JUNIOR NATIONALS
| 2011-2012 JUNIOR NATIONALS QUALIFIERS |
| December 28, 2011 | ASC JOQ Classic Sprints | Auburn Ski Club | 1km classic sprints |
| January 16, 2012 | Sierra Skogsloppet: CANCELED | Tahoe Donner XC | JJ1/OJ boys 10km; J1/OJ girls & J2s 5km |
| February 5, 2012 | Allan Bard Classic | Tamarack Lodge | J1/OJ boys 15km; J1/OJ girls 5km; J2s 5km |
| February 20, 2012 | President's Cup | Auburn Ski Club | J1/OJ boys 10km; J1/OJ girls 10km; J2s 5km |
Junior Nationals Qualifying Criteria for 2012
You must be a current member of Far West Nordic (and not any other USSA division).
There are 3 qualifier races for the Junior Nationals Competition scheduled for 2011/2012 (see schedule above).
Far West policy mandates that:
Junior Nationals team selection criteria shall be principally objective (performance-based);
JO Selection Committee discretion be limited to no more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the total team size.
This year, Far West Nordic will be using both a PERCENTAGE BACK and a QUOTA/RANKING SYSTEM for selection to the Junior Nationals Team. For an explanation and examples of the quota system, CLICK HERE.
Currently, 100% fluorocarbons (Swix Cera-F, Toko Jetstream and HelX, etc.) may be used in any FW Junior National Qualifiers. It is recommended that fluorocarbon top-coats be applied with either a rotocork or hand cork and that a respirator be used for ALL wax applications. Remember that if 100% fluorocarbons are used for a JNQ those skis must be warm-scraped or cleaned with fluoro-specific wax remover before a CNISSF race as 100% fluorocarbons are not allowed in school races.
Team Size
Each USSA division has a quota of 21 men & 21 women (USSA Nordic Competition Guide Rule 74.1). Automatic qualifiers do not count against the quota. USSA allows no more than 12 athletes in any one age class (Rule 83.5).
As per USSA rules, automatic qualifiers are:
• A top 20 junior at US Nationals
• A Scandinavian Cup or World Junior participant
• An NCAA racer who is in the top 20 men or women in the East, West, or Central overall ranking.
Eligibility for Consideration
Far West will consider for selection only those Far West members in good standing. An athlete shall be ineligible for consideration if he/she is not fit to compete at the time selections are made due to any injury or illness from which he/she is not expected to recover adequately by the time of the Junior Nationals.
Junior National Age Classes for 2011/2012 Ski Season
The 6 age & gender classes that participate in Junior Nationals are Junior 2 (men & women born 1996 & 1997), Junior 1 (men & women born 1994 & 1995) and Older Junior (OJ) (men & women born 1992-1993).
The competition year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st of the calendar year in which the JROC is held.
Junior 3 Athletes:
Junior Nationals is a competition for J2 athletes and above. J3s are encouraged to race in the Far West Qualifiers to gain race experience. J3 racers will be timed and be in the results, but shall not be counted or scored in the Team qualification or selection procedure. In exceptional circumstances a 2nd-year J3 athlete may petition to attend Junior Nationals if they have qualifying times against the J2 field. Such petitions will be judged on various factors, including: space availability on the team, athlete’s maturity and general readiness, impact on the team, as well as performance.
Team Selection Procedure and Criteria
The Far West JO Selection Committee is responsible for applying the selection criteria set forth herein, subject to the oversight of the Far West Board of Directors.
Objective Criteria:
Step 1: QUALIFICATION: Junior racers must ski in 2 of the 3 races, and have a QUALIFYING time in two races, including both a classic and a freestyle (skate) race.
With 6 or more competitors in an age class: a qualifying time is 10% Back of the average of the top 2nd, 3rd, & 4th finisher's times in the age group.
With 5 or less competitors in an age class a qualifying time is 10% Back of the average of the top 1st, 2nd, 3rd finisher's times in the age group.
In the OJ class (18-19 yr. old) the minimum standard will be the J1 qualifying time. OJ's times will not be used in the J1 calculation.
Ties in competition: both racers receive same points. If the J1 Division has 2 or LESS athletes, it will be combined with the OJ Division and the qualifying time will be the average of the Top 2 finishers in the combined class.
Step 2: QUOTA/RANKING SELECTION: In the event that more athletes qualify than the USSA quotas allow, athletes will be RANKED and selected within J2 and J1/OJ age groups by Continental Cup Scoring technique (see scoring table below). Ranking will be calculated by taking the combined total of each athlete’s 3 best scores of the 4 JOQ's. Ties in JOQ Ranking list will be broken by USSA tie breaking procedure.
The top 5 qualified J2s and J1s shall get automatic qualification to the Far West JO Team, barring any “Coaches Discretion” selection being added to this age group (see below). There are no minimum places held for the OJ class.
The J1/OJ class quota will be filled from the JOQ ranking list without regard to age class once the minimum 5 J1's have been met.
After required minimums have been met, the number of additional age category places on the team shall be based upon the average number of racers in each age class in all four JOQ's.
Quota information will obviously change from race to race, and will not be officially determined until after the 3rd JO Qualifier on February 6th. A preliminary Quota list will be available for review on this website after the 2nd Qualifier on January 17th.
The JO Selection Committee reserves the right to not select an athlete for the team if an athlete does not meet the standards of the athletes’ code of conduct. If a selected athlete cannot attend Junior Olympics, the spot then goes to the next athlete on list. For a detailed description and examples of the Selection Process, CLICK HERE.
Coaches’ Discretion:
Far West may select athletes to the team using JO Selection Committee’s discretion. The total number of discretionary selections made by the committee shall be no more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the allowed team size.
Committee may consider any factors including (but not limited to) the following: illness, college team commitments or family emergency.
Petitioning:
A racer who could not qualify through the above method because of conditions beyond their control (such as illness/injury, college team commitments or family emergency) may petition the Far West JO Selection Committee to attend the Junior Nationals.
The petition is limited to one typewritten page and should include 1) The reason the athlete could not meet the qualifying criteria. 2) Results from other races, which represent a standard comparable to level of the FW JO qualifying races.
Submission: Petitions must be SENT to the Far West Office (P.O. Box 10046, Truckee, CA 96162) Postmarked by FEBRUARY 17, 2012.
PETITIONS PERSONALLY HANDED TO COACHES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS SUBMISSIONS!
Petitions may be E-MAILED to: info@farwestnordic.org to arrive no later than 6 pm on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012.
Announcement of Selections:
Selections to the 2012 Junior Nationals team shall be announced on TUESDAY by 6 pm, FEBRUARY 21, 2012, and shall be published immediately upon announcement.
In order to race at Junior Nationals athletes must be current members (in good standing) of Far West Nordic and of USSA (and not any other USSA division).
JO QUALIFYING DE-MYSTIFIED
The first step to qualifying for Junior Nationals: ski in three of the 4 qualifiers and have a qualifying time in at least ONE SKATE and ONE CLASSIC race (see details above for how to do this.)
The second step: The United States Ski Association allows a quota of 21 men and 21 women per division to compete at the JO's (not including automatic qualifiers-see above.) Once again, Far West Nordic may have enough fast skiers who qualify that we will bump into that quota cap. So how do we decide who goes? Outlined above is how athletes will be ranked in their respective age classes. The higher you are ranked the more likely you will be chosen for the team. Because we don’t know exactly how many J2, J1, and OJ athletes we will take until all of the qualifying races are over, it can be difficult to know if you are safely high enough on the ranking list to be chosen. A minimum of 5 J2s and 5 J1's will go in each sex and the rest will be determined by how many participants have been in each age class. If you are ranked in the top 5 of J2 or J1's you are in a pretty safe place for selection. However, even this is not guaranteed because of the possibility of a “Coaches Discretionary” athlete being added to your age group.
Lets look at a few examples. Lets say there were a total of 20 male J2 athletes and 30 male J1/OJ athletes who participated in the qualifying races. This would make a ratio of 40% J2 and 60% J1/OJ. SO 40% of 21 is 8 J2 athletes and 60% is 13 J1/OJ athletes. Now lets assume there are two OJ coaches discretion athletes and 1 J2. This would mean we would go down the J2 ranking list and take the top 7 athletes plus the one discretionary athlete to make 8. On the J1/OJ ranking list we would go down and take the top 5 J1's (because of the minimum requirement to take at least 5 J1's) and then we would keep going until we had reached 11 athletes from the ranking list, plus the two discretionary athletes to make 13. It all seems confusing, but the bottom line is that you need to concentrate on skiing fast in a total of three races in order to be high on the ranking list. These examples are not meant to scare anyone away from trying to qualify; quite the opposite. Far West feels that this criteria will capture those athletes who train hard and focus on making the JO team.
The Far West website will continually update the results from the qualifiers and the updated ranking lists. The Far West coaching staff will also be able to help you know how you are doing as the qualifying races progress. If you train hard and smart you can make the JO team!
