Club (Alpha Crush) completed its fall cross country season on December 14th in San Antonio, Texas, when 21 youth athletes competed at the 2013 USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. This represented a record for the club for the number of participants at the national meet and 2013 marks the seventh year in a row Coach Matthew Chestnut qualified athletes for the event.

The Alpha Crush youth fall roster reached 105 athletes (89 elementary/middle school and 16 high school). These runners represented 12 elementary schools and 13 middle schools. The Alpha Crush roster included possible future runners for over a dozen high schools, with Milton HS, Alpharetta HS, Cambridge HS, and Blessed Trinity Catholic HS representing the top four schools.

The club practiced together for 17 weeks and participated in 11 race events. Highlights for the season included:

    • Alpha Crush launched its season by handing out 200+ post-race bottled chocolate milk recovery drinks at the Milton HS / Cambridge HS / Pinecrest Academy pre-season time trial hosted by Milton HS.

    • The boys middle school team finished first at the Pickens Preview, Roswell Covered Bridge, and Warpath Invitational with a perfect score of 15 at the Roswell meet.

    • The girls team won the Covered Bridge meet as well and was second at Warpath Invitational out of 12 teams.

    • At the 3rd Annual Alpha Crush Invitational, where over 500 local runners competed, Alpha Crush took first in the 11-12 girls, 11-12 boys, 13-14 girls (1st and 2nd place!), and 13-14 boys.

    • At the USATF Georgia Association championships, Alpha Crush finished second in the 8&U girls and 11-12 boys. The 13-14 boys and girls both finished 3rd in extremely competitive races. Seventy-four Alpha Crush athletes competed at the association championships.

    • At the USATF Region 4 meet, 46 Alpha Crush athletes competed with 38 qualifying (individual and team qualifiers) for the USATF National championships.

We were also excited to have 16 of our high school alumni compete in the USATF Association and Region 4 championships. The 15-16 year old boys had an association meet team score of 17, finishing first, and included varsity runners from Roswell, Cambridge, Milton and Northview HS. The boys also took first at the region championships, qualifying for the national championships, with one of the boys crowned as Region 4 champion.

Alpha Crush will resume fun runs in January and start its Track season in March 2014. Go Crush!

Meet Recap

August 24, 2013 - Pickens Preview, Roper Park, Jasper, GA

    • 4 athletes in Top 10

    • Boys team, 1st place

    • Girls team, 3rd place

September 7, 2013 - Covered Bridge Run, Garrard Landing Park, Alpharetta, GA

    • 15 athletes in Top 10

    • Boys team, 1st place (perfect score of 15!)

    • Girls team, 1st place

September 14, 2013 - Warpath Invitational, Boling Park, Canton, GA

    • 4 athletes in Top 10

    • Boys team, 1st place

    • Girls team, 2nd place

September 22, 2013 - Alpha Crush XC Invitational, Milton High School, Milton, GA

    • 17 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 9-10 boys, 2nd place

    • 11-12 girls, 1st place

    • 11-12 boys, 1st place

    • 13-14 girls, 1st and 2nd place!

    • 13-14 boys, 1st place

September 29, 2013 - Kennworth Youth XC Invitational, Allatoona High School, Acworth, GA

    • 12 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 13-14 girls, 1st place

    • 13-14 boys, 2nd place (lost in tie-breaker, 3-2, to Peachtree City Flash!)

October 5, 2013 - Etowah XC Invitiational, Boling Park, Canton, GA

    • 11 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 9-10 girls, 2nd place

    • 13-14 boys, 2nd place

October 12, 2013 - Heart & Sole / East Cobb Cheetahs, Boundary Waters Park, Douglasville, GA

    • 9 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 13-14 girls, 1st place

    • 13-14 boys, 2nd place

November 2, 2013 - USATF GA Association Preview XC Meet, Heritage Christian Church, Fayetteville, GA

    • 7 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 8 & under girls, 1st place

    • 13-14 girls, 2nd place

    • 13-14 boys, 2nd place

November 16, 2013 - USATF GA Association Junior Olympic Championships, Heritage Christian Church, Fayetteville, GA

    • 9 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 33 individual qualifiers for USATF Region 4

    • 8 & under girls, 2nd place, qualified for USATF Region 4

    • 9-10 girls, 5th place, qualified for USATF Region 4

    • 11-12 boys, 2nd place, qualified for USATF Region 4

    • 13-14 girls, 3rd place, qualified for USATF Region 4

    • 13-14 boys, 3rd place, qualified for USATF Region 4

    • 15-16 boys, 1st place, qualified for USATF Region 4

November 23, 2013 - USATF Region 4 Junior Olympic Championships, Heritage Christian Church, Fayetteville, GA

    • 8 athletes in Top 10 (in respective age groups)

    • 29 individual qualifiers for USATF National

    • 8 & under girls, 4th place, qualified for USATF National

    • 13-14 girls, 3rd place, qualified for USATF National

    • 13-14 boys, 4th place, qualified for USATF National

    • 15-16 boys, 1st place, qualified for USATF National

    • 15-16 boys 1st place individual, Region 4 champion

December 14, 2013 - USATF National Junior Olympic Championships, San Antonio, TX

    • 21 athletes competed (3240 total finishers) and had a wonderful experience!