USATF Announces World Cross Country Team
3-20-2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0478 x317
[email protected]

INDIANAPOLIS – USA Track & Field on Thursday announced the Team USA lineups that will compete at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships, March 29-30 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Team USA will be led by Deena Drossin, who won the silver medal, and Colleen De Reuck, who captured the bronze medal, in the senior women’s 8 km race at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland. Their performances, which led the U.S. squad to the team silver medal, marked the first time that two U.S. women had won individual World Cross Country medals at the same event since 1970, when Doris Brown won the individual title and Maureen Dickinson was the runner-up. Team USA’s performance in Dublin was the best performance by a women’s 8 km squad since finishing as the runner-up at Boston in 1992.

Two-time 12 km cross country champion Meb Keflezighi will lead the men’s long course squad, along with 2002 U.S. 12 km runner-up Abdi Abdirahman. Team USA’s short course squads will be led by 2003 men’s and women’s runners-up Dan Wilson and Collette Liss.

Team USA’s junior squads will be led by 2003 champions Bill Nelson of the University of Colorado and Clara Horowitz of Duke University.

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 U.S. team during a two-day trials competition that mirrored the format used at the World Championships. At the USA Cross Country Championships February 15-16 in Houston, Texas, three championship races were held each day with the top-six finishers in each competition qualifying for the trip to Lausanne.

Drossin qualified for the U.S. team by winning her sixth U.S. women’s 8 km national title (1997, 1999-2003) in Houston, easily defending her crown in 29 minutes, 6 seconds. Drossin is now all alone in second place on the all-time women’s list for victories in that event. She entered the competition in Houston tied with National Track & Field Hall of Famer Doris Brown, who won five titles (1966, 1968-71). Drossin also won the U.S. 4 km title at the 2000 U.S. Championships and is the only woman in history to win the short and long course titles at the same event since the short course race was added in 1998.

After winning the silver medal at last year’s World Cross Country Championships, Drossin is considered one of the favorites to win America’s first world cross country title since Lynn Jennings won her third consecutive crown at Boston in 1992. Drossin’s possibilities of winning the world title increased recently with the announcement that defending women’s world cross country long course champion Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain has opted not to defend her title in Lausanne in order to prepare for the London Marathon.

Drossin proved her fitness March 8 in winning her fourth consecutive USA 15 km road title at the Gate River Run in 47:15. Her performance bettered her previous American record set at the same event in 2002 (48:12) by 57 seconds.

Other members of Team USA’s 2002 silver medal winning women’s 8 km squad competing in next week in Lausanne include last year’s bronze medal winner Colleen De Reuck, 23rd place finisher in Dublin Milena Glusac, Elva Dryer (28th) and Amy Rudolph (31st). Rudolph will compete on Team USA’s short course squad after finishing fourth in that event earlier this year in Houston. Other members of the U.S. women’s long course team include Katie McGregor and Sara Wells. Additional members of the U.S. women’s 4 km squad include Collette Liss, Ann Marie Brooks, Sarah Toland, Molly Austin and Heather Sagan.

Team USA’s 12 km men’s squad will be looking to get back on the medal stand after grabbing the team bronze medal at Ostend, Belgium in 2001. Veteran performers from that team Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman and Nick Rogers will lead the charge, along with the University of Colorado’s Edwardo Torres, who placed third at the USA Championships. Chad Johnson and David Cullum are making their first trips to the World Cross Country Championships.

2002 USA men’s marathon champion Dan Browne will bring veteran leadership to the men’s short course team that includes Ian Connor, Luke Watson, Dan Wilson, Sandu Rebenciuc and Karl Savage.

2003 USA men’s long course champion Alan Culpepper, and his wife Shayne, this year’s women’s short course champion, have opted not to compete in Lausanne. 2003 U.S. men’s short course champion Robert Gary also has chosen not to compete.

2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships USA Team Roster (Alphabetical by event)

Senior Men 12 km Place at U.S. Champs Affiliation Residence Abdi Abdirahman 5th - 39:36 Nike Tucson, Ariz. David Cullum 7th – 39:44 Nike Farm Team Cupertino, Calif. Chad Johnson 6th – 39:43 Nike Portland, Ore. Meb Keflezighi 2nd – 38:34 Nike Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Nick Rogers 4th – 39:31 Nike Eugene, Ore. Edwardo Torres 3rd – 39:04 Univ. of Colorado Boulder, Colo.

Senior Men 4 km Dan Browne 6th – 12:59 Nike Portland, Ore. Ian Connor 9th – 13:05 Nike Columbus, Ohio Sandu Rebenciuc 4th – 12:58 U.S. Army Lafayette, Colo. Karl Savage 5th – 12:58 Unattached Lenoir, N.C. Luke Watson 3rd – 12:57 Univ. of Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. Dan Wilson 2nd – 12:57 Asics Lenoir, N.C.

Junior Men 8 km Brett Goucher 4th – 27:25 Stanford University Palo Alto, Calif. James Hower 6th – 27:31 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. Tim Moore 5th – 27:29 Univ. of Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. Bill Nelson 1st – 27:08 Univ. of Colorado Boulder, Colo. Bret Schoolmeester 2nd – 27:17 Univ. of Colorado Boulder, Colo. Andrew Weilacher 3rd – 27:19 Northern Arizona Flagstaff, Ariz.

Senior Women 8 km Colleen De Reuck 2nd – 29:42 Nike Boulder, Colo. Deena Drossin 1st – 29:06 Asics Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Elva Dryer 8th – 31:19 Nike Albuquerque, N.M. Milena Glusac 3rd – 30:17 adidas Fallbrook, Calif. Kathryn McGregor 4th – 30:27 adidas Minneapolis, Minn. Sara Wells 6th – 30:29 Asics Edina, Minn.

Senior Women 4 km Molly Austin 6th – 15:34 Unattached Boulder, Colo. Ann Marie Brooks 3rd – 15:22 Team New Balance Boulder, Colo. Collette Liss 2nd – 15:19 Nike Indianapolis, Ind. Amy Rudolph 4th – 15:23 adidas Providence, R.I. Heather Sagan 7th – 15:36 adidas Lynchburg, Va. Sarah Toland 5th – 15:27 Nike Boulder, Colo.

Junior Women 6 km Amy Hastings 3rd – 24:19 Arizona State Univ. Tempe, Ariz. Laura Hodgson 2nd – 24:10 Univ. of Washington Seattle, Wash. Angela Homan 6th – 24:39 Auburn University Auburn, Ala. Clara Horowitz 1st – 23:34 Duke University Durham, N.C. Julia Lucas 5th – 24:25 North Carolina State Raleigh, N.C. Rebecca Walter 4th – 24:21 Univ. of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.

2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships Schedule of Events

March 29, 2003 March 30, 2003 1:30 p.m. Junior Women’s 6 km 1:30 p.m. Junior Men’s 8 km 2:20 p.m. Senior Men’s 4 km 2:20 p.m. Senior Women’s 4 km 3:00 p.m. Senior Women’s 8 km 3:00 p.m. Senior Men’s 12 km

For more information the 2003 World Cross Country Championships, including athlete biographies, visit www.usatf.org.

World Cross Country Championships