Fairfax Police
Youth Club

Extended Season

Extended Season/National Competitions

IMPORTANT
Click the above link in red for information about how to get the membership. IMPORTANT: USATF is now doing the birthdate verification online. When you get the USATF membership, you should upload the birth certificate under the Athlete Verifications Tab on their member profile. 

AAU and USATF Junior Olympics

For the 2023 Cross Country Season, FPYC will pay the meet entry fee for AAU or USATF Nationals. CCCNYC, Footlocker South,  and Nike Southeast Cross Regional entry is on your own. 

Post Season Race Comparison Chart

FPYC Policy on All-American Status (XC and Track and Field)

USATF, AAU, and CCCNYC Cross Country 

USATF, AAU, CCCNYC
USA Track & Field (USATF)
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)
Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships (CCCNYC)
December 9th, 2023
Tom Sawyer, Park 
Louisville, KY

 

Past Locations:
2022: College Station, TX
2021: Paris, KY
2020: Paris, KY
2019: Madison, WI
2018: Reno, NV
2017: Tallahassee, FL
2016: Hoover, AL
2015: Albuquerque, NM
2014: Myrtle Beach, SC
2013: San Antonio, TX
2012: Albuquerque, NM
USATF typically alternates USA regions for Nationals location. 
2022 - Central Region
2023 - East Region
2024 - West Region
December 2nd, 2023
Apalachee Regional Park
Tallahassee, FL
Hotels for AAU:TBD
See Coachoregistration.com for Performance List
 
Past Locations:
2022: Knoxville, TN 
2021: Charlotte, NC
2020: Tallahassee, FL
2019: Knoxville, TN
2018: Knoxville, TN
2017: Charlotte, NC
2016: Tallahassee, FL
2015: Decatur, AL
2014: Lawrence, KS
2013: Fort Gordon, GA
2012: Rock Hill, SC

November 18th, 2023
Tom Sawyer Park
Louisville, LY


2023 CCCNYC Website

Past Locations: 
2022: Shelbyville, IN

2021: Paris, KY
2020: Paris, KY
2019: Shelbyville, IN
2018: Louisville, KY
2017: West Chester, KY
2016: Evansville, KY
2015: Lexington, KY
2014: Nashville, TN
2013: Louisville, KY
2012: Terre Haute, IN


***Champs Sports Run the South (formerly Footlocker) Meet Information 11/25/2023: Will be posted when available at  
https://www.footlockercc.com/

AAU and USATF Track and Field

TRACK & FIELD
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)
USA Track & Field (USATF)

AAU Junior Olympics: For the 2023 Track & Field Season, FPYC athletes can participate at the AAU Junior Olympics. FPYC will pay the meet registration fees. The AAU Junior Olympic series of meets are detailed below.  

Information about qualifying meets will be updated as it becomes available. 
USATF Junior Olympics
For the 2023 Track & Field season, FPYC athletes can participate in the USATF Junior Olympics. FPYC will pay the meet registration fees. The USATF Junior Olympic series of meets are detailed below.
Information about qualifying meets will be updated as it becomes available. 
 AAU
PVA = Potomac Valley Association. We are part of this group, not the Virginia Association for both AAU and USATF

USATF 
PVA = Potomac Valley Association. We are part of this group, not the Virginia Association for both AAU and USATF

2023 PVA AAU District Meet
June 17-18, 2023
AAU Junior Olympic PVA District Qualifying Meet
Location: Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex, Landover, MD
 
 
2023 Advancement: Top 16 in each individual event and relay advance from this District meet to the AAU Region 3 Qualifier Meet
2023 PVA J.O Championship
June 17-18, 2023
USATF Junior Olympic PVA Association Championship/Qualifying Meet
Location: Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex, Landover, MD
 
 
2023 Meet is 1 day on Sat. morning 9 a.m. to approx 2 p.m. due to low entries. 
 
2023 Advancement: Top 12 advance to USATF JO Region 3 Championships
2023 AAU Region 3 Championships
June 22nd – June 25th, 2023

Location: Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex, 
Landover, MD
2023 Advancement: Top 6 running; top 6 field events, top 6 relay teams, top 3 in multi-events advance to the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
2023: USATF J.O. Region 3 Championships
July 6th-9th, 2023
Location: Durham County Stadium, Durham, NC
 
2023 Advancement: Top 5 advance to the USATF National J.O. Championships
2023 AAU National J.O. Outdoor Track and Field Championships
 
July 29th- July 30th, 2023 (Multi Event Competition)
July 31st - August 5th , 2023 (Track & Field Competition)
Location: Drake Stadium at Drake University
Des Moines, Iowa
 
Location Rotation:
2019: Greensboro, NC
2020: Norfolk, VA  (moved to Satellite, FL)
2022: Greensboro, NC
2023: Des Moines, IA
2024: Greensboro, NC
2025: Hampton Roads, VA
2026: Houston, TX
2023 USATF National J.O. Outdoor Track & Field Championships
July 25th - July 31stst, 2023
Location: Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
 

Past Locations:
2022: Sacramento, CA
2021: Humble, TX
2020: Canceled
2019: Sacramento, CA
2018: Greensboro, NC
2017: Lawrence, KS
2016: Sacramento, CA
2015: Jacksonville, FL
2014: Humble, TX
2013: Greensboro, NC

In addition to our local meet schedule, we encourage our runners to compete in larger meets against young athletes from beyond the central Fairfax area. We call these meets "postseason.”  We fully endorse these events and hope that an increasing percentage of FPYC runners at all eligible age and ability levels choose to participate.

The first round of both the AAU and USATF Junior Olympics series of meets are held locally and are open to ALL athletes. There are no qualifying standards and these events showcase athletes exhibiting a wide variety of competition levels in all age groups. The second round of competition is only for those who place at or near the top of their age and gender division at the first qualifying meet. We encourage our runners to fully incorporate these events into their season schedules and not think of them as a postseason, but rather as an “Extended Season.” There is absolutely NO obligation to compete beyond any round of choice, even if an athlete qualifies to advance further.

We will say that there is a little bit of self-selection and the meets attract most of the high performers and perhaps fewer middle- and back-of-the pack athletes. But there are many that just want to give it a try and have fun. Estimating where a child will place is difficult business, but stronger competition does bring out the best in us to perform at a higher level. Many runners are performing at their best at the close of the season (as they should be). Participating in extended season events gives the runners at least one more opportunity to set a personal or team season’s best or fulfill an individual goal. Not surprisingly, FPYC competitors have done very well at these meets. Everyone does not place where we have might have become accustomed to, but our times and distances have been impressive.

While we think these meets are great experiences, it is responsible to say up front that they are not for everybody. Many families are ready to move on to other activities or are in need of a break after more than three months. The meets are crowded and long. There is a lot of waiting around for the races as well as for posted results. And finally, it is almost comically predictable that the meet dates will fall on what will be the hottest days of June and the coldest days of November.

Registration information for all competition will be shared as we receive it.


JUNIOR OLYMPICS (JO)

The Junior Olympics are sponsored by USA Track and Field (USATF). USATF is the governing body for most all things running in the United States, from local clubs and meets to the Olympic Trials and stewardship for elite world class athletes. USATF jurisdictions are administered at the state or designated area level by its Associations. The FPYC Cheetahs are a USATF member club and usually incorporate the JO meets into our fall and spring official team schedules. In northern Virginia, we fall into the Potomac Valley Association (PVA), which includes northern Virginia, the state of Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The Potomac Valley Association is within the larger Region III, which includes the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia’ (the remainder of Virginia outside of northern Virginia), and Potomac Valley.

Junior Olympics competition is open to all runners through age 18. However, competitors must be a member of USATF, which does require an annual membership fee. The families of athletes are responsible for activating a membership and for paying the membership fee, but FPYC will cover all meet registration fees for however far the athlete advances. For all JO competition, athletes are classified into age groups that reflect the age that they will be on December 31 of that calendar year, which is not always their age on race day. For more on this, please see USATF link on age divisions: usatf.org/groups/Youth/ageDivisions.asp

You can find much more information on Junior Olympic competition on the USATF website: usatf.org/groups/Youth/programs/JuniorOlympics/. Additional membership fees may be a disincentive to compete, but FPYC will anonymously do its best to see that no one passes on competing solely because of the membership fee cost

If interested, the following actions MUST be taken:

  1. All runners must become a member of USA Track and Field (USATF). You can join at: www.usatf.org/membership/?sc=FI.
     
  2. Youth membership is $20 per calendar year although if you wait until early Nov. then the membersip will be good for the remainder of the current year and then also until 12/31 of the following year. 
     
  3. Membership must be completed in the CHILD’s name, not a parent’s.
     
  4. Within the on-line membership application, you will be asked for a team/club affiliation. Our team name is the FPYC Cheetahs and our USATF club number is 10-0947 (or 10-947, or just 0947).
     

Notes: a) on-line registration for USATF membership can ONLY be paid with a VISA credit card. If you prefer to pay by other means, you must print out an application form and mail it in. This is not recommended and delays getting your membership number; b) the calendar year membership will be good for fall cross country competition following spring track competition, since that succession falls in the same calendar year. However, a new membership initiated in the fall, unless it is activated after November 1, will not be valid for the following calendar year spring track and field season. If a membership is activated between November 1 and December 31, it will be valid through the entire following calendar year.

JO Spring Track and Field

In the spring season, traditionally on the first Sunday in June, the Potomac Valley Association holds local, Preliminary” meets as the first level competition. The top six performers per age group per gender per event advance to the PVA Association meet championships, which have traditionally been held on the third weekend in June. The top eight performers at the Association meet advance to the Region III championships. The top five performers at the Region III meet advance to the National Championship meet. Most standard track and field events are open to all age groups. Some less standard events (decathlon, some throwing and hurdle events, the 3000m, etc.) are only open to selected age groups.

JO Fall Cross Country

There is one less level of competition for the fall Cross Country season. There is no local Preliminary meet, so the first round of competition open to ALL runners is the PVA Association meet, typically held on first weekend in November. In JO cross country competition, distances of races are determined by age. Participants cannot choose to run in a shorter or longer JO race other than their age group’s official designated distance.

One additional bonus of JOs for fall cross country is that we have the opportunity to compete as age group teams as well as individuals, if we have enough interested participants in respective age groups. Teams can advance to the 2nd round Region III and even the 3rd round National meet, even if some or even none of the team members failed to qualify as individuals. We think that makes for nice bragging rights. We will make sure that participants and families are on the same page about actually making the trip out of the local area to the location of the next round of competition should a team advance – so that there are no surprises/issues of letdown, abandonment, etc. if one or more team members chooses not to compete beyond that round of competition.

What Is Local”?

Because youth track and field is so popular in the state of Maryland, Maryland-based clubs far outnumber northern Virginia ones in the PVA, and the leadership of the PVA is made up almost entirely of Maryland coaches and officials. That said, unfortunately, the Association meet for both spring track and field and fall cross country has always been held in Maryland.

The Region III meet for each season rotates between the Region III member associations listed above, and the National Championship meet is assigned to bid locations across the country. The 1st round Preliminary meet for spring track and field has been held in Fairfax County since 2004.

Competitiveness of Spring Track and Field VS. Fall Cross Country

Turnout for Junior Olympic competition varies greatly between spring track and field and fall cross country. In the most recent years past, about 75% of FPYC competitors placed in the top six at the 1st round Preliminary spring track and field meet and thus qualified for the 2nd round Association meet. And then the just a handful of those who chose to compete at the 2nd round Association meet advanced to the 3rd round Region III meet. We have had at least one athlete qualify for the 4th and final round National Championship track and field meet in each of the past few years.

For fall cross country, the top fifteen finishers in each age group at the Association meet advance to the National meet. For the past few seasons, 100% of FPYC competitors qualified to advance from the 1st round to the second round (many races do not even have 20 entrants), and nearly 1 in 5 subsequently advanced to the National Championships.

Why the big difference? As mentioned, spring track and field has many more competitors in this area. There are many more events at track meets and thus more athletes competing. Many clubs, particularly those numerous Maryland-based clubs, do not even operate a fall cross country program. While the competition, particularly the local competition in northern Virginia, is comparable in both seasons, it is primarily a numbers game. Also, we have been blessed to have a particularly dedicated and talented stable of distance runners that elect to run fall cross country.