Cheever Makes USA's NACAC Cross Squad

Team USA Minnesota's Jamie Cheever will represent the United States at next month's North American, Central American, and Caribbean Cross Country Championships, team officials revealed yesterday.

Cheever finished 6th at the Saturday's USA Cross Country Championships in St. Louis, one spot shy of automatically qualifying for the NACAC team. Two runners who finished ahead of her in the Open Women's race, however, have chosen to forgo the international event in Port of Spain, Trinidad, putting the former Golden Gopher on the squad.

Cheever will join Team USA Minnesota teammate Chris Rombough on the NACAC squad. Rombough finished 4th in the Open Men's race at the USA Championships.

In Junior Men's competition, University of Minnesota freshmen Adam Zutz and Aaron Bartnik also qualified for the NACAC Championships.

Rombough Reflects ... Rombough, who clocked 36:09 over the 12K USA Cross Country course, offered some insights into his race in yesterday's Team USA media release:

“My strategy going into the race was to get in and run with the pack,” the former Golden Gopher star said. “I felt like I got out well, but fell off about ten meters from the pack. The pack had about twelve guys, then it strung out from there.

"As the race unfolded, I felt that if I could maintain close striking distance with the pack that I would be alright. I just clipped off consistent 3:00 kilometers and was able to pick people off one by one.

“I had a very successful cross country career at the University of Minnesota," Rombough said. "Because of that success, as well as the requirements it takes to compete well – great mental and physical strength and stamina – cross country may be my favorite race to run. While this race was probably the toughest I’ve ever run considering the course conditions, weather conditions, and the increased distance to 12K, I feel it ranks as one of my best performances.

Race-day temperatures in St. Louis were in the the 20s, with wind.

“Overall, I am very excited about having the opportunity to compete again. I raced five times in 2011, which included four PRs, but was injured from June until the middle of September. Training has been going well the last several months, so finally getting out and competing is a great feeling, especially that I am competing well.

"Since the middle of high school, it has been my dream to run in the Olympics," Rombough admitted. "While this isn’t the Olympics, it is a dream come true to have earned the opportunity to compete in a U.S. uniform at NACAC.”