The past several weeks have yielded exciting opportunities and success at National Championship events for Team XO track and cross country athletes. As XO athletes earn more and more national exposure, excitement grows at XO headquarters in Eugene. “We’re starting to make some real breakthroughs,” says XO Team Director Ross Krempley, “and we are all very excited about the upcoming outdoor campaign.”

As a result of Team XO’s success at the Winter USA Cross Country Championships in February, where the XO men finished second in both the short and long course races and 24-year old Paul Kezes qualified for his first World Cross Country Championships, both Kezes and Max King (eleventh in the long course and twelfth in the short course) qualified for what will be the inaugural NACAC (North America, Central America and Caribbean) Championships to be held at the USA National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. This race will feature high-caliber teams from across the regions and will give both XO harriers invaluable experience as their careers progress onto the international scene.

Three XO athletes journeyed to Boston, Massachusetts for the 2005 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. XO high jumper, Kyley Johnson easily cleared 2.10m (6’10 ¾”) on his second attempt at the height earning him a three-way tie for fifth place. “It was a great trip for me, I got two places better than last year, which was nice,” said Johnson. “I was way over 6'11" but came down on the 7'1 bar. The more national championships experience I get, the better. Hopefully this year I can make it to the outdoor championships.”

Another XO jumper, Simidele Adeagbo, competed in two events. First, the long jump, in which she covered 6.12m (20’ 1”) on her final jump, moving her into seventh place. The following day, in the triple jump, she fared even better, taking the bronze medal with a strong first attempt that marked her at 13.19m (43’3 ¼”), less than two inches behind the second place finisher. The ever modest Simi had this to say after the weekend’s events: “It was fun and a great experience. It was an okay performance, but I look forward to improving on this in the outdoor season.”

The XO throws were represented once again by Cari Soong, who has quickly established herself as one of the nation’s and certainly Team XO’s premier throwers. Taking fourth in the weight throw was no small feat considering the field she faced that included New York Athletic Club’s Erin Gilreath. “This was the first time this season that I faced Erin who has broken the world record a handful of times since last year. It would have taken a ten foot personal record to win the meet! So with that in mind I just tried to have a technically sound throw that was relaxed and long and that’s just what I did.” She did indeed beating the fifth place finisher by a hair under five feet.

With the outdoor track season now all but upon us, XO’s prospects are looking favorable. The team will try to top it’s last year’s number of National Championships qualifiers (eight) after having grown to an astounding fifty plus athletes. The meet schedule is already posted and XO athletes will hit major meets up and down the west coast including the upcoming Stanford Invitational later this month, the Mt. Sac Relays, and of course, every major meet at the University of Oregon’s own, Hayward Field. Also, grab your tickets for the second annual XO Invite, an elite team high school track meet that produced many of the state’s top marks in 2004 where “if you love track, you can’t miss this meet!” With thirty-one schools ranging from the 1A to the 4A level, this year’s event will be a thrilling pre-state championships event.

Kevin Ullman