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NEWS AND NOTES FROM HOUSTON AND THE USA CROSS COUNTRY
CHAMPIONSHIPS - Deena Drossin and Meb Keflezighi Interviews!!
THE STAFF (or, the Press Box Crew): The media
relations staff at the USA Cross Country
Championships, is headed by USA Track & Field media
information manager Tom Surber (Indianapolis, IN) and
USA cross country committee media relations consultant
Paul Merca (Seattle, WA), along with Houston
organizing committee media relations director Connie
Nordyke (Houston). Assisting them in their efforts
are Dr. David Martin (Atlanta, GA); and Charlie Mahler
of Running USA (Duluth, MN). Media members are
strongly encouraged to introduce yourselves to each of
our staff during the meet!
Surber and Merca will be available at the Doubletree
Allen Center beginning Friday morning.
An interview tent will be set up near the finish line
in the mixed zone, where media members may interview
the leading finishers in each of the races.
As has been customary in previous national cross
country championships, media staff will provide
post-race quotes, along with a race in review summary.
This information will also be posted at
www.usatf.org. Race results will also be posted at
the Doubletree Hotel.
GETTING TO THE RACE COURSE: To get to the course from
the Doubletree Allen Center, go west on Lamar Street,
which is one block north of the hotel. Lamar Street
becomes Allen Parkway. Follow Allen Parkway for 1.5
miles. The course is along Buffalo Bayou near the
intersection of Allen Parkway and Montrose.
PARKING: Parking is available at the American General
building, near the race venue.
SPECTATORS: There is no cost to watch the USA Cross
Country Championships!
COMMUNITY 4K RACE KICKS OFF CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND: A
4-k community race, which is open to anyone, leads off
championship weekend starting at 9:30 AM. Entry
information may be obtained through www.usatf.org.
Please note the community race is only limited to 100
runners, with the entry deadline 6 pm, on February
14th.
THE MEET SCHEDULE: Saturday's slate gets underway
with the community 4k race at 9:30 AM. At 10:30, the
masters' womens national championship 6k race goes
off, followed by the masterís men's 6k at 11:30.
The junior women battle over 6k at 12:15 pm, followed
by the menís 4k short cross race at 12:45. At 1:15
pm, the senior women battle for the national title
over 8k to conclude the day's racing. The awards
ceremony for Saturday's races happens at the
Doubletree at 5 PM.
Sunday, the junior men's 8k championship starts at 10
AM. At 10:45 am, the senior women race over 4k, and
championship weekend climaxes with the senior men's
12k race at 11:15 AM.
WHATíS AT STAKE: The top six finishers in the six
championship races (men's 12-k; men's 4-k; men's
junior 8-k; women's 8-k; junior women's 6-k; and
women's 4-k) will represent Team USA at the IAAF World
Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland
March 29th-30th.
FOR COMPLETE RESULTS, GO TO THE 'NET! Complete start
lists, and results, along with a recap of each of the
races, and quotes from the leading athletes competing
at the USA Cross Country Championships, will be
posted at the championships' web site! Log on to
http://www.usatf.org for all the latest information.
THE LAST TIME THE NATIONALS WERE HELD IN HOUSTON:
Houston hosted the 1997 USA Women's Cross Country Team
Trials on February 15, 1997 on the same Buffalo Bayou
course. Nnnena Lynch won the senior women's trials,
covering the 6-kilometer course in a time of 20:17,
while Shannon Smith of Boston College won the junior
women's 4-kilometer trials in 14:20. In 1977, Houston
hosted the USA Championships when Nick Rose won the
men's event.
THE BUFFALO BAYOU COURSE: 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.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS ENTERED IN THIS MEET: USA National
cross country champs that have won titles in the last
ten years who are entered (excluding the two defending
senior champs Meb Keflezighi, & Deena Drossin) include
Alan Culpepper (1999); Dan Browne (short course-1998);
Amy Rudolph (short course-1999).
Defending men's junior champion Timothy Moore is
entered. Former junior national harrier champions
entered in the meet include Brad Hauser (1995), and
Luke Watson (1999).
US Olympic team members from 1996 on that are entered
this weekend include Deena Drossin (10000, 2000); Amy
Rudolph (5000, 1996, 2000); Elva Dryer (5000, 2000); Tony
Cosey (steeple, 2000); Alan Culpepper (10000, 2000); Meb
Keflezighi (10000, 2000); Abdi Abdirahman (10000, 2000);
Nick Rogers (5000, 2000); and, Brad Hauser (5000, 2000).
Additionally, Colleen de Reuck and Bolota Asmeron each
have Olympic experience, with de Reuck competing for
South Africa, and Asmeron competing for Eritrea at the
2000 Olympics in Sydney.
HOMECOMING FOR HAUSER: Brad Hauser, entered in the
menís 12-kilometer race on Sunday, is a product of
Kingwood High School, in nearby Kingwood. The 2000
Olympian had a stellar career at Stanford University,
by winning both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter NCAA crowns
that year. He also won the NCAA indoor 5,000 meter
titles in 1998 and 1999, and the 10,000 meter crown in
1998. Hauser is the Stanford school record holder in
the 5,000 meters (13:27.31) and 10,000 meters
(28:08.12).
Brad also distinguished himself on the cross country
trails for Stanford. In four seasons (1995-98), he
helped lead Stanford to two NCAA titles and a second
place finish. He also won the USA junior cross
country title in 1995.
SEXTET ENTERED: All six members of last year's
silver-medal winning women's team at the IAAF World
Cross Country Championships in Dublin are entered in
the 8-kilometer race. They are Deena Drossin (2nd);
Colleen de Reuck (3rd); Jen Rhines (12th); Milena
Glusac (23rd); Elva Dryer (28th) and, Amy Rudolph
(31st).
MORE KUDOS: Drossin, de Reuck, Rhines, Glusac, Dryer,
and Rudolph will be honored by USA Track & Fieldís
Cross Country committee at Saturday night's awards
ceremony at the Doubletree as its 2002 women's cross
country athletes of the year.
On the men's side, Abdi Abdirahman and Jorge Torres
will receive their awards for their efforts last year.
The awards, which were announced at the USA Track &
Field national convention in Kansas City in December,
will be presented by Anne Timmons, USATF cross country
chairperson.
SALAZAR COACHED ATHLETES COULD BE FACTORS: Former
American marathon record holder Alberto Salazar, the
last Yankee to win an individual medal at the IAAF
world cross country championships (Rome, 1982) is
guiding a small group of athletes entered in this
weekendís meet.
Among his charges are Dave Davis, who surprised nearly
everyone with his stellar fourth-place finish at last
yearís harrier championships; Dan Browne, the 1998
short-course champ, who finished second at last weekís
Millrose Games 3000 (8:00.31) in New York; and, Chad
Johnson. Johnson won the 10k race at the Seattle Open
Cross Country Classic on January 26th.
Salazar's influence isn't just limited to the seniors,
as heís also advising junior entries Galen Rupp and
Alec Wall, both of whom competed at the Foot Locker
national championships in San Diego in December.
MOST CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL TITLES: Those go to Pat
Porter, who won eight straight USA titles from
1982-1989, and to Lynn Jennings who owns nine senior
womens gold medals (1985, 87-93, 96), in addition to
her junior title.
Drossin, Keflezighi teleconference excerpts
INDIANAPOLIS - Five-time defending U.S. women's 8 km cross country
champion Deena Drossin and two-time defending U.S. men's 12 km champion
Meb Keflezighi on Wednesday, February 12, spoke with the media via
national teleconference. Both will compete this weekend at the 2003 USA
Cross Country Championships at Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston, Texas.
Complete bios on Drossin and Keflezighi, along with more information
on
the 2003 USA Cross Country Championships, may be found at www.usatf.org.
Below are excerpts from the teleconference:
Q: Deena, you're entered in both the 4 km and 8 km races in Houston.
Will you compete in both races?
DD: Running the 4K will be a race day decision. My main focus, of
course, will be the 8K and I'm really excited. Training has been going
great down here in San Diego, and all my teammates are ready to go as
well. I'm excited for the weekend.
Q: Meb, how has your training been going leading up to this point?
MK: My training has been pretty good. As you know, I just got back from
Eritrea (his native country) and I didn't train a lot while I was there,
but it's coming together and I'm looking forward to Houston this
weekend.
Q: Will you and your buddy Abdi Abdirahman give us as good a show as
you
did last year? That will be tough to top. (At the 2002 USA Cross
Country Championships, Keflezighi barely edged Abdirahman in a photo
finish for his second consecutive USA men's 12 km cross country title).
MK: It will be tough to top, but it's going to be a great race I think.
It always is when it's a national championship. You can never count out
Alan Culpepper, and obviously Abdi, and there's always somebody up
there. I'm just excited to have another race.
Q: Tell us about your trip to Eritrea.
MB: I took about a week and a half off while I was in New York. When
I
ran, it was anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and 20 (minutes), and
that was not every day, it was whenever I felt like it. My priority was
my family in Eritrea and to spend time with them and to recover from New
York. It wasn't to get ready for national cross country this year, but
it's been coming along pretty good. I've been training the last six
weeks. It was the first time I've been back (to Eritrea) in 17 years
and I was very well received and they are aware of what I have
accomplished.
Q: Deena, have you done any time trials recently that could give you
an
idea of whether your conditioning is up to the level that you reached
last year at this time?
DD: No, we just basically do the same workouts year after year. We have
our bread and butter workouts, as Coach Vigil would call them, with my
tempo runs around Benita Park here in San Diego. As far as those
workouts have been going it's been fabulous. But as far as racing, I
have no indication or anything, but the workouts have been going well.
Q: Deena, there was such a strong emphasis for the women's 8 km team
at
last year's World Championships, will the same planning and thinking
hold true this year.
DD: Absolutely. With us girls all training together we definitely have
our aims pretty high this weekend in hopes that we all make the team to
go to Switzerland together. You've gotta have that unity and camaraderie
together in order to get a good result in team competition. We're all
working hard together and everybody is training a little bit harder and
a little bit smarter to hopefully be a little higher up on the podium.
Q: The second place women's team finish at last year's world
championships is a tough act to follow, isn't it?
DD: Yeah it is. You have to reflect on what you did right and then get
a
little more enthusiastic about everything to expect a better
performance, and we all do have our eyes on a gold medal this year, and
we'll all try a little harder knowing that we were so close to it last
year. We'll fight a little harder knowing that our efforts paid off for
us last year. Hopefully we'll repeat that same ambition this year.
Q: Another tough act to follow will be your silver medal performance
from last year.
DD: It was exciting, but the most exciting part was being able to share
it with so many women.
Q: Meb, after seeing what the women accomplished last year, is that an
inspiration to the guys to try to jump up there and do the same thing?
MK: Oh yes. They met a goal. They got together and trained hard and we
have all the ladies together to train with one goal in mind and they
accomplished it. They are doing a similar route this year as they train
very hard here as they look forward to going to Nationals and qualifying
to compete at the worlds. They know what they want and they go for it.
I'm just happy for the ladies that they've set a prime example of what
can be accomplished here in the U.S. when you set your goals and make
a
commitment you achieve it.
DD: For us women, the men's team the previous year in Belgium was our
inspiration on getting together and wanting to work together to earn a
medal because we saw the men earn medals (bronze medal in 12 km team
competition at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships) in Belgium.
They really were the springboard for us to get together and set some
high goals for ourselves. It is contagious because you see what success
and determination and how it rises in a team and elevates the team as
a
whole and that's what were working for, and hopefully being an
inspiration to some of the younger teams that travel with us.
Q: Deena, for such an individual sport, how much fun was it to have the
team success you enjoyed last year in Ireland?
DD: It was wonderful. I've said this in talks and speeches with the
younger generations and talking with business folk that I don't believe
it is an individual sport because so many people take part in your
successes. There are so many people that have a little bit to do with
it, whether it's a pat on the back, or a strength routine, or a
psychology session, or just your teammates being there on a hard workout
day, so to me it doesn't seem like an individual sport to me at all and
when I'm out there I don't feel like I'm alone. I feel it is a team
effort and I rely on the girls on some of my harder days and they rely
on me for some of their harder days, so it is a group effort, it is a
team effort and I feel like we're really good at being there for each
other.
Q: Meb, what was the date that you arrived back from Eritrea, and
considering that this trip was such a priority, do you feel you're at
the level you were at this time last year?
MK: I got back on December 30th. Since I've been here training has been
going well. Every year is different and I'm excited for this year, and
we'll see what happens Sunday.
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