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USATF Announces 2004 World Cross Country Team
March 16, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS - Olympian Bob Kennedy, NCAA champion Shalane Flanagan and UCLA freshman Alison Costello lead the Team USA lineups that will compete at the 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, March 20-21 in Brussels, Belgium. A total of six races will be held at the World Championships, in the following divisions: senior men's 12 km and 4 km, senior women's 8 km and 4 km, junior men's 8 km and junior women's 6 km. Athletes earned their places on the Team USA roster at the 2004 USA Cross Country Championships held February 6-7 in Indianapolis. The event mirrored the format used at the World Championships with three races held each day. Team USA will be led by two-time Olympian Bob Kennedy, who at Indianapolis won the men's 12 km title for the second time in his career. Kennedy, who previously won the U.S. long course title in 1992, is the American record holder in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Kennedy will be joined on the men's long course squad by 2000 Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, who will be competing at the World Cross Country Championships for the fifth time in his career after placing fifth at the U.S. Championships. Kennedy and Abdirahman last joined forces at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships where they finished 12(superscript: th) and 15 (superscript: th) respectively in helping lead the U.S. squad to the men's long course team bronze medal. Abdirahman's best finish at World Cross Country was in 2002 when he placed 11(superscript: th) in Dublin, Ireland. Also look for Dave Davis to compete on the U.S. men's long course team following his seventh place finish in Indianapolis. Davis placed 64 (superscript: th) in the 4 km race at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships.
Team USA's women's long course squad will be led by 2004 national runner-up
Katie McGregor, who placed 16(superscript: th) at the 2003 World Cross
Country Championships in helping Team USA to the team bronze medal. She
will be joined by 2004 third-place finisher Ann Marie Brooks, who placed 56
(superscript: th) in the 4 km race at the 2003 World Cross Country
Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Molly Austin (5(superscript: th) at
Indy) will make her second World Cross Country Championships appearance
following her 77(superscript: th) place finish last year in Lausanne. The
women's long course team also will feature former Yale standouts and
identical twins, Kate and Laura O'Neill, who placed fourth and sixth
respectively in Indianapolis.
Former Notre Dame standout Luke Watson will lead the men's short course team in Brussels after finishing as the runner-up last month in Indianapolis. 1996 Olympic 3,000m steeplechaser Robert Gary also will compete on the men's short course squad after finishing as the runner-up to Kennedy in the long course race, and third in the short course race in Indianapolis. The 2003 U.S. short course cross country champion, Gary last competed at the World Cross Country Championships in 1998 in Marrakech, Morocco. Ian Connor (6(superscript: th) at Indy) will compete for Team USA again after placing 62(superscript: nd) in the short course race last year in Lausanne. The University of North Carolina's Shalane Flanagan made the U.S. women's 4 km squad by winning her first USA Cross Country title last month by a two-second margin over Carrie Tollefson. The 2002 and 2003 NCAA Cross Country champion, Flanagan will be joined by 2003 NCAA 5,000m champion Lauren Fleshman (3(superscript: rd) at Indy). The two will be reunited in Brussels after solid performances as juniors at the 2000 Worlds in Vilamoura, Portugal, where Fleshman finished 26(superscript: th) and Flanagan placed 29(superscript: th). The University of Colorado's Peter Janson enters the World Cross Country Championships as the 2004 USA junior men's champion. He is the second consecutive Buffalo to win the U.S. crown after his collegiate teammate Billy Nelson won the title in 2003. Joining Janson on the squad is prep star Ryan Deak, who was the runner-up to Janson in Indianapolis and will enroll as a freshman at Colorado in the fall. Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore serves in that capacity for this year's junior men's team. UCLA freshman Alison Costello will lead the U.S. junior women's team following her win in the 6 km competition in Indianapolis. One of the Bruins' top performers at their seventh place finish at last year's NCAA Cross Country Championships, Costello will be joined by twins Amanda (5 (superscript: th) at Indy) and Katherine (4(superscript: th) at Indy) Trotter, both freshmen at Stanford University. Brigham Young University freshman Amber Harper placed third at Nationals and enters the World Championships as the reigning USATF Junior Olympic Young Women's cross country champion. 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships Team USA Roster (Alphabetical by event)
Senior Men's 12 km Name Place at U.S. Champs Residence Abdi Abdirahman 5(superscript: th) - 35:37 Tucson, Arizona Richard Brinker 10(superscript: th) - 36:10 Utica, Michigan Dave Davis 7(superscript: th) - 35:46 Portland, Oregon Joshua Eberly 9(superscript: th) - 36:00 Gunnison, Colorado Bob Kennedy 1(superscript: st) - 35:03 Indianapolis, Indiana Nolan Swanson 6(superscript: th) - 35:39 Springfield, Oregon
2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships Schedule of Events: March 21, 2004: Junior Men's 8 km 1:15 p.m., Senior Women's 4 km 2:15 p.m., Senior Men's 12 km 2:45 p.m. For more information on the 2004 World Cross Country Championships, visit www.usatf.org. |
