A pair of Carson Valley sisters are taking their act to the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kan., this weekend.
Aspen Abbott, 13, will run in the 4K Youth race and her younger sister, Olivia, 10, will run in the 3K Bantam race.
Aspen, a seventh-grader at Gardnerville Ranchos-based Faith Christian Academy, won the Tah-Neva Conference middle school cross country championship in October and caught on with a fledgling Lake Tahoe cross country club not too long after that.
Her family traveled with her to her first race " the USA Track and Field Pacific Association Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship in San Francisco " and Olivia decided to run as well.
Both girls qualfied for the region championships in Fresno, which put them a step away from nationals. The top 20 runners from regionals clinched berths at the national championships.
Olivia ran a 13:42 3K at Fresno last weekend, taking 13th in her division. Aspen tan 16:43 in the 4K to take 15th.
To top it off, Aspen's team, attached to the California-based Tony Williams Track Club, took second to qualify as a team for nationals.
Team members include Samantha Rupp, Sarah Benedict, Kira Smith, Shelby McIntyre and Torrie Zaccor.
The team is trained by Austin Angel, a retired track and cross country coach from South Tahoe.
The national championships will be run Saturday at the Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence.
The course is a pure cross country venue maintained by the University of Kansas. It is considered one of the premier courses in the country and hosted the NCAA National Championships in 1998.
It is also used for the Kansas high school state championships each year.
Aspen and Olivia are the children of Jim and Deanna Abbott. Jim is the head coach of the Douglas High School track and field team.
