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Houston to
host USA Cross Country Championships 2/15-16/03 - USA Track & Field
Press Release
Ex-Golden State Prep Stars - Deena Drossin (ex-Agoura HS/Univ of Arkansas)
- Meb Keflezighi (ex-San Diego HS/UCLA) headline the USA Cross-Country
Championships - Defending Champs! - the nation's best!!!
INDIANAPOLIS - America's finest cross country runners, including
returning champions Deena Drossin, Meb Keflezighi and Timothy Moore,
will compete at the 2003 USA Cross Country Championships February 15-16
at Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston, Tex.
In addition to crowning national champions, the USA Cross Country
Championships serve as the selection event for the U.S. team that will
compete at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, March 29-30
in Lausanne, Switzerland. The USA Championships follows the same format
as the upcoming World Championships, with six races over a two-day span.
More than 500 athletes will compete in six championship races that will
be conducted in Houston. The top six finishers in the Senior (open/no
age limit) and Junior (age 19 and under) competitions qualify for the
U.S. team that will travel to Lausanne for the World Championships. In
addition, the U.S. Masters Men and Women National 6 km Cross Country
Championships for athletes ages 40 and over will take place on Saturday,
February 15.
The event will be hosted by the Houston Harriers and the Gulf
Association of USA Track & Field. Sponsors of the event are Southwest
Bank of Texas and Academy Sports & Outdoors. Buffalo Bayou Park, located
just west of downtown along Allen Parkway, previously hosted the USA
Championships in 1977 when Nick Rose won the men's event. The site also
hosted the 1997 USA Women's World Cross Country Team Trials, won by
former Villanova star Nnenna Lynch.
The Buffalo Bayou Park circuit features a spectator-friendly,
international-style 2000-meter loop grass course. Competitors will be
challenged by relatively short, steep hills and many turns on the course
alongside Buffalo Bayou.
Many of America's top distance runners are expected to compete,
including defending champions, Deena Drossin (Women's 8 km), Meb
Keflezighi (Men's 12 km) and Timothy Moore (Junior Men). Carmen
Ayala-Troncoso also will defend her USA Masters Women's title.
In winning her fifth U.S. 8 km national cross country title at the 2002
USA Winter Nationals in Vancouver, Washington, Drossin easily defended
her crown by a 15-second margin over runner-up Colleen De Reuck. Drossin
went on to win the individual silver medal, leading the Team USA women's
8 km squad to the team silver medal at the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country
Championships in Dublin, Ireland. Drossin's 2002 campaign also included
and American record on the track at 10,000 meters (30:52.32) and the
world best for 5,000 meters on the roads (14:54).
Keflezighi, who placed 14th at the 2002 World Cross Country
Championships, defended his U.S. 12 km cross country title last year by
edging Abdi Abdirahman in a photo finish. The 2000 Olympic Trials
10,000m champion, Keflezighi set the American record in that event in
2001 with his time of 27:13.98. The owner of four NCAA titles,
Keflezighi ended the 2002 season ranked #1 in the U.S. at 5,000m and
10,000m by T&FN.
A press release previewing this weekend's races will be issued on
Thursday.
The schedule for this year's U.S. Cross Country Championships follows.
All times are Central Standard Time.
February 15, 2003
9:30 a.m. Community 4 km Fun Run 10:45 p.m.
10:30 a.m. Masters Women's 6 km Championship
11:30 a.m. Masters Men's 6 km Championship
12:15 p.m. Junior Women's 6 km Championship
12:45 p.m. Senior Men's 4 km Championship
1:15 p.m. Senior Women's 8 km Championship
February 16, 2003
10:00 a.m. Junior Men's 8 km Championship
10:45 a.m. Senior Women's 4 km Championship
11:15 a.m. Senior Men's 12 km Championship
A LITTLE HISTORY: This year's national championships will be the 105th
edition of the men's event and the 39th race for the women. The men's
race dates back to 1890, when the first championship took place under
the guidance of the Amateur Athletic Union (USATF replaced the AAU as
America's track and field governing body in 1979). No events took place
in 1893-96, 1899-1900 and 1904. The USA Championships were not conducted
in 1998 due to the change from hosting the event in early December to
conducting the event in February, beginning in 1999. The first women's
championship took place in 1964. The men's and women's Championships
were held together for the first time in 1979.
Past champions of the men's event include all-time greats including
seven-time champ Don Lash (1934-'40), four-time winner and 1972 Olympic
marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter (1970-'73), three-time New York
Marathon winner Alberto Salazar, eight-time U.S. cross country champ Pat
Porter (1982-'89), two-time Olympian Bob Kennedy and 1996 Olympic
Marathon Trials winner Bob Kempainen. At the 2000 Championships in
Greensboro, N.C., Adam Goucher became the first and only man in history
to win both the long and short course races at the same Championships.
The 4 km competitions for senior men and women were added in 1998.
The women's competition has also seen many great champions including
five-time U.S. champ (1966, 1968-71), and five-time World Cross Country
champion (1967-'71) Doris Brown-Heritage two-time champ Francie Larrieu
Smith (1972-'73), nine-time U.S. champion (1985, 1987-'93, 1996) and
three-time World Cross Country champion (1990-'92) Lynn Jennings,
two-time short course champ Amy Rudolph (1998-'99) and five-time
defending 8 km champion Deena Drossin. In 2000 Drossin also won the
short course race, making her the only woman ever to win both titles in
the same year.
The following lists the requirements for entry in each of the 2002 USA
Winter Cross Country Championship races:
SENIOR COMPETITION: All USATF-registered male athletes 16 years of age
or older and female athletes who are 14 years of age or older on the day
of the competition are eligible.
JUNIOR COMPETITION: All USATF-registered athletes who are 14 years of
age or older on the day of the competition, and who will not turn 20 in
2002 are eligible to compete.
MASTERS COMPETITION: All USATF-registered age male and female athletes
who are at least 40 years of age on the last day of competition who are
U.S. citizens or resident aliens may compete in masters competition.
TEAM SCORING: Along with the individual competition in the Junior and
Senior races, team scoring will take place. A minimum of four runners
and a maximum of six runners will constitute a team. The combined points
of each team's first four finishers will determine a team's score. Cross
country displacement scoring will be utilized. The team with the lowest
score will be the winning team.
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