Discussion: TeamUSA Announces 2023 JWOC Roster

TeamUSA is pleased to announce the 2023 US Team selected to compete at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in July. Accompanying the team will be coaches Evalin Brautigam, Thomas Laraia, and Caroline Sandbo.

Congratulations to our 2023 JWOC athletes!

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

Congratulations to all the Juniors

Congratulations! Nice to see so many inspired juniors. Noroc!

Congrats to all the athletes! Very excited to be watching JWOC this year :)

Yeah, this is gonna be great. Too bad Bridget will not be there to whip them into shape:).

But she can still bug them for US Team Blog submissions ;)

Congratulations and best wishes to the selected team members.
I have questions: I looked for the information on JWT and junior squad selection. What I found on the OUSA website referred specifically to 2021.
Is it still current information?
Will it be current next year?
If so, should not someone get busy and 'white out' the references to year?
Another question: do I have it right that a person is eleigible for the junior team until the year he/she/they turns 21 or is it 22?

They will all be more than ok without me but I certainly will still be bothering them about blog posts :)

Gord: they are eligible until the year that they turn 21

gordhun, We haven’t finished updating the OUSA Rules but we did update the JWOC selection criteria and they should be available somewhere. I think Clint put the doc on the OUSA website and they were linked to the Flying Pig entry form. AFAIK/recall.
It’s all still a work in progress!
Eligible for the junior squad/JWOC through age 20, so anyone who turns 21 this calendar year is officially a senior.

Thanks Tori!

@gordhun - As of Jan. 2022 there is no "Junior National Team (JNT)" nor a "Junior National Program" anymore. Those athletes who traditionally were in the JNT are now part of the National Team's Junior Squad (M/F-20, athletes who are 20 or younger on Dec. 31 of the current year). At the same time the Junior Development Program expanded into the Youth Development Program, more info here https://orienteeringusa.org/2022/01/ousa-junior-de...
Information pertinent to the current year as it relates to the teams may be found under the "US Teams" dropdown. A "Search" will usually lead you to "News" or "Announcement" items that may not reflect the current status.
The update to the Rules was announced on ClubNet about mid-March, with a link to the new PDF

Thank you for the update.
It is good to know. I hope that you can excuse me that I am like 99% of the OUSA members that do not keep the comings and goings of national teams fresh in my mind and so when we need some information or need to send someone after the information we look to the OUSA website.
I'm on ClubNet and should have known better but what about the 2,000 or so other OUSA members who just might want to direct someone with national level
aspirations?

Congratulations to young athletes!
A couple of guys from Georgia IMO could fit well into this group, just like in the old days of 2015. I hope the selection criteria was the performance on trial races (and possibly certified results in 5000m track run), but not the number of likes on FB or pledged loyalty to progressive cause.

gordhun - Send them to OUSA's main page, where in the top menu bar they can find the "US Teams" drop down menu, where the National Team (with the Junior Squad) is one of the choices. The page is easy to find and always up to date (thanks Clinton!). At the bottom they can find contact information as well as a link to the Board and Committees page, with the names of everyone on the National Team's ESC, plus the ESC chair's e-mail contact, should they have questions.

Yes! The GA guys/gals have a lot of talent just waiting to blossom. I’m with you there. Somehow they are the most successful at having the best quality spread of events and talent at the youth level, but rarely do the JROTC kids decide to go deeper. I know of at least 3 kids on the boys side over the last 4 years I think are competitive with most of the others on the team (excluding Keegan who is just better than all the other boys). Competition is the only thing that raises the bar. Get those guys in the mix:).

And the Youth Development Program can also be found on the OUSA website under Resources / Youth Development.

I note that a Google search still brings up the old Junior National Program. If you read a bit further, there's a link that brings you to the updated Youth Development Program.