Drew Bosley, Kelsey Chmiel Prepare For USA Junior XC Champs

Recently,  the state of Wisconsin received its first big snowfall of 2019, enough so that school was cancelled around the Milwaukee area. 

But for Drew Bosley, a senior at Homestead (WI) High School and a Northern Arizona University signee, that hadn't meant a day off from training. 

This February is especially important for the senior as he prepares for yet another milestone: Making the USA Junior men's team for the IAAF U20 Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark on March 30. 

On February 2, Bosley will race for the first time at the 8K distance on Florida State University's Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee -- site of the 2021 NCAA Championships -- and will aim to qualify for World U20's as one of the first six athletes across the line. 

He's one of 46 college and high school-aged men's athletes under 20 entered to race at the USA Junior Cross Country Championships. Names included among those ranks include several Nike Cross Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals qualifiers--Carter Cheeseman and Graydon Morris, for instance-- and several college-aged athletes who are finishing up their first years at the NCAA Division I level. 

"To try to make that world championship team and run with those guys, that's something that's really cool," said Andy Bosley, Drew's father and head coach at Homestead. "So he's looking forward to doing that."

The women's race in Tallahassee will feature 31 athletes, including high school talents like Kelsey Chmiel and Grace Ping. 

Bosley and Chmiel will have the most experience of any high schooler in the race, having been a part of two international races over the last two years in Scotland. In January, Bosley, Chmiel, Jake Renfree and Katelynne Hart combined for a co-ed 4x1500m relay race in Stirling, Scotland, that saw the Americans finish second at the junior level in 18:11. 

However, the Saratoga Springs (NY) High School senior also won an open 4K race in Edinburgh in 2017, marking her first international win of her career. 

No doubt, qualifying for an elite competition will be difficult for high school-aged athletes, but Bosley no doubt will still make a run for one of the six bids.  

"The good thing is that it's an apples-to-apples comparison," Andy Bosley said. "You'll have to be disciplined in the race. I'm not sure how the race will pan out, but I'm sure it will close incredibly fast. Drew's looking forward to it, and it'll be a great experience." 

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Men's 8K USA Jr. XC Championship Entries