Canku Ota - March 6, 2004 - Native Youth Run With Wings

Wings of America sponsored all-Indian teams of junior men and junior women to the USA Winter National Cross Country Championships held in Indianapolis, IN, February 7-8, where they captured 1st and 2nd places respectively. The highly competitive Championships serve as the World Cross Country Team Trials.

All races were held on a mostly flat European-style 2-kilometer loop course covered by snow and ice. Freezing temperatures, additional snow, and wind further complicated race conditions.

The Wings junior women’s team raced Saturday; and their finish results for the 6K event are: Rachelle Billie (Navajo), 36th place, 24:16; Teri Lea McCormick (Crow), 41st, 24:58; Terra Brown (Navajo/Apache), 42nd, 25:08; Rachel Chouteau (Cheyenne), 43rd, 25:19; and Roxann James (Navajo), 44th, 25:29. Lyn Pine (Oglala Sioux) from Pine Ridge, SD, served as volunteer coach for the Wings junior women’s team.

On Sunday, the Wings’ junior men were led by Jonathan Harmon (Hopi) who finished in 20th place with a time of 25:43. He was followed by: Gordon Segay (Navajo), 32nd, 26:30; Brad Mouse (Mississippi Choctaw), 36th, 27:01; and Sheldon Benally (Zuni/Navajo), 40th, 28:07. Serving as coach for the junior men was Rickey Baker (Hopi/Tewa) from Second Mesa, AZ.

Forrest Tahdooahnippah (Comanche), who was the lead runner for the Wings’ teams last year and who now runs for Stanford University, finished 4th overall and earned a berth on the USA Junior Men’s Team which competes at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium in March.

Phillip Castillo (Acoma), a Wings’ alumnus who is now a Sergeant in the US Army, was the keynote speaker at the Honor Banquet on Sunday. Other trip highlights included tours of the National Institute for Fitness and Sport and the Eiteljorg Museum. Wings’ Associate Director, Anne Wheelock Gonzales (Oneida), accompanied the group to Indianapolis.

Wings of America has been taking junior teams to national cross-country championships since 1988. This year’s competition improves the Wings overall record to 17 team championships in 16 years.

In November and December of 2003, Wings sponsored 19 runners to the four Regional Foot Locker Races for middle and high school students. The Regionals are qualifiers to the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, which has been called the premier high school cross-country event in the country. Sponsored runners this winter were: Phoebe Garcia (Hidatsa), Emily Pyatskowit (Menominee), Robin Webber (Oglala Sioux), Russell Dixon (Hidatsa), Patrick Grass (Oglala Sioux), Bradley Wells (Blackfeet), and Alexander Wilson (Oglala Sioux) for the Midwest Regional Races in Kenosha, WI; Rachel Chouteau (Cheyenne), Sarah Holcomb (Cherokee), Jamie Loy (Cherokee), Hunter Cox (Prairie Band Potawatomi), and Brad Mouse for the South Regional in Charlotte, NC; Rachelle Billie, Povi Lomayaoma (Hop/Tewa), Jackie Rivers (Hopi), Tiffany Marie Sorrell (Navajo), Darren Calvert (San Juan Pueblo), Stet Lomayestewa (Hopi/Tewa), and Vernon Tosa (Jemez Pueblo) for the West Regional in Walnut, CA. There were no applicants for the Foot Locker Northeast Regional Races.

The experiences and opportunities of competing at Foot Locker and/or the USA National Championships are two of eight programs offered by Wings, an American Indian youth development program operated by The Earth Circle Foundation, a nonprofit corporation based in Santa Fe, NM. The runners participating in these programs are invited to attend the Wings’ Leadership/Camp Facilitator Training in June and will then be eligible to work in Wings’ Running and Fitness Camps or other programs in their communities.

Also in June, Wings and Nike, Inc. will co-host the seventh annual “American Indian Running Coaches Clinic” in Santa Fe. Coaches and others working in running and fitness programs in Indian country will have the opportunity to share information with experts and prominent individuals from the running world.

Supporters making this year’s trips possible include Carl and Wahleah Davis and NIKE, Inc. (which provides a cash grant, uniforms and shoes and matching grants for employee donations). In addition to contributions from many caring individual donors, businesses, corporations and tribal entities, Wings of America receives major support from the Ambrose Monell Foundation, the Bowerman Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, Adelaide Hixon, Andrew Hixon, Indian Behavioral Health Council/New Mexico Dept. of Health - Behavioral Health Division, Justice for Athletes, Santa Fe Community Foundation, Van Amerigen Foundation and the Walbridge Foundation.

For more information about the Wings programs, call 505-982-6761 or send e-mail to: WingsAmer@aol.com.