Press Releases
- USATF - Team USA is Ready
- USATF - Team USA Captains Named
Team USA ready for World Cross Country Championships
03-18-2005
Contact:
Tom Surber,
Media Information Manager,
USA Track & Field
SAINT GALMIER, FRANCE - All 36 members of the Team USA roster
practiced Friday at the Hippodrome Horse Race Track in Saint
Galmier, France, the venue for the this weekend's World Cross
Country Championships.
The Championships begin Saturday with the Junior Women's race at
2:30 p.m., with the Open Men's 4 km race at 3:20 p.m. The first day
of competition will conclude with the Open Women's 8 km race at 4:00
p.m. Competition will resume Sunday with theJunior Men's 8 km race
at 2:25 p.m., followed by the Open Men's 12 km at 3:15 p.m. and the
Open Women's 4 km at 4:15 p.m.
Athletes practiced Friday under partly sunny skies with temperatures
in the high 60s. Identical weather is forecast for this weekend. The
Saint Galmier course is primarily flat with two small mounds and
seven small logs for athletes to deal with. Aside from one mud
patch, the dry course is mostly long grass with patches of hard
dirt.
Following Friday's practice session, Team USA members Adam Goucher,
Dathan Ritzenhein, Shalane Flanagan and Galen Rupp talked about the
course.
Adam Goucher: "It's a pretty interesting course. It's pretty cool
though and it's going to be fun. It's pretty bumpy and rough out
there and there's a spot they're intentionally going to make really
muddy, and that will be interesting."
About the importance of a good start in a 4 km race. "I think you're
going to have to risk it a bit and go out real fast because in a
race like this it's so fast that if you don't get out it's really
hard to move throughout the course. One good thing is that there is
only one real spot that's really muddy, which will allow you to make
some moves throughout the course. If the entire course is really
muddy that's impossible."
Dathan Ritzenhein: "It's real bumpy and rough. Looks like there's
going to be a lot of stop and go that will dictate changes of pace.
I don't think that it will be as fast as it seems, even though the
ground is pretty hard. It's blazing hot out there. We were thinking
that it would be cold and muddy."
On his confidence going into the championships: "I'm undefeated in
cross country this year. I was training through the other two meets
this season and I feel really rested, and a lot sharper than I did a
few weeks ago, and I feel like the best I've ever felt. I'm looking
forward to this a lot."
Shalane Flanagan: "I'm surprised that the course is a bit easier
than I thought; however on Sunday it might not be so easy. It's a
little less treacherous than I thought it would be from the pictures
that I've seen."
On the women's 4 km race being the last race of the championships:
"The strategy still stays the same as if we were still in the
traditional spot of the second-to-last race of the meet. The course
will be muddy in spots, but I don't think it would be as trashed if
we were still in our old spot in the program."
On the team's potential to medal: "We have a phenomenal group of
women. We are shooting for a medal. We'll sit down at dinner and
figure out who we have to look at for that third medal. We've got a
great group of girls. We are excited and passionate about it and I
think we're feeling really fit and ready to go."
Galen Rupp: "It's going to be a pretty fast race. It's pretty flat,
and the hills aren't too big, and the muddy sections aren't as bad
as I thought. It was muddier at the Nationals. I've never run over
hurdles and short consecutive hills, but overall I think the course
is good."
On his chances Sunday: "I am going to go out hard, and give myself a
chance to run well. I don't think going out conservative and hoping
to finish 20th is a good plan. I'm going to go out hard and see how
close I can stay to them (the lead group)."
On training with Adam Goucher and Dave Davis in Portland: "Being
able to train with them and stay up with them in the workouts gives
me a lot of confidence. If I can stay up with them and I'm training
the same as they are, then that gives me a lot of confidence."
For more information on the 2005 World Cross Country Championships,
visit www.iaaf.org.
Team USA Captains Named
03-17-2005Contact: Tom Surber,
Media Information Manager,
USA Track & Field,
317-261-0478 x317
SAINT-ETIENNE, FRANCE - In preparation for the 2005 World Cross
Country Championships this weekend in Saint-Entienne/Saint Galmier,
France, members of Team USA's squad selected team captains Thursday
during a breakfast meeting.
Athletes earned their places on the Team USA roster at the 2005 USA
Cross Country Championships held February 12-13 in Vancouver,
Washington.
2004 Olympic Women's Marathon Trials winner Colleen De Reuck was
selected as the women's long course captain by her peers on
Thursday. The reigning two-time U.S. women's cross country long
course champion, De Reuck won the individual bronze medal at the
2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland in helping
the U.S. squad win the team silver medal. De Reuck also placed
eighth in the long course race at the 2003 World Championships as
Team USA took home the team bronze medal.
2004 Olympic Women's Marathon Trials fourth-place finisher Blake
Russell was named the women's short course captain. The 2003 Twin
Cities Marathon champion in her debut at that distance, Russell won
the Pan Am Games 5,000m bronze medal in 1999.
Fresh off her victory at the inaugural NACAC Cross Country
Championships March 6 in Clermont, Florida, Jenny Barringer was
named the captain of this year's U.S. women's junior team. Barringer
is making her second appearance at the World Cross Country
Championships after placing 35th in the junior race last year in
Brussels, Belgium.
Following a commanding victory in the men's long course race at the
U.S. Championships last month in Vancouver, 2004 Olympian Dathan
Ritzenhein was named this year's Team USA men's long course captain.
The 2003 NCAA Division I Cross Country Champion from the University
of Colorado, Ritzenhein jumped on the world stage on January 9 with
his surprising victory at the 2005 Reebok Cross Country Challenge in
Belfast, Ireland, against a strong international field.
2000 Olympian Adam Goucher of Portland, Oregon, who remains the only
man to win both the long and short-course national titles in the
same year in 2000, was selected as Team USA's men's short-course
captain. Goucher finished second at this year's national
championships at the four-kilometer distance.
Goucher's Nike Oregon Project teammate Galen Rupp was picked by his
fellow junior men as their team captain. Rupp, a graduate of
Portland's Central Catholic HS, set the American high school record
in the 5000 meters last summer and enters this meet as the U.S.
national junior cross country champion.
Turner returns to France
Former Brigham Young University standout Laura Turner toed the line
in the women's 8 km race at the 2005 USA Cross Country Championships
with a special motivation to make this year's World Cross Country
Championships team. "Three years ago I served a mission here for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, so I know a lot of
people from here and I love France," she said. "I love the people
and I love the food, and I love everything about it."
Turner used her desire to return to France as a motivating factor in
her eighth-place finish at last month's Nationals that earned her a
spot on the Team USA roster. "It was a huge aspect," she said. "I
love having things to run for as opposed to just racing to race.
When you have a lot of things to motivate you it helps you do
better. Emotionally when I'm into the race it helps me run better. I
was just ecstatic to make the team and I couldn't have been happier.
I got very emotional when I found out I made the team and it makes
me really want to do well here."
Turner, who speaks French fluently, will have a large homegrown
contingent of fans supporting her during her race on Saturday. "I
never imagined that my friends here would be able to see me race,"
she said. "For this to happen at the World Championships is amazing.
I've spoken to many of them and they can't believe this is
happening, and they're all going to be there cheering and that will
motivate me to run faster. It'll be fun to hear people cheering for
me in French."
Happy Birthday, Ryan!
Oklahoma State University freshman Ryan Vail of Gresham, Oregon,
will celebrate his 19th birthday here Saturday as a member of the
U.S. junior men's team. Vail, one of the three junior men with
Oregon connections, earned the final spot on this year's team with
his sixth-place finish in Vancouver last month.
For more information on the 2005 World Cross Country Championships,
visit www.iaaf.org.
World Cross index page
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