Fountain Valley School teacher Tommy Manning has earned a spot on the U.S. Mountain Running national team for the second consecutive year and is headed back to the world championships, scheduled for Sept. 11 in Tirana, Albania.

Manning (pictured at right at the 2010 world championships) placed fifth in the USA National Mountain Running Championships on Sunday at the Cranmore Hill Climb in North Conway, N.H.

Manning, 35, completed the rolling 11.61K course in 46 minutes, 11 seconds. The top six finishers in the men's race qualified for the national team. Manitou Springs' Peter Maksimow who had several wins in area races this year, finished ninth (47:03).

Manning isn't the only runner on the national team with strong ties to the Pikes Peak Region. Jared Scott, who placed sixth (46:22), was a state champion distance runner at Lewis-Palmer High School and a member of the national champion 2004 University of Colorado cross country team. Scott, 28, (below, left) lives in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Max King of Bend, Ore., won the national title with a time of 42:21. He was followed by Joe Grey of Lakewood, Wash. (43:31); Ryan Woods, Boone, N.C. (45:02); Ryan Byrne, Scranton, Penn. (45:46), then Manning and Scott.

In the women's race, Coloradans Michele Suszek of Longmont, (second,34:45); Brandy Erholtz, Evergreen (third, 35:12), and  Megan (Lund) Lizotte (fourth, 35:13), qualified for the national team. Cassie Enman of Burlington, Vt., beat the field to win the national championship in 32:59.

Erholtz is a two-time champion of the Pikes Peak Ascent and Barr Trail Mountain Race.

2011 U.S. Mountain Running Championship results