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Reebok Boston Indoor Games |
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Barbara Huebner FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Acosta, Ryan highlight Reebok Boston Indoor Games BOSTON (Jan. 15) – AJ Acosta, the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country Champion, and Aislinn Ryan, the 2004 Foot Locker winner and defending champion here, will headline the Junior Invitational Mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 28, organizers announced today. Acosta, a senior at El Camino High School in Oceanside, Calif., and Ryan, a senior at Warwick Valley High School in Warwick, N.Y., lead a deep field of 21 elite, international milers in the second year of the event, which again promises to be one of the marquee miles of the indoor season. In addition to his recent Foot Locker win, Acosta is the 2005 Division 1 California state cross country champion, while Ryan is a two-time national champion at 2 miles as well as the defending Millrose Mile titleholder. They will join reigning World Champions Tirunesh Dibaba, Lauryn Williams, Bershawn Jackson and Adam Nelson, along with dozens of other Olympic and World Championship medalists, at the event. In the boys’ race, Acosta will be challenged by a strong field, led by Brian Rhodes-Devey (Guilderland HS/Guilderland Center, NY), 2005 New York State Runner of the Year whose 4:13.19 is the fastest mile in the nation so far this season; Michael Coe (Cabrillo HS/Lompoc, CA), the Division 3 California state cross country champion and Foot Locker runner-up to Acosta; Ben White (Liverpool HS/Liverpool, NY), the 2005 New York State Champion at 1600m and 1000m; and Ciaran O’Lionaird of County Cork, Ireland, 1500m bronze medalist at the European Youth Olympics and Irish Youth 1500m record-holder (3:50.41). Also in the hunt will be Kris Gauson of Dunbar, Scotland, the British U-17 1500m champion in 2004; Mark Mitchell of Forres, Scotland, a 2005 World Youth Championships semifinalist at 800m; Justin Harbor (Flagler Palm Coast HS/Bunnell, FL), a four-time Florida state champ; Ayalew Taye (Cushing Academy/Ashburnham MA), the Foot Locker Northeast Regional champion and New England mile champ indoors and outdoors; Sintayehu Taye (Cushing Academy/Ashburnham, MA), who holds the national indoor 2-mile freshman record of 9:16; Duncan Phillips (A&M Consolidated HS/College Station, TX), 2005 Texas State 5A cross country champion; and Jacob Cosby (Marcus HS/Flower Mound, TX), 2005 District 800m and 1600m champ. In the girls race, Ryan will face rivals Marie Lawrence (Reno HS/Reno, Nev.), a three-time Foot Locker Cross Country runner-up; Nicole Blood (Gansevoort, NY), a two-time national champion whose 9:36.67 is the fastest 3000m in the nation this season; Caitlin Lane (Gansevoort, NY), the 2005 USATF Junior Olympic gold medalist at 3000m; Samantha Gawrych (Westerly HS/Westerly, RI), the 2004 national indoor scholastic mile champion; and Jacqueline Areson (Atlantic HS/Delray Beach, FL), a two-time state champion at 800m whose 4:46 personal-best in the mile is the fastest ever in Florida. They will all be challenged by a trio of Canadian speedsters: Jennifer Biewald (Hillcrest HS/Ottawa, ONT), the Canadian Youth record-holder at 800m and fastest Canadian youth girl at 800m and 1500m outdoors last year; Danelle Woods (Hillcrest HS/Ottawa, ONT), 5th at 1500m at the 2005 Junior Nationals; and Lindsay Carson (Southwood HS/Cambridge, ONT), who will represent her country as a member of the 2006 World Cross Country Championships Junior Team. Over the past decade, the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, produced by Boston-based Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., has been the site of four World Records and eight American Records as it has become a fixture on the Boston sports calendar. For the past three years the event has sold out. The 11th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, 1350 Tremont St., from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 28, and will be broadcast Jan. 29 on ESPN2 from 3-5 p.m. It is the first stop on USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series. Tickets and information are available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com or by calling 1-866-GO-BIG06.
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