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Team USA Distance Squad Set for World Championships
in Osaka Olympic medalists Bernard Lagat and Deena Kastor and newly minted U.S. mile record holder Alan Webb lead the U.S. distance running squad for the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships to be held August 25 - September 2 in Osaka, Japan. A record 203 federations are sending over 1,700 athletes to the biennial meet, and the athletes are expected to face warm and humid conditions during the competition. The men's marathon on Saturday, August 25 at 7:00am kicks off the 11th edition, while the women's 10,000 meters closes the day at Nagai Stadium. Lagat, 32, who won bronze (2000) and silver (2004) medals in the 1500 meters for Kenya, will compete in the 5000 meters, one of the most competitive events in the world. The Tucson, Ariz. resident is also a medal contender in the 1500 meters along with Webb. Kastor, 34, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. is moving down to the 10,000 meters after international success in the marathon (2004 Olympic bronze medal and 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and 2006 Flora London Marathon champion), but the Ethiopian women who swept the event in 2005 will be tough to keep off the podium. At the 2005 World Championships hosted by Helsinki, Finland, Team USA set an all-time record in winning 14 gold medals. The Americans also added eight silver medals and three bronze medals to win 25 overall, matching the Team USA medal tally at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Below is the U.S. distance team for the Worlds with racing schedules and U.S. medals or best finish: MEN Alan Webb (Reston, VA), 2004 Olympian and 2007
USA 1500m champion Medals: Silver, Steve Scott, 1983 Helsinki; Bronze, Jim Spivey, 1987 Rome 3000 meter steeplechase Joshua McAdams (Provo, UT), 2007 USA 3000m steeple
champion Best Finish: 4th by Brian Diemer at 1987 Rome 5000 meters Bernard Lagat (Tucson, AZ), #2 all-time U.S.
man 5000m (12:59.22) Best Finish: 5th by Doug Padilla at 1983 Helsinki 10,000 meters Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, AZ), two-time Olympian
10,000m Best Finish: 7th by Todd Williams at 1993 Stuttgart Marathon (part of World Cup team competition / World
Marathon Majors series) Mbarak Hussein (Albuquerque, NM) Medals: Gold, Mark Plaatjes, 1993 Stuttgart; Bronze, Steve Spence, 1991 Tokyo WOMEN Treniere Clement (Knoxville, TN), 2005-07 USA
1500m champion Medal: Gold, Mary Decker, 1983 Helsinki; Silver, Regina Jacobs, 1997 Athens and 1999 Seville 3000 meter steeplechase Jennifer Barringer (Boulder, CO), 2007 USA 3000m
steeple champion Best Finish: 9th by Elizabeth Jackson at 2005 Helsinki (medal debut event) 5000 meters Shalane Flanagan (Pittsboro, NC), U.S. 5000m
record holder (14:44.80) Medal: Gold Mary Decker, 1983 Helsinki (3000m
became 5000m in 1995) 10,000 meters Deena Kastor (Mammoth Lakes, CA), 2004 Olympic
Marathon bronze medalist; U.S. 10,000m record holder (30:50.32) Best Finish: 5th by Lynn Jennings at 1991 Tokyo and 1993 Stuttgart Marathon (part of World Cup team competition / World
Marathon Majors series) Mary Akor (Gardena, CA) Medal: Silver, Marianne Dickerson, 1983 Helsinki NBC, Versus to broadcast
meet August 25: 6:00 - 8:00pm on Versus In addition to the television broadcasts, WCSN.com will webcast the meet live (streaming video). For more 2007 World Championships information, visit: USATF.org or http://osaka2007.iaaf.org/index.html |
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Return to top / Return to main page Michelle Lilienthal, Emily Brown and Antonio Vega Join Team USA Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS - Three athletes - including two standout runners from the University of Minnesota track and cross country teams - have joined the Team USA Minnesota Distance Training Center. They include marathoner Michelle Lilienthal and Golden Gopher runners Emily Brown and Antonio Vega, who both graduated from the U this spring. "It's great to be able to provide post-collegiate support for three runners who went to high school and college in this area," said Team USA Minnesota Coach Dennis Barker. "Emily and Antonio developed into very good runners at the University of Minnesota and we look forward to helping them take the next steps in their running careers. In addition, many of us have been aware of Michelle from the time she was setting records in Iowa while she was still in high school, to what she accomplished last fall at the Twin Cities Marathon in obtaining her "A" qualifier for the Olympic Trials. "We are excited to be bringing these three runners onto the team going into an Olympic year. They are a nice fit with the athletes currently on the team and will be good training partners at a variety of distances." Michelle Lilienthal Since 2005, while studying for her master's degree at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Lilienthal has focused on the marathon. She obtained her Olympic Trials "A" standard mark of 2:35:51 at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in 2006, where she finished fourth in the USA Women's Marathon Championships. So far this year. she has placed third at the USA Half-Marathon Championships (1:12:42), and was third at the USA 25k Championships (1:29:53). Emily Brown Brown was also the Big Ten Champion in the steeple and was fourth in the event at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In cross country, she led the U of M team to its two best finishes (ninth and 11th) at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Antonio Vega On the track, he made his mark in the 10,000 meters in his senior year to run 29:04.13, a time that ranks eighth on the Minnesota top-10 list in the 10,000. He also competed in the 10,000 at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. For more information, visit: TeamUSAMinnesota.org Return to top / Return to main page Contact: Debbie Jansen, Event Manager, (920) 882-9439 Community First Fox Cities Marathon Medals to be Keepsakes for Finishers APPLETON, Wis. - (August 22, 2007) - Finishers in this year's Community First Fox Cities Marathon Festival of Races will be able to hang on to the memory for years to come in a special way. Those completing the Community First Fox Cities Marathon, U.S. Cellular Half Marathon, Appleton Papers PowerWalk and Orthopedic & Sports Institute Relay Marathon on Sunday, September 23, will receive the first of a series of seven collectible medals. The medals will feature scenes on the 26.2-mile course from the seven Fox Cities communities. Veteran runner Ron Goudreau, a member of the Pacesetters Running Club who has run 15 of the last 16 Fox Cities Marathons, is excited about the commemorative medals. "Completing a marathon is a uniquely satisfying achievement and having a finisher's medal with a design featuring a community landmark makes the medal an extra special keepsake," he said. The first in the series of collectible medals features the lighthouse at Kimberly Point in Neenah. "The collectible medal series featuring the Fox Cities' communities covered in the Sunday events was designed in a way to honor those communities and residents who have supported us during the past 17 years," marathon events manager Debbie Jansen said. "It also is a means to showcase the great cities and villages that make the Fox Cities so special." After years of starting at Riverside Park and near the lighthouse, this year's events will now finish at Riverside Park in Neenah. They will begin on Midway Road at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, which was the previous starting point. The last scenic mile of the course will take participants past Lake Winnebago and Kimberly Point. In addition, the entire course showcases many Fox Cities' landmarks to the more than 4,000 participants, expected to come from 40 states and four countries. Future medal designs and cities to be featured in subsequent years will be announced later. "The fact that the Community First Fox Cities Marathon medals will highlight each of the marathon route cities as a collectible series in future years is great," Goudreau added. "Of course those of us who have completed most or all of the previous Fox Cities Marathons might wish the series started years ago, but it now gives everyone another reason to be back next year." For more information on the 17th annual event, visit: FoxCitiesMarathon.org Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director |
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