The USA Cross Country Championships kick off a big weekend of competition

Huddle's 2012 return starts
 in St. Louis

There are three big track meets this weekend (Husky Classic, Millrose Games and the new USA Track and Field Classic), but there's also the 2012 USA Cross Country Championships, which will be held this Saturday, February 11th, at Forest Park in St. Louis, MO. There's no World Cross this year, but five slots for the NACAC team are up for grabs. The NACAC Championships will be held on St. Patrick's Day in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Not a bad paid vacation I'd say.

The favorite on the Women's side is American 5000 meter record holder, Molly Huddle. With the recent Olympic Marathon Trials and the aforementioned track meets in play this weekend, competition will be a little lacking on the top end. Sara Hall is registered (Ryan and Desi Davila are speaking at the Friday Panel Discussion), after a nice 3000 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, where she was the top American finisher over the more heralded Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson. Hall has consistently improved in the past few years and hopefully can find her way onto the Olympic team this summer in the steeple. Another podium contender this weekend will be the always strong Renee Metivier Baillie. Former high school phenom, Melody Fairchild, will be competing as well and one interesting entry is the newly pregnant, Julia Webb. Maybe she'll bring her husband and he'll run. Let the speculation begin.

Mack will aim for more
 Team USA gear

On the Men's side, the big news was that Dathan Ritzenhein was planning on bouncing back after a personally disappointing Olympic Trials Marathon and trying to keep the train rolling. That changed a few days ago when Ritz announced his decision to pull out. Some favorites on the Men's side are recent Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country Team Race runner-up (and Raleigh resident), Bobby Mack, McMillan Elite's Aaron Braun, Team USA Minnesota's Chris Rombough, road warrior Christo Landry, steepler Kyle Alcorn and USATF 10k Trail Champ, Joe Moore. A few other interesting entries are triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker and the University of Wisconsin's Elliot Krause.

Runnerspace will be broadcasting the event live at http://USARunningCircuit.com starting at 9:45 Central. Full field information (including juniors and masters races) is available here. Check out this page for Runnerspace's coverage leading up to the event.

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The Run Down: Brie Felnagle and Jon Grey win USATF National Club Cross Country Championships

Former Tar Heel (and current Adidas runner), Brie Felnagle, ran a very strong last 2k yesterday to win the 2011 USATF National Club Cross Country Women's Championship in Seattle, Washington. Felnagle, who now trains with her former high school coach, Matt Ellis, in nearby Tacoma, WA, broke away from a strong group that contained runner-up and Division II national champion, Neely Spence, Brooks' Katie Follett and NYAC's Julie Culley. Her time for the 6k course was 19:54, 4 seconds ahead of Spence. Team Rogue Elite, out of Austin, TX, won the Women's club championship.

On the Men's side, former William and Mary standout (and now Team USA Minnesota member), Jon Grey, ran away from the field early to take the 10k title in 29:38. Last year's winner, Aaron Braun, was the runner-up in 29:48, and led McMillan Elite, out of Flagstaff, AZ, to a repeat club championship. A surprise late entry was new pro, Matt Centrowitz, who ran a very strong fourth. In his post-race interview, Centro said he'll be transitioning out of base training to getting ready for the indoor season soon. Also somewhat of a surprise was Trevor Dunbar, who recently transferred to the University of Oregon (from Portland). He finished fifth, just behind Centro, but didn't mention anything about his transfer in his post-race interview. Touchy subject? He ran with his former state championship team from his sophomore year of high school. Pretty cool.

Full men's results are here and watch the men's race by clicking here.

Full women's results are here and watch the women's race by clicking here.

More information (including Masters results) is located at the USATF page here

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Road Rage: Anthony Famiglietti is back for the USATF Road 5k Champs in Providence

Have you seen this man?

It's been a while since Anthony Famiglietti has competed. What better place to return than one where he has won before? Fam won the 2008 USATF Road 5k Championships and will start his drive towards qualifying for a third consecutive Olympic team with another run through the streets of Providence, RI tomorrow, in search of another National Championship at the CVS Caremark Downtown 5k. He's written a blog post about his return as well.

Fam's recently been training in Davidson, NC (right outside of Charlotte) and recently returned to the roads with a tune-up win at the Sunset 5k in Salisbury. Fam also attended Appalachian State for two years (before transferring to Tennessee) and leads a charge of runners with NC ties at Providence. USATF 8k Champion, Bobby Mack, will be among the favorites as he continues to have a breakout season. My friend, Sandy Roberts, will be making his USA Running Circuit debut. Both Mack and Roberts run for The Athlete's Foot Racing, out of Raleigh, NC (my team). Also out of Raleigh is Duke Law student, Lauren Bonds. Bonds has had a great past few years and will be representing Adidas Raleigh TC. All will be skipping out on the Mag Mile tomorrow (NC USATF Road Mile Championship in which Mack is a multiple time winner). Finaly, Stephanie "Pezz" Pezzullo, trained in Charlotte for a while, before relocating to Flagstaff, AZ.

Robert Cheseret, who is Bernard Lagat's brother, will be defending on the Men's side, as he kicked down Ben Bruce last year in the final steps to take the National Championship. An excellent field will challenge for the win, as many have traveled to Providence for the shot at the $30,000 purse. Aaron Braun and Ben True will be favorites, along with Fam, Mack and Cheseret, as Braun is currently 1st in the overall USA Running Circuit standings with True a close second.

Conquering one barrier at a time
(TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Sara Hall will look to improve on her second place performance from 2010 on the Women's side, and has a Fam connection as well, as she's spent some time with him working on her steeplechase technique. She'll likely choose that event to try to qualify for the 2012 London team. Hall is currently ranked fifth in the USA Running Circuit standings and could make a big jump with a win in Providence. An injured Molly Huddle won't be defending her title, but Hall will get plenty of competition from the likes of Julie Culley, Emily Brown, Pezz, Bonds and a strong field from all over. If the Runnerspace race coverage team team remains the same, Chris Nickinson will have the call on the Women's side.

Runnerspace will be streaming the race live tomorrow at 11:05am eastern and more information and interviews are available at http://www.runnerspace.com/USA-5km

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