Breker and Jones Shine at USATF U20 XC Championships

Jan 20, 2024

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At Pole Green Park just outside Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, some of the nation's high school cross country greats put on a show at the USATF Cross Country Championships, with automatic berths to the World U20 Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in March on the line.

Two of those automatic berths will go to Minnesota's very own Noah Breker and Aidan Jones after their stellar 3rd and 4th place finishes in the U20 Mens 8K race.

Both boys stayed in the lead pack of boys runners for the whole race, until they were able to hold off Birhanu Harriman and Berkley Nance at the finish to secure their 3rd and 4th place finishes behind first place finish Kevin Sanchez and runner-up Kole Mathison.

2024 USATF U20 Mens XC Results (8K)

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Kevin Sanchez	24:07.1
2	Kole Mathison	24:18.4
3	Noah Breker	24:21.0
4	Aidan Jones	24:23.3
5	Birhanu Harriman	24:24.8
6	Berkley Nance	24:25.7
7	Matthew Donis	24:35.2
8	Aidan Cox	24:37.3
9	Liam Newhart	24:39.0
10	Oliver Burns	24:43.1

Both boys are now eligible to run at the World U20 Championships next month in Belgrade, Serbia if they can make it. Alternates will be named if any runner is unable to attend.

Both Breker and Jones are coming off their true freshman seasons at the University of North Carolina and the University of Minnesota. This is a promising finish to their freshmen cross-country season and bodes well for the collegiate careers of both young runners.

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Breker and Jones are among the top Minnesota cross-country athletes of all time after their senior seasons in 2022. Breker currently ranks as the #3 5K runner all-time in Minnesota with his time of 14:51 and Jones ranks #13.

During their senior seasons, Breker set the Minnesota 5K record which was broken by Robert Mechura this year, Aidan Jones won the Minnesota Class AAA state cross country title, Breker finished 2nd at Champs Nationals, and Jones finished 14th at Champs Nationals.