2014 U.S. Team to JWOC announced

The Junior Team Selections Committee is pleased to announce the team that will represent the USA at the 2014 Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Bulgaria, in July.

The Committee would like to congratulate all juniors who tried out for the JWOC Team. The efforts and improvements of every junior who went for it are huge, and have started to build a more competitive culture in the USA junior orienteering program. Notably, all 16 athletes are members of the Junior Standing Team, and have been training for months under the guidance of the National Junior Coach. The committee would like to congratulate the juniors for their hard work that has led to success. They have set the tone for years to come.

There are three and a half months until JWOC. The Selections Committee expects all junior athletes to continue training hard, and smart. The committee encourages all Juniors on the standing team who were not named to JWOC to travel to Europe for training and racing to increase their experience level. Thank you all for your hard work, time, and commitment!


  1.     Isabel Bryant
  2.     Katrina Weinmann
  3.     Evalin Brautigam
  4.     Anne Wilkinson
  5.     Elina Breton
  6.     Melanie Sergiev
  7.     Anna Breton (first alternate)
  8.     Addie Nolan (second alternate)


  1.     Matej Sebo
  2.     Ethan Childs
  3.     Will Hubsch
  4.     Michael Laraia
  5.     Austin Fowler
  6.     Connor Frost
  7.     Matt Stout (first alternate)
  8.     Zac Barker (second alternate)

The team was selected based on each candidate’s 3 best of 4 scores including 12-month ranking (from junior-rankings.org), and the Sprint, Middle and Long races at Selection Races. In addition, this year the selection committee accepted 3 petitions. 

The first of these petitions was submitted by Matt Stout early in the year asking for exemption from attending the selection races. The committee accepted Matt’s petition on the grounds that there was a clear long-term conflict that had been created by JTESC changing the dates of the Selection Races. After being presented with various options Matt chose the following alternative selection options:  Use of the Red Middle race on Friday at the Flying Pig / Interscholastic Championships for his Middle score, use of Sunday's ISVM race (also at the Flying Pig) for his Sprint score, and a Selections Committee analysis on head-to-head data from past competitions for his Long score. On the basis of these scores, Matt was named first alternate.

The other two petitions were submitted by Anna Breton and Zac Barker. Both had injuries which prevented them from participating in the Selection Races. The committee accepted both petitions and per the petition process assigned each a selection score and inserted them into the ordered selection list, based on head-to-head competition, current physical ability, and training evidence. While Anna currently has a low ranking score due to a mis-punch, her past racing at JWOC, and head-to-head competitions against the other athletes showed she was capable of being in the first alternate spot. In the case of Zac it was very difficult because of the tight competition for 5–8th places among the men. Because many of them have made vast improvements and there was not enough evidence to place Zac ahead of the athletes in 5–7th place, the committee assigned Zac to the second alternate spot.  

2014 Junior Team Selections Committee:
Erin Schirm, National Junior Team Coach
Barb Bryant, Junior Team Administrator
Charlie Bleau, Vice President of Competition

April 16, 2014