Though she did not make the Olympic team, Tera Moody pulled off what was probably the biggest upset of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Women's Marathon with her fifth-place finish on April 20th in Boston. Her time of 2:33:54 was a PR by 12 minutes and 46 seconds. Looking back on Moody's running resume and recent accomplishments, along with the circumstances of her previous marathon PR, her success at the Trials is less surprising. However, it's quite understandable that most people didn't pick the woman with the 152nd-fastest seed time going into the race to place fifth.

Moody was a top runner for St. Charles East High School (IL), where she finished sixth, fourth, second, and 12th, respectively, at the state cross country championships during her four years of high school. When she finished 12th as a senior (while battling anemia), the runners in front of her included now-professional runners Ann Gaffigan, Christin Wurth, Victoria Jackson, and Delilah DiCrescenzo. On the track, Moody was a two-time state champion in the mile, and ran a best of 4:52 for that distance.

Moody then went on to become a solid performer for the University of Colorado. She was a four-time top-five scorer for the CU team at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including 2000, when she was the fifth runner for their national championship winning team. Moody won the Pac-10 10,000m title as a freshman, but running on a team with a handful of individual NCAA champions, she was overshadowed a bit.

Now 27, Moody still resides in Boulder and competes for the Boulder Running Company/adidas Women's Racing Team, and is coached by Art Siemers. Her 2:46:40 PR (in her third attempt at the distance) at the 2007 Chicago Marathon may have only put her under the Trials qualifying standard by 20 seconds, but the time should come with an asterisk, because she ran that time in a race where the temperature was approximately 90 degrees, and the course was eventually shut down due to the conditions. More indicative of her performance that day was her place in the women's field—ninth. In January, she followed her Chicago performance up with a seventh-place finish at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, running a PR of 1:13:05. In March, Moody finished sixth in the USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, in 52:35.

Despite showing some talent in high school, Jen Toomey did not take up serious competitive running until the late 1990s, when she more or less found immediate success. She gradually improved until her breakthrough year in 2004, when she set an American Record in the indoor 1,000m (2:34.19) and won the USA Indoor 800 and 1,500m titles before going on to finish fourth in the 800 at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships. Unfortunately, a fall during the latter meet set off a series of injuries that have set her back in recent years. Despite struggling with those injuries, Toomey finished second in the 1,500 at the 2004 Olympic Trials (but didn't make the Olympic team because neither she nor the race winner, Carrie Tollefson, was able to meet the "A" standard of 4:05.80). She followed that up with a 1,500 win at the 2005 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Toomey recently returned to working with the coach, Tom McDermott, who helped her find so much success in 2004. She has also returned to racing again and shortly after turning 36 in December, she ran 2:04.71 (800m) and 4:34.83 (mile). Toomey, whose maiden name is Lincoln, holds lifetime bests of 1:59.64 (indoor 800m) and 4:06.24 (1,500m). Toomey lives with her husband, Mike, in Salem, Massachusetts.

Julie Culley is a 2004 graduate of Rutgers University, where she was an All-American cross country runner, thanks to a 32nd place finish at the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships. More recently, she finished second at the 2007 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, two seconds behind winner Delilah DiCrescenzo. Culley holds PRs of 2:10 (800m), 4:17.5 (1,500m), and 16:00.5 (5,000m). She is originally from North Hunterdon, New Jersey, and currently lives and trains in Virginia.

Nicole Bush of Michigan State made a 95-place leap from 101st at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships to fifth at the 2007 edition of the meet, held on November 19th in Terre Haute, Indiana. In the process, she led her team to fifth-place finish, Michigan State's highest since 1981. Bush's NCAA success was just the continuation of a great fall, during which she finished second to Iowa's Diane Nukuri at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on October 28th, and second to Michigan's Nicole Edwards at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on November 10th.

Though this was Bush's first All-America honor in cross country, she was already a two-time All-American on the track after finishing fifth in the steeplechase at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and sixth in 2007. The 9:56.68 steeple she ran last spring has already qualified her for the Olympic Trials, which will be held in Eugene, Oregon in late June and early July.

A native of Wyoming, Michigan, Bush was a 10-time state champion for Kelloggsville High School. In 2002, as a high school junior, she finished ninth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional and missed qualifying for the prestigious national meet by two seconds. She won three Division 3 state cross country titles, beginning her freshman year, before finishing 237th—second from last—at the state meet as a senior, due to an undetected case of anemia. She set high school PRs of 4:53 (1,600) and 10:51 (3,200).

Now a senior at Michigan State, Bush, age 21, has one indoor, one outdoor, and one cross country season remaining in her NCAA eligibility. We caught up with her via e-mail.

Florida State's Susan Kuijken surprised some with her early-season success, but based on the season she's had thus far, no one should be surprised if she runs well at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday. A native of the Netherlands, Kuijken arrived at Florida State during the spring semester in 2006. Since then, she has earned All-America honors in cross country (with a 27th place finish at last year's NCAA Championships) and track. Her runner-up 4:11.34 finish in the 1,500 at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships was a collegiate breakthrough for Kuijken, and she has carried that momentum into the 2007 cross country season.

On October 13, Kuijken led her team to a runner-up finish by winning the "Blue" race at the NCAA Pre Nationals in the second fastest time of the day. (Only "White" race winner Jenny Barringer posted a faster time.) She followed that up with a victory at the ACC Championships, where she led her team, now ranked second in the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll, to its first-ever ACC Cross Country title.

Prior to coming to the U.S., Kuijken already had quite the running resume. She finished third at the 2005 European Junior Cross Country Championships, second in the 3,000 at the 2005 European Junior Track & Field Championships, earned a gold in the 3,000 and a bronze in the 1,500 at the European Under-17 Track & Field Championships and represented the Netherlands at the World Cross Country Championships twice.

After the 2007-08 school year, Kuijken has two years of NCAA eligibility remaining. We caught up with her via e-mail in the week leading up to the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Though Scott Bauhs has been running at a high level since high school, he didn't begin to make national headlines until last spring, when he upset Nicodemus Naimadu to win the NCAA Division II 10,000m title for California State University, Chico. Naimadu, a senior, had never lost a college race longer than a mile prior to that, and was a 10-time NCAA Division II national champion. Later in the meet, Bauhs came back in the 5,000 and though he had the lead in hand on the last lap of the race, he chose to cross the line just behind senior teammate Charlie Serrano, to give Serrano the experience of being a national champion as well. Bauhs finished a close second, .02 of a second behind his teammate, earning his sixth All-American award.

The 21-year-old Danville, California native is redshirting this fall, but he is still making plenty of headlines. He won a competitive 8k race at the Stanford Invitational on September 29, blazing through the course in 23:07. A couple weeks later, on October 14, Bauhs finished sixth overall and was the top U.S. runner at the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in 1:03:04. Bauhs is in his fourth year of school at Chico State and he plans to rejoin his team this spring, and then finish out his final year of NCAA eligibility in the 2008-09 school year.

While representing San Ramon Valley High School, Bauhs set PRs of 4:16 (1,600) and 9:09 (3,200). Since arriving at Chico State, Bauhs has lowered those to 3:45.75 (1,500), 13:40.63 (5,000), and 28:54.55 (10,000), in addition to his 1:03:04 half marathon.

While the record temperatures stole most of the headlines following October 7's LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Colorado native Paige Higgins, 25, grabbed some of the post-race attention as well. Running her third marathon, the University of Kansas graduate finished seventh in 2:40:14. While most of the athletes in the field posted times significantly slower than their personal bests, Higgins shattered her PR by more than eight minutes and qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials—Women's Marathon.

Higgins ran her first marathon in January of 2006, winning the Walt Disney Marathon in 2:51:38. She followed that up with a 2:48:34 in the 2006 Chicago Marathon, despite suffering an injury mid-race. Earlier this year, Higgins also posted victories in the Citizens' Race at the Bolder Boulder 10k (with a 34:51) and the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon (in 1:14:47).

Higgins resides in Littleton, Colorado and teaches art at Mullen High School. We caught up with her three days after her race.

The name "Lindsey Scherf" has been circulating in running circles for what seems to be forever. Yet, Scherf is only 20 years old. Her youth, however, belies an experienced competitor within. The senior at Harvard University is one of the best collegiate athletes in the country, earning multiple All-America and All-Ivy League selections. Scherf's name is already in the record books for breaking several national age-group marks, including the U.S. junior 10,000m record, which she broke when she ran 32:51 at the 2005 Outdoor Heptagonal Championships. The Scarsdale, New York native also has a 15:42 5,000 meter performance to her credit.

Scherf toed the line at the 2007 USA 20k Championships in New Haven, Connecticut on September 3. While her performance was not to her satisfaction, she was all smiles when discussing the positives she took from the experience. Scherf also shared her thoughts on the semester she spent abroad in Australia and her running goals for the upcoming year.

Elva Dryer ran a gutsy race at the 2007 USA 20k Championships, hosted by the New Haven Road Race in Connecticut. Along with Kate O'Neill and Alicia Shay, Dryer kept the pace honest from the gun. Although disappointed that she did not win the title, Dryer was still pleased with her performance at the Labor Day event, particularly because she finished more than a minute faster than she did one year ago. Dryer crossed the line in 1:07:17, closing hard on Shay, who won in 1:06:55. Last year, Dryer took second to Marla Runyan, covering the course in 1:08:39. A two-time Olympian, Dryer has a bevy of championship experience, including a win at the USA Half Marathon Championships last January. Her PRs include 15:03.56 at 5,000 meters, 31:21.92 at 10,000 meters, and a 2:31:48 marathon. Dryer took a moment to share her thoughts on the race after the award ceremony.

It's been a bumpy road for Alicia Shay for the past couple of years, but for the spectators watching her run the USA 20k Championships hosted by the New Haven Road Race in Connecticut this Labor Day, only one thought crossed the minds of those who have followed her career: "She's back." Shay, formerly Alicia Craig, made a bold move at the 7 mile mark, pulling away from pre-race favorite Elva Dryer and Kate O'Neill. Shay would cover the rest of the course unchallenged and win in a time of 1:06:56, 22 seconds faster than Dryer. The former Stanford Cardinal's victory comes on the heels of a solid performance at the Falmouth Road Race on August 12, where she finished fifth with a time of 37:28. As a collegiate runner, Shay was a two-time NCAA champion in the 10,000 meters, and she held the collegiate record in that distance (32:19.97 at the 2004 Cardinal Invitational) until Sally Kipyego broke it earlier this year. She also boasts a PR of 15:25.75 in the 5,000 meters. Shay, who now resides in Flagstaff, Arizona, took a moment to speak with eliterunning.com after receiving her prize.

One day after winning a surprise bronze medal at the 2007 IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Osaka, Japan, Kara Goucher spoke to a small group of reporters. What follows is a transcript, more or less, of that group interview.

Though the hot and humid conditions during the 10,000 at this year's USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships were not conducive to personal best times, Tara Storage pulled out a strong performance to finish ninth (33:52.73) in a star-studded field. Though the former University of Dayton runner had a great deal of success during her collegiate career, she has shaved minutes off of her best times since graduating in 2003 and now can claim PRs of 16:05.26 (5,000), 33:36.16 (10,000), 51:19 (15k), and 1:13:14 (half marathon). Storage finished fifth at the 2007 USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, seventh in the 2007 USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville, and seventh in the 2006 USA 10k Championships in Boston.

Storage was a six-time Atlantic-10 champion for the University of Dayton, winning the indoor 5,000 three times, the outdoor 5,000 twice, and the 10,000 once. Her highest conference cross country finish came in 1999, when she finished second at the A-10 Championships and earned Rookie of the Year honors. Storage still holds the University of Dayton's school records in the 10,000 (37:00.70), the indoor 5,000 (17:19.82), and the indoor mile (4:56.23).

Storage has been working as a materials research engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base since graduating from the University of Dayton with a Chemical Engineering degree in 2003. She's one class away from getting her Master's in Materials Engineering, also from the University of Dayton.

Storage trains with her identical twin sister, Kara, as well as Ann Alyanak, the current University of Dayton distance coach. The three are coached by Ed Alyanak, Ann's husband.

It's been a busy spring/summer for Elliott Heath, who recently graduated from Winona Senior High School in Winona, Minnesota. At the state track meet, he defended his Class AA 3,200 meter title in a Class AA record time of 9:02.65 and placed fourth in the 1,600 meter run in 4:10.88. Heath then went on to finish third in the two-mile run at the Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON) in 8:46.12. Heath wasn't done yet as he won the junior men's 5,000 meter title at the USA Junior Track & Field Championships in 14:36.32 and followed that up with a silver medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil with a time of 14:34.06.

Though the 2006-2007 school year was Sally Kipyego's first year in the NCAA, the four NCAA titles and six Big 12 titles she won for Texas Tech already put her among the most accomplished distance runners ever to come through the NCAA system. Prior to this year, Kipyego spent three semesters at South Plains College, where she won seven NJCAA national titles. Kipyego now has two seasons of cross country, two seasons of indoor track, and one season of outdoor track eligibility remaining at Texas Tech, and she plans to use all of it as she works toward a nursing degree.

Kipyego's first NCAA title came at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships, where she ran away from the field from the gun and won the 6k race by 26 seconds. Indoors, it was more of the same as Kipyego won the 5,000 at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships by 10 seconds (in an indoor PR of 15:27.42), and then came back the following day to win the 3,000 by less than a second in 9:02.05. Kipyego won her fourth NCAA title of the year at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, where she claimed the 10,000 in 32:55.71. Kipyego's only loss of the season came later in the meet, when she finished second in a great duel with Michelle Sikes in the 5,000, and ran 15:24.22 less than 24 hours after winning the 10,000. Kipyego also holds the collegiate 10,000 meter record of 31:56.72, which she set in April at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.

Kipyego, now 21, was also very successful during her high school years, winning a Kenyan national cross country title in 2000 at age 14, and finishing eighth at the 2001 World Junior Cross Country Championships at age 15. Success runs in the family as two of her brothers, Christopher and Michael, are accomplished professional runners. Michael Kipyego is a frequent member of Kenya's World Championship squads, has run an 8:10.66 steeplechase, and was a World Junior champion. Christopher Kipyego won the 2006 Powerade Monterrey Marathon in 2:14:43.

Kipyego originally hails from Marakwet, Kenya, and recently made her first trip back to Kenya since coming to the U.S. 2-1/2 years ago.

Though Chad Austin tends to specialize in interviewing Minnesotans, he made an exception here to interview Ryan Meissen of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, who grew up just across the St. Croix River from Minnesota. Meissen, 29, was a Division III All-American for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and went on to finish 21st in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Meissen, who represents the Wisconsin Runner Racing Team, is currently preparing for the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials, which will take place on November 3, 2007 in New York City.

Kelly Keeler Ramacier, 45, has only been a competitive runner for 13 years, having taken up the sport at age 32. It's been a productive 13 years for Keeler Ramacier, however, as she's set open PRs of 4:42 (mile), 16:15 (5k), 26:48 (8k), 33:31 (10k), 1:14:09 (half marathon), and 2:42:25 (marathon) as well as masters PRs of 5:03 (mile), 17:09 (5k), 28:52 (8k), 35:12 (10k), 1:19:21 (half marathon), and 2:43:45 (marathon).

Keeler Ramacier represented the U.S. at the 2000 World Half Marathon Championships, where she finished 42nd. She was also the top American woman at the 2001 Chicago Marathon. Chad Austin recently interviewed Keeler Ramacier for his web site and has kindly allowed us to re-post the interview here.

Georgetown's Melissa Grelli turned heads earlier this month at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships when she finished second to Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego in the 10,000 meters with a time of 33:01.56. Not only was the time a personal best for Grelli by 25 seconds, but it also broke the longstanding Georgetown record held by one of the most successful athletes in school history, Kate Landau. Although Grelli had run lifetime bests in every distance (including cross country) during the 2006-07 school year, her seed time coming in to nationals did not predict that she would be among the leaders in Sacramento.

After a sub-par freshman year and a long recovery from surgery and illness during her sophomore year, Grelli bounced back during her junior year, culminating in a 32nd place finish at the NCAA Cross County Championships last November. During indoor track, Grelli helped the Hoyas earn the Big East Championship team title by finishing fourth in the 5,000 meters and sixth in the 3,000 meters, and her season-best 5,000 meter time of 16:21.85 just barely missed qualifying for indoor NCAAs. Outdoors, Grelli ran 33:26.56 at the Stanford Invitational to automatically qualify for nationals and demolished her personal record by more than a minute to win the ECAC 3,000 meters in 9:31.87.

During high school in Cupertino, California, Grelli held her own against fierce competition in her section of the state, including Shannon Rowbury, who would go on to star at Duke, and Alicia Follmar, who was one of three Stanford women in the 1,500 meter final at NCAAs in Sacramento. As a senior in 2003, Grelli was a surprise Foot Locker Cross Country Championships qualifier and went on to place 15th in the finals.

We caught up with Grelli during the week between NCAAs and the USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis, where she will run one more 10,000 meter race to close out her spring season.

Perhaps the most impressive performances produced at the 113th Penn Relays, held April 26-28, was that of the Michigan women's collegiate record-breaking 4x1,500 meter and 4x800 meter Championship of America relay victories. The team of Anna Willard, Katie Erdman, Geena Gall, and Nicole Edwards crushed the competition and the former collegiate records in each event, winning Thursday's 6,000 meter relay in a time of 17:15.62, besting the 17-year-old national mark of 17:18.10 set by Villanova. Two days later, the four dominated again, this time breaking the 23-year-old collegiate record set by the University of Tennessee in the 3,200 meter relay. Michigan crossed the line in 8:18.78, smashing the former record of 8:20.22.

Graduate student Anna Willard was a huge part of these two performances. Willard, a former standout at Brown University, mustered the fastest split in the 4x1,500 meter relay, running a 4:13.9. She then ran a 2:04 leg in the 4x800 meter relay, helping propel her team to another triumph. For her contributions, Willard was named the female relay athlete of the meet.

Initially, Willard might have been somewhat of an unknown to those unfamiliar with her accomplishments. However, the writing was on the wall for Willard's breakout performances. As a senior at Brown, the Greenwood, Maine native captured 10 school records, six of which were in individual events. She also earned All-American honors in the distance medley relay during the 2006 indoor track season and the 3,000 meter steeplechase during the 2006 outdoor season, when she placed sixth at the NCAA Championships in a time of 10:06.83. With just one season of eligibility remaining, Willard chose to don the Maize and Blue uniform for her final outdoor track campaign.

Best known for her 2002 NCAA 10,000 meter title and her successful collegiate career at NC State, Kristin Price dropped off many people's radar screen upon graduating from college in 2004. Price hadn't lost her desire to run, but four years of intense running had taken a toll on her body. After graduation, Price underwent surgery on her tibia and spent approximately one year recovering.

While healing from surgery, Price began biking and swimming to stay in shape, which naturally led to her competing in—and winning—triathlons. In the fall of 2006, having fully recovered from surgery, Price entered the Columbus Marathon on a whim, without having done any marathon-specific training. Price felt better and better as the race went on and wound up winning the race and running an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying time of 2:44:09. Since then Price has finished eighth at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston in (1:13:52) and 11th at the USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville (52:02).

The biggest breakthrough of Price's professional running career came last Monday, April 16th, at the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. Price finished 10th among the women in 2:38:57 and earned an Olympic Trials 'A' standard on a wet and windy day. She was the third American woman in the race, which also served as this year's USA Women's Marathon Championship.

Price began her collegiate career at Virginia Tech and had a successful year there before transferring to NC State. By the time she graduated, Price had won one NCAA title, six ACC titles, and was a 12-time All-American. Her personal bests on the track—all run during her college years—include a 15:35.67 5,000m and a 32:50.01 10,000m.

Now 25, Price is a full-time graduate student at NC State, where she is working on her Master's in Food Science. A native of Harrison City, Pennsylvania, she has a twin sister, Kara, who also ran the 2007 Boston Marathon.

As a fifth-year senior at Purdue in 2002, Ann Alyanak—then Ann Stechschulte—qualified for her first NCAA Championship meet. She finished 15th in the 10,000 meters, a race which was won by NC State's Kristin Price. A little less than five years later, Alyanak and Price would meet again at the 2007 Boston Marathon, which would become another turning point in both of their careers. The two ran together for much of the race and turned onto Boylston Street together, but Alyanak was slightly stronger in the end, outkicking Price in the homestretch. Alyanak finished ninth overall in a big PR of 2:38:55, and was the second U.S. finisher behind Deena Kastor in the race which also served as the 2007 USA Women's Marathon Championship.

Alyanak's time in Boston, run in wet and windy conditions, was a personal best by more than nine minutes, improving upon her 2:48:04 from the 2005 Twin Cities Marathon. Since 2005, Alyanak has set PRs in the 5k (16:34), 10,000 (33:35.64), 15k (53:03), 20k (1:10:32), and half marathon (1:14:24).

Alyanak, now 28, still holds Purdue's outdoor 5,000 meter record of 16:19.87. As a fifth-year senior, Alyanak won the 2002 Big Ten 10,000m in 34:01.58, becoming the first and, to date, only woman from Purdue to win that title.

Alyanak graduated from Purdue with a degree in movement and sport science. After spending one year in medical school, she opted for a coaching career instead. Alyanak served as an assistant coach at the University of Dayton for one year before she was named the head women's cross country and assistant track & field coach, a position she has held for three years. Alyanak is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Exercise Science. She resides in Bellbrook, Ohio with her husband, Ed Alyanak, who also serves as her coach.

It's only April and Patrick Russell, 31, of Minneapolis, Minnesota already has three wins under his belt this year. Unfortunately, the race he was keying for, the USA 100k Championships, which were held in Madison, Wisconsin last weekend, didn't go as well as he had planned. Russell completed 5.5 of the 10k laps before recording his first-ever DNF. Luckily, as they say, "We learn more from our bad races than we do our good races." Based on his responses, it appears Russell has indeed learned a few things from Saturday's race.

Perhaps one of the greatest surprise finishes at the 2007 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, held on February 24, was the performance of Emily Field in the 3,000 meter run. The Texas native and current student at Southern Methodist University seemingly came out of nowhere to snag third place in a field which included the likes of eventual winner Shalane Flanagan and runner-up Lisa Galaviz. Field's time of 9:11.32 was a personal best. It was also a 13-second improvement from her 9:24.65 effort at the University of Houston All-Comers Meet on February 10, 2007.

Field's rise from anonymity to the national stage comes after a long hiatus from the sport. An accomplished runner in high school, Field won two state cross country crowns and state titles in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters. She went on to compete briefly for the University of Texas, but soon left school. Along with the departure from college came the decision to stop running. After a few years, however, Field found herself training again in 2006. On July 16, 2006, she romped to victory in the 5,000 meter run at the USATF National Club Track & Field Championships, clocking in at 16:11.07 and shattering the meet record by 30 seconds. Yet, the race that drew national attention was her showing at the USA Indoor Championships.

Following the USA Indoor Championships, Field competed in the Gate River Run, which served as the USA 15k Championships, on March 10, 2007. She placed 12th among the women with a time of 52:03, despite suffering from a stress fracture in her femur. Although she is currently allowing her injury to heal, her thoughts focus on her future goals, which will hopefully include an appearance at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 10,000 meters.

Garrett Heath, a 2004 graduate of Minnesota's Winona High School, was part of Stanford's winning Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Heath followed up his performance with a fourth-place finish in the mile the following day. Earlier in the season, he ran 8:01.96 for 3,000 meters and recorded his first sub-4:00 mile with a 3:59.60 at the University of Washington's Husky Classic.

At Winona High School, Heath was a six-time state champion in cross country and track and a two-time state champion in Nordic skiing. He recorded two top-10 finishes at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, with a sixth-place finish in 2002 and a 10th-place finish in 2003.

In 2006, Heath helped Stanford to a fourth-place team finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships with his 64th-place finish.

Shannon Rowbury closed out her final collegiate indoor track season with a bang at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, held March 9 and 10. The fifth-year senior at Duke University claimed her first national title, winning the mile in a time of 4:42.17 and defeating her nearest competitor by more than a second. Rowbury's victory was also the first NCAA women's track & field title for the Blue Devils. However, the day was not over yet for the San Francisco native. Rowbury returned to the track less than two hours later, toeing the line for the 3,000 meters. She finished second in the event, running a huge indoor PR and school record time of 9:02.73.

Rowbury's performances come on the tails of a successful indoor campaign, highlighted by her school record run of 4:34.94 in the mile at the Tyson Invitational. Last year, Rowbury redshirted her final indoor and outdoor seasons and gained valuable racing experience as she competed in professional meets as an unattached athlete. During this time, she set personal bests in the 800, 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, and steeplechase.

Currently working on her Master's in Film Studies, Rowbury took time out of her busy schedule to talk about her experience at Nationals and her hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games.

After graduating from Williams College in 2006 with an English degree, Caroline Cretti packed up and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to become a member of ZAP Fitness, a post-collegiate training group for distance runners. Within months, Cretti had worked herself into what was probably the best shape of her life before she suffered Achilles injuries (first on one side, then the other) beginning in November. Prior to the injuries, she set an 8k PR of 26:32 at the NTELOS 8k in Richmond, Virginia, and represented the U.S. at the Chiba Ekiden in Japan. After months of rehabbing her injuries, Cretti has returned to training and will begin her 2007 season this weekend at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington, DC.

As a collegiate athlete, Cretti won three NCAA Division III national titles (2006 indoor 5,000m, 2006 outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m) and earned 15 All-America honors. She holds Williams' outdoor 5,000 (16:29.70) and 10,000 (34:35.71) records along with the indoor 3,000 (9:33.83) and 5,000 (16:44.57) records. She also won the 10,000 at the 2006 Penn Relays. Williams' head track & field coach, Ralph White, has called Cretti the greatest female distance runner in school history.

Before arriving at Williams, Cretti also made history back in her hometown of Carbondale, Colorado. Competing for Roaring Fork High School, Cretti won four Colorado 3A state titles (claiming the 1,600 and 3,200 in 2001 and 2002), despite not getting serious about running until late in her high school career.

One of the most talented collegiate distance runners in the nation, Arianna Lambie has produced many excellent performances during her time at Stanford University thus far. Yet, several injuries have hampered her training, including a stress fracture after the 2006 Pac-10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Despite the setbacks, the redshirt junior has proven her resiliency, and this academic year has been particularly impressive. During the 2006 cross country season, Lambie led the Cardinals to their second-straight national title with her fourth place finish, an improvement from eighth the previous year. Success on the cross country course translated into success on the track. At the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships held March 9 and 10, Lambie captured second in the 5,000 meters and third in the 3,000 meters, running 15:37.97 and 9:04.81, respectively. With injuries hopefully in the rearview mirror, Lambie appears poised for another strong season when she opens her outdoor track campaign at the Stanford Invitational on March 30 and 31.

One could say that Greg Crowther is a distance running hybrid of sorts—a fast 5k and 10k racer, a very capable marathoner, and an extremely competitive ultramarathoner. A native of Rutland, Vermont, Crowther ran on the Rutland High School track team where he recorded a 3,000m best of 9:35. From 1991-1995, Crowther attended Williams College, where, as a senior, he captained the cross country squad to the 1994 NCAA Division III team championship.

His post-collegiate running career has met with equal success. He has recorded top-three finishes at the Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver Marathons and was a member of the USA's 2005 100k World Cup team. In late 2006, Crowther won the prestigious Sunmart 50 Miler, and earlier this month, he won the USA 50k Championships at the Caumsett Park 50k and established a new course record (3:04:35). Crowther holds personal bests of 30:57 (10,000), 2:22:32 (marathon), and 6:59:40 (100k).

Crowther is currently a visiting lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. In October of 2006, Greg and his wife welcomed their first child, Philip, into the world.

One of the biggest surprises at this year's USA Cross Country Championships was Michael Spence's fifth place finish in the senior men's 12k race. With the top four finishers opting not to go to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya, Spence will lead the U.S. men's team on March 24.

A steeplechaser on the track, Spence has competed in his specialty at the USA Championships for the past three years. In 2006, he had his most successful performance, advancing to the final and finishing seventh in 8:35.99, just off his PR of 8:35.26.

Though this will be Spence's first U.S. senior team, it is not his first time representing the U.S. in international competition. As a freshman at Princeton University in 1997, Spence won the USA Junior steeplechase title and went on to represent the U.S. at the Junior Pan Am Games.

Despite entering Princeton with modest PRs and mainly having focused on soccer in high school, Spence improved dramatically by the time he graduated in 2000. He earned All-American honors in cross country for his 36th-place finish as a senior, and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase in 2000, as a senior.

Spence and his wife, Kristine Spence (nee Rosso) reside in Ogden, Utah.

We talked to the well-spoken Spence while he was visiting Princeton, New Jersey on business, and we'll let him tell you the rest of the story.

After a 20th-place performance at last year's USA Junior Cross Country Championships, Jocelyn "Jolly" Burke made a huge leap and finished in fifth at the 2007 event in Boulder, Colorado. The freshman at the University of Iowa stamped her ticket to the World Cross Country Championships with her 22:16 effort over the 6k course.

Although battling sickness during her first collegiate cross country season, the Waunakee, Wisconsin native mustered solid performances, notably her 10:43 3k at the Hawkeye Open, 16:59 5k at the Auburn Invite, and 22:10 6k at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet. She also served as Iowa's fifth scorer at the NCAA Championships, helping the Hawkeyes to a 17th-place finish. It was Iowa's first appearance at the national championship in 14 years.

Burke is not only fast on her feet but is quick in the classroom as well. The 2006 valedictorian and National Merit Scholar at Madison Edgewood High School plans to major in Psychology and Sociology.

During his junior and senior years at Gallup High School in Gallup, New Mexico, Brandon Leslie established himself as one of the best young distance runners in the country. He finished sixth at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 1993 as a high school junior and third in 1994 as a senior. But instead of going on to college and immediately becoming a successful collegiate runner, Leslie learned that he would be a father during his first semester at Northern Arizona University, which put him on a different track entirely.

After taking several years off from running, Leslie enrolled at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, began working towards his degree again, and returned to competitive running. Leslie won the NJCAA Cross Country title in 1997 and 1998, as well as the 2000 NCAA DII 10,000m title while he finished out his eligibility at Adams State College. Leslie graduated from SIPI in 1998, and Adams State College in 2004.

Despite many ups and downs over the years, as well as the challenge of raising three children, Leslie had his best year ever in 2006. He set personal bests of 13:50.77 (5,000m), 28:10.59 (10,000m), 1:03:10 (half marathon), and ran a 2:15:21 at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Leslie also represented the U.S. at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Japan, where he finished 55th.

Leslie, a full-blooded Navajo, resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Nelvina, and their three children: Cody, age 12; Brandon, age 11; and Haley, age 3. Leslie is coached by Joe Vigil and sponsored by Brooks, McDonald's, and the Albuquerque Running Shop. To help Leslie pursue his career while raising a family, a new web site, www.navajoeliterunners.org, has recently been established. On this web site, you can make a donation to help support Leslie, or up-and-coming 26-year-old runner Alvina Begay.

Kari Hardt made quite a statement at the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships held in Boulder, Colorado. Hardt finished third overall in a time of 22:03, earning a coveted spot on the U.S. Junior team which will compete at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya March 24. In a field loaded with talented collegiate and high school runners, the freshman at Arizona State University was not on the radar as one of the pre-race favorites. Yet, the pieces were just waiting to fall into place for Queen Creek, Arizona native. After battling sickness through the first half of her rookie collegiate cross country campaign, Hardt took time off to recover. She returned in time for the Pac-10 Cross Country Championships and finished 21st, the highest finish of any true freshman in the race. Hardt then picked up the pace at the West Regional, serving as ASU's fifth scorer and earning all-region honors, placing 25th overall. She capped off her amazing comeback with an 88th place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing in a time of 22:03.

Hardt arrived at ASU as one of the most decorated high school athletes to emerge from the state of Arizona. As a prep star, she won six individual track and field titles and two cross country titles, and recorded times of 2:11 in the 800 meter run, 4:37 in the 1,500, and 9:46 in the 3,000. With a solid high school career under her belt and a strong showing in her first season of collegiate running, the writing was on the wall for Hardt's bronze medal performance on February 10.

Fasil Bizuneh has been on a tear lately. After setting PRs at 20k (59:43) and 5k (13:55) last fall, he clocked a 2:18:14 marathon debut at the 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. Bizuneh then bounced back with a PR and fifth-place finish at the NTELOS 8k (22:32) on November 11. One month later, he set what was then a three-minute PR of 1:02:59 at the Wellstone Dallas White Rock Half Marathon, winning the race in an exciting sprint finish and ending 2006 on a very high note.

Evidently, racing in Texas is something that suits the 26-year-old. Just a month later, returning to the Lone Star State for the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, he clocked another big PR, finishing second in 1:02:20 and beating out Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi in a sprint finish. Bizuneh’s performance earned him $6000 and a spot on the team that will represent the U.S. at the IAAF World Road Running Championships in Italy in October.

On February 10, Bizuneh earned a spot on the U.S. team for next month's IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya by virtue of his seventh place finish at the USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder.

Bizuneh grew up in Indianapolis and ran collegiately for Arizona State University, where he was a four-time All-American and three-time Pac-10 runner-up. As an ASU frosh, he was the top U.S. finisher at the 1999 IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships, placing 24th. As a post-collegiate runner, he started out with the [now defunct] Big Sur Distance Project in California, but his career has seen a big upswing since his relocation to Bristol, Tennessee in the summer of 2006 to train under coach Scott Simmons. Dave Milner caught up with Bizuneh in Flagstaff, Arizona a week after the USA Cross Country Championships.

Emily Brown, 22, is the first University of Minnesota in 20 years to garner All-American honors in both cross country and track. In November, she ran 21:17.6 (6k) on a muddy course at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships and finished 29th. In the process, she earned her fourth All-American honor and helped lead the Gophers to an 11th place showing.

On the track, Brown is a Big Ten Champion in the steeplechase and holds Minnesota's school record in that event with a 9:56.62. She finished fourth in the steeplechase at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

A native of West Allis, Wisconsin, Brown is a 2002 graduate of Nathan Hale High School. Her high school coach, Doug Jordan, was coached by Minnesota coach Gary Wilson at Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

Scott Jurek, 33, is arguably one of the best ultramarathoners in the world. Raised in a home on a three-acre lot outside Duluth, Minnesota, Jurek took up running in junior high school as a natural extension of his innate desire to be outdoors. He ran track his sophomore year of high school in order to prepare for his passion at the time: Nordic skiing. At the age of 20, he was talked into running his first ultra, the Minnesota Voyager 50 Mile, where he placed second. After that, he was hooked on ultras. In 1999, at the age of 25, he was the youngest runner ever to win the Western States 100-Mile Endurance run—an event that he went on to win six more times consecutively. He set the course record of 15:36 there in 2004. Jurek's other notable ultra victories include winning the grueling Badwater Ultramarathon twice (2005, 2006) and establishing a new course record of 24:36, winning the Leona Divide 50-Mile Run four times (2000-2002 and 2004), winning the Miwok 100k three times (2002-2004), and winning the Montrail Ultra Cup series twice (2002, 2003).

Last year, Jurek added another key victory to his impressive ultramarathoning resume: In September, he won the 246k (152 mile) Spartathlon: a 23-year-old race from Athens to Sparta, Greece. The race was created to test Herodotus' account of Pheidippides' famous run to Sparta in 490 BCE. Jurek was only the second runner in the race's history to cover the course in less than 23 hours. (He ran it in 22:52:18 which translates into 8:58 pace per mile.)

Jurek holds the following personal records: 15:36 (100-mile trail), 7:28 (100k road), 6:21 (50-mile trail), 5:50 (50-mile road), 3:04 (50k trail), and 2:38:00 (marathon).

Jurek attended physical therapy school at the College of St. Scholastica and graduated with his Master's degree in physical therapy in 1998. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Leah, a massage therapist. They own and manage Beyond Running Trail Running Camps, Beyond Running Training Services, and their private physical therapy and massage therapy practices.

A little more than two months after a disappointing 10th place finish at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, Jordan Hasay got back to what she is used to doing—winning. At the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships held in Boulder, Colorado on February 10, she showed everyone right from the gun that she was back and she meant business. Immediately bolting to the lead of the Junior Women's 6k race, Hasay rolled through the first 1,000 meters in 3:18, six seconds ahead of her next competitor. Hasay, just a sophomore at Mission College Prep in San Luis Obispo, held her lead until the end, clocking in at 21:43. She finished 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Bona Jones of North Carolina State University and defeated a talented field which included collegiate runners.

The Arroyo Grande, California resident adds this national title to her impressive list of accomplishments. Highlights include winning the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships (17:05), claiming victory at both the 2005 and 2006 Foot Locker West Regional (17:14 and 17:43, respectively), and breaking the U.S. high school freshman national record in the 3,200 meters (10:07.56).

North Carolina State University freshman Bona Jones added yet another stellar performance to her impressive and steadily growing running résumé. Jones placed second at the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships held in Boulder, Colorado on February 10, thus earning a ticket to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya. The eighteen-year-old from Fort Myers, Florida covered the 6k course in 21:58, 14 seconds behind winner Jordan Hasay and six seconds ahead of third place finisher Kari Hardt.

Her runner-up finish comes just 10 days after her NCAA provisional qualifying run in the 3,000 meters at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the Armory in New York City. Jones placed 10th in the championship race, posting a time of 9:33.42. Jones has seemingly had no trouble making the transition to collegiate running. Throughout the cross country season, she was NC State's second runner behind senior Julia Lucas. Jones earned ACC Freshman of the Year and Southeast All-Region accolades and, most notably, All-America honors for her 26th place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

As a prep runner for Estero High School, Jones was a 2005 Foot Locker finalist in cross country and she posted the fastest times among Florida high schoolers in 2006 in both the 3,200 meters (10:30.35) and the 5,000 meteres (16:57.21, first at Nike Outdoor Nationals).

Twenty-year-old Allie Bohannon, a UCLA redshirt sophomore, was a promising but not outstanding cross country runner as a high schooler at Harpeth Hall in Nashville, Tennessee. She showed great ability over 800 meters and 1,600 meters, but had a tough time keeping it going over three miles. At the state cross country meet, she was seventh as a freshman in 2000, sixth as a sophomore, eighth as a junior, and then 16th as a senior in 2003. Hers was not what you would call a meteoric rise; not even steady progress. Just consistency near, but not at, the top of the private school runners in a state that was languishing well behind most of the eastern United States. On the track, though, she fared much better. And it was in the spring that she would display her full range of talents, for Allie Bohannon was truly a jack of all trades.

In the spring of 2001, four months after helping the Honeybears basketball team advance to the final four at the state meet, the talented frosh won the 1,600 at the state meet on the track, clocking 5:17.96, and, putting the explosive strength she had earlier exhibited on the hardwood to good use again, she placed fifth in the pentathlon.

The following year, her hoops team was the state meet runner-up and Bohannon was voted by The Tennessean as the #2 defensive player in the state, with 119 steals for the season. Despite struggling with a knee injury that would prevent her from qualifying for the state meet in her preferred events the following spring, she managed to cap a somewhat abbreviated track season with another state ring, as part of the 1,600-meter relay quartet that edged Brentwood Academy by four hundredths of a second. And she had earlier improved one spot to finish fourth in the pentathlon.

In 2003, Bohannon's junior year, was a banner year. In February, the Honeybears hoops team continued their improvement and won the state championships, with Bohannon improving her own varsity steals record to 129 and averaging 10.5 points per game. On the track, she won her second 1,600m state title, clocking 5:11.46, and edging out teammate Kathryn Dennison. The title capped an undefeated season at four laps, during which she lowered her PR to 5:05.03 (her PR until last month) at the Nashville City meet. She was also fourth in the pentathlon again, and fifth in the long jump (she jumped 16'11" that season).

As a senior in 2004, after having knee surgery the previous fall, she won the 1,600 at the state meet for the third time, clocking 5:12.27 (with Dennison, now running collegiately at Princeton, finishing second again), and then, just 45 minutes later, added the 800 title in 2:16.76.

On top of her individual state titles, Bohannon was an important cog in the Harpeth Hall athletic juggernaut, with coach Susan Russ at the wheel, that won four straight cross country team titles and four straight track team titles at the state meets. Bohannon was a talented all-rounder and showed great promise at the middle distances, but there was little to suggest that just three years later, she would be vying for an individual berth for the NCAA Cross Country Championships and then slicing almost half a minute off her mile PR, but that's what happened.

At the NCAA West Region Championships, Bohannon, in just her first full year running cross country for UCLA, posted an 11th-place finish (clocking 21:37 over the 6k course). Her performance very nearly earned her a spot at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. At-large selections were made the following week, and had the University of Washington Huskies been given an at-large team bid, then Bohannon would have been given an at-large individual bid for nationals. But the Huskies, and thus Bohannon, were denied. Bohannon had been UCLA's number two finisher in every race last fall, but broke through two weeks earlier with an impressive run at the Pac-10 Cross Country Championships. She led the team for the first time in her career and ran a more than 25-second PR, covering the 6k course in 20:47. It was a huge performance from a young runner whose previous superlatives had only extended to four laps of the track.

A little over two weeks ago, in Seattle, Washington, Bohannon showed that the extra endurance she had garnered in the fall would translate into a breakthrough track campaign in 2007. At the Husky Invitational, she clocked 4:43.43, a whopping 30-second-plus PR, and was only beaten by 2006 USA 5,000m champion Lauren Fleshman and two-time Olympian Jen Rhines. And then, last weekend, she shaved another two seconds off her PR and took a step closer to an automatic NCAA berth with a 4:41.42 clocking at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Bohannon has a long way to go to match the exploits of fellow Harpeth Hall grad and mentor, Margaret Sloan (née Groos), but under the watchful eye of Bruins coach Eric Peterson, she has taken a huge step in the right direction.

Joey Keillor, 32 of Rochester, Minnesota was a NCAA Division II national champion in the steeplechase while at Mankato State University. He holds personal bests of 3:50 (1,500m), 14:11 (5k), 23:53 (8k), 29:39 (10k), 1:07:30 (half marathon), and 2:21:19 (marathon). He balances his training around his family and work at the Mayo Clinic. Chad Austin caught up with Keillor to discuss everything from how he's been able to maintain his speed while cutting his mileage to why he'll never run another marathon.

The 2007 USA Cross Country Championships held in Boulder, Colorado were billed by some as the "Super Bowl of Running." With names like Goucher, Culpepper, Ritzenhein, Abdirahman, and Torres in the field, it was surprising to see Zach Sabatino, an unheralded runner from West Virginia who had never trained at altitude, grabbing sixth place. Sabatino secured a spot on the U.S. team that will compete at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya on March 24. Though few fans were expecting Sabatino to make the team, this will actually be his second time representing the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships. As a freshman at West Virginia University, Sabatino finished fourth in the junior race at the USA Cross Country Championships and qualified to represent the U.S. at the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, where he placed 81st.

After two successful years running for WVU, the school made the decision to cut its men's cross country and track & field programs. Sabatino remained in Morgantown during the 2003-04 school year, weighing his options. He then opted to transfer to the University of Tennessee, where he was coached by George Watts while completing his final two years of NCAA eligibility. During his collegiate career, Sabatino was a two-time NCAA qualifier in the steeplechase, and he earned All-American honors as a senior for his 23rd place finish at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Despite having a strong collegiate career, Sabatino never won a conference title. He finished second in steeplechase in the 2003 Big East Championships and third in the 5,000m at the 2006 SEC Indoor Championships.

Upon graduating from the University of Tennessee in 2006, Sabatino moved back to West Virginia to work on his Master's degree in Elementary Education, with the assistance of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship. Sabatino runs for the New York Athletic Club and is coached by his original college coach, Sean Cleary.

Sabatino, who will turn 24 on March 11, is a native of Charleston, West Virginia. He was the 2001 West Virginia state 3,200 meter champion for George Washington High School. He now holds personal bests of 3:50.35 (1,500m), 8:00.65 (3,000m), 8:46.64 (steeplechase), 13:56.78 (5,000m), and 29:05.59 (10,000m).

After ending her cross country season prematurely due to serious illness and taking time off from running in order to recuperate, many wondered how soon Danielle Tauro could bounce back to her dominating ways. If her performance at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on January 27 is any indication, she has already literally sprinted past her competition.

Tauro used her phenomenal foot speed to put away an initially pedestrian-paced junior mile, closing the last 800 meters of the race in 2:20, a good 12 seconds faster than the first half mile. Tauro, a senior at Southern Regional High School of Manahawkin, New Jersey, broke the tape in 4:52.20. Although not an outstanding time for someone who has run a 4:39.25 (at the 2006 Nike Outdoor Nationals), Tauro has shown that she can win no matter how the race is run. Victories at last year's Millrose Games, Penn Relays, Nike Outdoor Nationals, and USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships and this year's New Balance Games and Boston Indoor Games show Tauro is a remarkable force to be reckoned with.

Shalane Flanagan ran the race of her career last Saturday at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, hanging with world record holder and Olympic champion Meseret Defar for most of their 3,000m duel. Defar ultimately outlasted Flanagan 8:30.31 to 8:33.25, but Flanagan's 21-second PR broke Regina Jacobs' American record of 8:39.14 by nearly six seconds. It was Flanagan's first track race—and second race, period—since August of 2005. Flanagan underwent surgery in April of 2006 for the foot injury that had kept her out of competition since the 2005 IAAF World Track & Field Championships.

A native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Flanagan was a three-time NCAA champion for the University of North Carolina (2002 and 2003 cross country, 2003 indoor 3,000m). Though she considers this past weekend's performance to be her true professional debut, Flanagan has won three USA titles (4k cross country in 2004 and 2005, 2005 outdoor 5,000m) and represented the U.S. in the 5,000m at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. She will next compete at the USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder, Colorado on February 10.

Flanagan, 25, spoke with reporters via teleconference four days after her record run. 

Every once in a while, a runner will have a breakthrough performance, which leaves fans thinking she "came out of nowhere." Some probably felt that way about Rebecca Donaghue's eighth-place finish in the 4k race at last year's USA Cross Country Championships in New York. Though Donaghue missed making the World Cross Country team by four seconds, she firmly established herself as one of the country's up-and-coming runners.

Donaghue, age 30, originally hails from Stow, Massachusetts, approximately 30 miles northwest of Boston. She earned State (1993) and New England (1994) titles in the outdoor 800m for Nashoba Regional High School before going on to star at the University of Massachusetts. During her four-year stint at UMass, Donaghue won 10 Atlantic-10 titles and qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships twice. She still holds UMass' indoor mile (4:50.07) and outdoor 1,500m (4:22.13) records.

Donaghue has lived in State College, Pennsylvania for the past three years, where she is the head girls' cross country and assistant track & field coach at State College Area High School. Her assistant during the cross country season is Gi-Gi Miller-Johnson, the 2006 USA Champion in the heptathlon. Donaghue is also pursuing a Master's degree in Art Education at Penn State part time, as well as focusing on her training.

Donaghue's eighth-place finish at last year's USA Cross Country Championships earned her a spot on the U.S.'s squad for the NACAC (North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association) Cross Country Championships last March. Donaghue's third-place finish there led the U.S. to a team victory. She followed that up with personal bests in the 5,000m (16:02.33) and 10,000m (34:05.18) during the 2006 track season.

In November, Donaghue outran Claudia Camargo to win the Slattery's 5-Mile Turkey Trot in a course record of 26:11. She finished fourth at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in December, and set a new mile PR (4:41.27) last weekend in finishing ninth at the New Balance Games in New York City. She represents New Balance Boston, and is coached by her boyfriend, Artie Gilkes.

Two weeks ago, Erin Ward, ran 2:48:18 at the Chevron Houston Marathon. While the 32-year-old St. Paul, Minnesota resident narrowly missed the Olympic Trials "B" standard (2:47:00 or faster), her time was nearly a five-minute PR. Ward was also recently awarded a MEADP grant to assist in her development.

A graduate of Iowa State, Ward holds personal bests of 5:13 (mile), 17:54 (5k), 37:20 (10k), 1:00:45 (10 miles), 1:22:21 (half marathon), and 2:48:18 (marathon).

At the 2006 Grandma's Marathon, Jenna Boren of St. Paul, Minnesota ran under the "B" standard (2:47:00) for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with her 2:45:51 finish. Less than two weeks ago, the former sprinter lowered her PR to 2:42:39 at the Chevron Houston Marathon. In her last two marathons, the Menasha, Wisconsin native has shaved 4-1/2 minutes off of her marathon time. She also holds PRs of 27:39 in the 8k and 35:03 in the 10k.

As is often the story of her career, Elva Dryer was overlooked a bit in the pre- and post-race hype surrounding last weekend's USA Half Marathon Championships held in Houston. Dryer, 35, kicked away from Kate O'Neill to win her fourth USA title on the roads (at all distances), and set a 1:11:42 personal best in her debut at the distance. A two-time Olympian (5,000m in 2000 and 10,000m in 2004), Dryer has somehow managed to stay out of the spotlight more than many of the women who she regularly races and beats. However, she is one of the U.S.'s toughest and fastest competitors in her events, with personal bests of 15:03.56 for 5,000m and 31:21.92 for 10,000m, which makes her the sixth-fastest U.S. 10,000m woman of all time. In the fall of 2006, Dryer made her marathon debut in Chicago and finished 12th—and first among the U.S. finishers—in 2:31:48 on a windy day in the Windy City. The Aramco Houston Half Marathon was Dryer's first race back since the marathon.

Dryer's path to success wasn't the most common one. While most of her U.S. competitors came up through the NCAA Division I ranks, Dryer—whose maiden name is Elva Martinez—chose Western State College, an NCAA Division II school in Gunnison, Colorado. Despite only modest success in her brief high school running career, Dryer improved significantly during her collegiate career and won seven NCAA Division II titles—four in the outdoor 3,000m, one in the outdoor 1,500m, and two in cross country. Dryer signed with Nike right out of college, and has been running professionally for them ever since.

Dryer resides in Gunnison, Colorado, with her husband/coach, Russ, who was an All-American distance runner for Western State.

Gary Wilson has been coaching for 37 years, 21 of which have been at the University of Minnesota. While he's stepping down as the head coach for women's track and field, a recent contract extension insures he'll be coaching the distance runners, as well as the cross country team for the next six years. His complete list of accolades is too long to mention all of them, but the highlights include numerous Coach of the Year honors, earning the University of Minnesota's President's Award for Outstanding Service, being inducted into the UW-La Crosse Hall of Fame and the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame, and much more.

A native of Lyndonville, New York, Wilson competed in cross country and track at SUNY Cortland. He and his wife, Suzy, have three grown children.

At the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, 31-year-old Rochester, Minnesota native Pete Gilman ran a 2:20:57, shaving more than three minutes off of his four-year-old personal best. Gilman's performance qualified him for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, which will be held in New York City in November, 2007.

In January, Michael will toe the line at the Chevron Houston Marathon. After that, he'll be moving to Rochester Hills, Michigan to train with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project.

Marie Lawrence finished off an amazing high school cross country career December 9 with a fifth-place finish at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Lawrence was the only four-time qualifier at this year's race, and this year's finish gave her the best four-year record of any runner ever to compete at this meet. In addition to her fifth-place finish as a senior, she placed second each year from 2003 to 2005.

A senior at Reno High School, Lawrence won three Nevada state cross country titles as well as three 800m state titles on the track. She holds the U.S. high school record in both the 2,000m (6:35.63) and 3,000m steeplechase (10:15.38). Lawrence won silver in the latter at the 2005 Junior Pan Am Games and finished 10th in the event at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships in August.

Lawrence recently signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Washington. Her older sister, Collier, was a Foot Locker Finalist with Marie in 2003 and is now a junior at Washington State.

Though she's only a sophomore at Mission College Prep in San Luis Obispo, California, Jordan Hasay's running resume reads like that of a veteran. At the top of her list of accomplishments is her victory at the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships as a freshman. This fall, Hasay won every race she ran up through the Foot Locker West Regional. Though she returned to San Diego for the national meet with hopes of defending her title, Hasay had an off day and finished 10th, still good enough for All-American honors.

We caught up with Hasay very briefly after her 10th place finish, but didn't want to keep her long, because she appeared to be having a lot of fun running around the Hotel Del Coronado with some of her West teammates.

Unlike the girls' race at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, where eight of the top 10 finishers will have the opportunity to return in 2007, sixth-place finisher Ben Johnson is the only runner to finish in the top eight who is an underclassman. A junior at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, Johnson won the New Mexico AAAA state title this fall, finished second to Steve Murdock at Nike Team Nationals, and capped off his stellar season with a sixth-place finish at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

Johnson is the second runner from Albuquerque Academy to qualify for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. The first was Matt Twiest, who did so 11 years earlier. Johnson and his Academy teammates, who finished seventh at Nike Team Nationals, are coached by Adam Kedge.

During Friday's course tour, the day before the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, many of the athletes who would compete in the following day's national championship race were quiet and focused. Betsy Bies, on the other hand, was at the center of a group of Midwest girls who seemed to be having a blast, and had picked up branches from the ground to jokingly use as walking sticks. It wasn't that Bies and her Midwest teammates weren't serious about their races, but they seemed to be finding the right balance between preparing to compete and having a good time. It seemed to pay off the next day as Bies finished 12th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and helped the Midwest to the team title.

The race marked the end of a tiring two-weeks stretch for Bies. On November 25th, the senior at Yankton (SD) High School finished eighth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin, qualifying for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. One week later, she finished second at Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon, adding to her win there in 2005 and helping her Yankton team to a fifth-place finish. She then finished out her season in San Diego, with a 12th-place national finish, which earned her third-team All-American honors. Bies was a repeat All-American after finishing 10th at nationals as a junior.

At the South Dakota state cross country meet on October 21st, Bies, the 2005 state champion, finished second to fellow Foot Locker Finalist Allison Eckert and led Yankton to its fourth-consecutive AA state title. Bies has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Oregon. We caught up with her several hours after her final high school cross country race.

Those who have followed running at the Junior Olympic level are likely familiar with the accomplishments of Emily Sisson, who won the Youth Girls national cross country title for the Cornhusker Flyers in 2005, and has been a top finisher on the national level in track. It was this season, as a freshman at Omaha's Marian High School, however, that Sisson had the opportunity to make her mark on the national high school scene. Sisson won the Nebraska Class A state title, leading her team to its fourth-straight state meet victory. She then outran another young star, Colorado's Kaitie Vanatta, to win the Foot Locker Midwest Regional. Sisson's winning time of 17:13 was just five seconds off Melody Fairchild's meet record on the University of Wisconsin-Parkside course. Making her first appearance at the Foot Locker National Finals two weeks later, Sisson lived up to her billing with a third-place finish against 39 of the country's best high school runners.

One year ago, as a 14-year-old eighth grader, Sisson ran the open race at the Foot Locker Midwest regional and was the fastest female with a 17:55. Her time would have placed her 11th in the seeded race. Before we were aware of this, we asked her how she did in that race. Sisson said that she didn't remember her place. When asked if she did well, she replied, "Yeah, pretty well."

Sisson set her 1,500m PR of 4:40.40 in finishing second to Jordan Hasay in the Youth Girls 1,500 at the 2005 USATF Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships. Her 3,000m PR of 9:46.64 came when she won the college/open division of the 3,000m at the 2006 Kansas Relays.

We caught up with Sisson several hours after her impressive nationals run.

Steve Murdock capped a stellar senior season with a third-place finish at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Murdock ran a gutsy race, breaking away from eventual winner Chad Hall late in the race, and battling with him until the three mile mark of the 3.1 mile course. Murdock was nipped at the finish by a fast-moving Craig Forys, but he helped make the race what it was.

Murdock won the New York Class AA state title, finished third behind two fellow Foot Locker Finalists at the New York State Federation Championships, finished fourth at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional, and won the individual title at Nike Team Nationals. Earlier in the season, he was one of three boys to dip under Brad Hudson's 33-year-old Van Cortlandt Park 4k course record.

Murdock began his high school career at Saratoga Springs High School, but transferred to rival school Shenendehowa at the beginning of his senior year. One year ago, he helped his Saratoga team to a national title at Nike Team Nationals, and this year, his individual win helped the Shenendehowa team (running as the Clifton Park XC Club) to a sixth-place finish.

Murdock has signed a letter of intent to attend Syracuse University where he will be coached by Chris Fox.

Four-time Foot Locker Cross Country National Finalist Nicole Blood could be seen sprinting around the course at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships with some of her college teammates, cheering on some of her former and future teammates. Now a freshman at the University of Oregon, Blood's collegiate career got off to a rough start as she entered college with a sacral stress fracture. She managed to come back in time to finish 28th at the Pac-10 Championships and 39th at the NCAA West Regional, helping her team to fourth and sixth place finishes, respectively.

Blood won the Foot Locker Northeast Regional three years in a row, from 2003 to 2005. She recorded her highest national finish, seventh, as a sophomore in 2003. Last February, she won the 2006 USA Junior Cross Country Championships and went on to finish 39th in the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Blood began her high school career at Saratoga Springs High School in New York, and finished it at Royal High School in Simi Valley, California, after her family moved in the middle of her senior year. She holds personal bests of 2:11.76 (800m), 4:24.21 (1,500m) 4:42.4 (mile), 9:24.03 (3,000m), 10:10.73 (two-mile), and 16:30.90 (5,000m).

We briefly caught up with Blood at Balboa Park, shortly after the races took place.

Apart from the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kathy Kroeger from Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville), a sophomore at Independence High School, went unchallenged all fall. In local meets, she usually finished a quarter mile to a half mile clear of her nearest rival. At the Great American Cross Country Festival in late September, she dominated the Race of Champions clocking a 17:29 PR on a day when many girls were recording "personal worsts." At the Tennessee State Meet she ran a solo 16:59 5k on the challenging Iroquois Steeplechase course.

But eleven minutes into the 2006 Foot Locker National Championships held in San Diego's Balboa Park, Kroeger, who is coached by Kristen Reames at her high school and via phone and e-mail by legendary miler Jim Spivey, found herself with plenty of company. After a 5:35 first mile—the slowest opener in the meet's 20-year history—and then, lo and behold, a snail-like 6:01 second mile, just past the two-mile marker (reached in 11:36), a quintet of frontrunners had formed with Virginia's Aurora Scott, Tennessee's Kroeger, Nebraskan Emily Sisson, Colorado's Kaitie Vanatta, and defending champion Jordan Hasay of California, with Nevada's Marie Lawrence hanging on the back. Any moment now, someone was about to make a move and shift the race into overdrive. Someone had to.

After his victory at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, we briefly caught up with Chad Hall, a senior at Big Bear High School in California. Hall won his first California state cross country title this fall, and finished a close second at the Foot Locker West Regional before his victory in San Diego. His older brother, Ryan Hall, was a Foot Locker Finalist in 2000, when he finished third at nationals behind Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Webb. Ryan went on to become an NCAA 5,000m champion in 2005, and is currently a professional runner sponsored by Asics. Ryan's wife, Sara Hall (formerly Bei), the 2000 Foot Locker Cross Country Champion, was also beaming from the sidelines as Chad ran to victory.

Chad Hall fittingly won his Foot Locker Cross Country title wearing a pair of Ryan's old spikes. ("I always hand my extra stuff down to him," says Ryan.) We talked to both Ryan and Chad Hall after the race, between their television interviews and family photos.

Matt Gabrielson, 28, is one of the original members of Team USA Minnesota and has been with the team since June of 2001. On November 5th he made his marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon 2006, where he finished 20th overall and was the fourth American in 2:19:53. While he fell short of his original goal, he was able to take away some positives from the race—including a qualifier for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

Gabrielson is a 2000 graduate of Drake University, where he was a five-time Missouri Valley Conference champion. The Belmond, Iowa native holds personal bests of 4:02.59 (mile), 13:34.61 (5,000m), 28:44 (10k), and 1:04:06 (half marathon). Gabrielson keeps an entertaining journal on the New York Road Runners' web site.

Neely Spence, 16, won the 2006 Foot Locker Northeast Regional and finished eighth in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in her debut at the meet. Spence is a home-schooled junior from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. She won her first Pennsylvania Class AAA state cross country title this year after being allowed to represent Shippensburg High School for the first time. In the past, Spence had competed in open races where she could run without a school affiliation, including the 2005 Foot Locker Northeast Regional, where she finished 19th.

Spence's father, Steve, was 1992 Olympian and won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1991 World Championships. He now serves as the cross country and track & field coach at Shippensburg University. Her mother, whose maiden name is Kirsten Harteis, never ran in college but she has run a 17:00 5k on the roads.

Spence's parents are clearly doing something right in her schooling. Despite the many tempting entertainment options available to her after her race at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, Spence remained in the press room for well over an hour, patiently conducting interviews, which she handled with the poise of a pro.

Former Wisconsin All-American Josh Spiker will begin a new chapter of his life in the new year as he takes over ownership of Inside Track, a running store in Ventura, California. Spiker is currently sponsored by New Balance and will balance his professional running career with his new job.

As a senior at Ventura High School, Spiker ran a 4:06.3 mile and was one of the top runners in the country. He qualified for the 2001 World Junior Cross Country Championships in his freshman year at Wisconsin and went on to finish 24th at Worlds. Spiker's career at Wisconsin was highlighted by a ninth-place finish at the 2001 NCAA Cross Country Championships, a runner-up team finish in the distance medley relay at the 2002 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships (in addition to a third-place finish in 2003), and a third-place finish in the 1,500 at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He holds personal bests of 1:49 (800m), 3:40 (1,500m), 14:40 (road 5k), 30:15 (road 10k), and 1:06:28 (half marathon).

Like many runners in the NCAA, Julia Lucas was a very accomplished high school runner. She won six North Carolina state titles for Myers Park High School, as well as the 2002 National Scholastic Indoor Championship in the mile. In her collegiate career at NC State, Lucas has emerged as one of the ACC's and NCAA's best, with highlights including All-American honors on the track and qualifying to represent the U.S. at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in 2003. However, it wasn't until this fall that Lucas went from being one of the best, to contending for the title of the best.

At the NCAA Pre National Invitational on October 14, Lucas ran away from a star-studded field and won the "white" race, covering the 6k course in 20:01.4. On the same day, fellow ACC runner Michelle Sikes of Wake Forest won the "blue" race, setting up a great showdown for the ACC Championships on October 28. In the battle of the Pre Nationals champions, Lucas ran away from Sikes, winning the race -- and her first ACC title -- by 15 seconds. Lucas led NC State to its first ACC Cross Country title since 2002, and its 21st in the last 28 years.

NC State will compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville, Kentucky on November 11. If all goes as expected, Lucas and her teammates will then contend for some of the top sports at the NCAA Cross Country Championships November 20.

We caught up with Lucas -- our first interview subject to use the word "rumbustious" in a sentence -- over e-mail the day after her ACC win.

While Michelle Sikes has been a nationally competitive runner throughout her high school and collegiate running career, the Wake Forest senior has taken her running to another level this season. She began her season by winning the Lou Onesty Invitational, hosted by the University of Virginia, and finished second to Kassi Andersen at the inaugural Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Oregon. Sikes then pulled off a big win over Andersen and Stanford's Arianna Lambie in the "blue" race at the NCAA Pre Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana on October 14, covering the 6k course in 20:16. Sikes' ACC rival Julia Lucas had a faster time in the "white" race, and the two will go head-to-head at tomorrow's ACC Championships, hosted by the University of Virginia.

Sikes, now 21, was a two-time Foot Locker finalist while at Ohio's Lakewood High School; she qualified for the national meet as a sophomore and a senior. The mathematical economics major has struggled with plantar fasciitis problems throughout her college career, but has managed to treat it successfully during the past year, which has contributed to her running success. Sikes earned All-America honors by finishing fifth in the 5,000 at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and she was named ACC Cross Country Rookie of the Year in 2003, as a freshman. She holds personal bests of 16:07 (5,000 meters), 4:22 (1,500 meters), and recently broke her 3,000 meter best in a workout. Read on for details.

Twenty-six-year-old Fasil Bizuneh made his marathon debut a memorable one, running 2:18:12 to finish fifth at last weekend's Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, a race that doubles as the USA Marathon Championships.

Bizuneh, a four-time All-American at Arizona State University, has been tearing it up on the roads in 2006, finishing third in 1:17:06 at the USA 25k Championships in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 13; seventh (1:00:41) at the USA 20k Championships in New Haven, Connecticut on September 4; and third (13:55) at the USA 5k Championships in Providence, Rhode Island on September 17. Bizuneh also finished 10th (29:11) in the 10K at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June.

As a result of his third-place finish in Providence, Bizuneh is in the pool of athletes eligible to represent the U.S. at the Chiba Ekiden in Japan on November 23. The Indianapolis, Indiana native hopes to make his first appearance in a U.S. uniform since the 1999, when he finished 24th in the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Ireland.

An original member of Team USA-Monterey Bay, which later became the Big Sur Distance Project, Bizuneh was guided by legendary coach Bob Sevene, until Sevene announced his retirement earlier this summer. Bizuneh recently relocated to Bristol, Tennessee to train with Fernando Cabada and his coach, Scott Simmons.

Eliterunning.com recently caught up with Bizuneh, before and after his marathon debut at Twin Cities.

Until the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Brian Sell was a relatively unknown member of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. After all, he had claimed a modest 10:06 two-mile PR in high school and had subsequently run for Saint Francis University, a small Division I school in rural Pennsylvania. So when Sell boldly took the lead at mile seven in the Olympic Trials race and held it until mile 22, he caught many observers by complete surprise. Sell went on to place 12th in the Trials.

In 2005, Sell continued to surprise the running world by finishing ninth in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, and leading the U.S. to a fourth place finish in what doubled as the World Cup Marathon. In May of 2005, Sell earned his first U.S. title by winning the USA 25k Championships title at the River Bank Run in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and running the seventh-fastest time ever by an American (1:15:27).

Sell has built upon this success in 2006. In January, he won the USA Half Marathon Championships at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. In April, he shaved more than two minutes off his marathon PR (2:10:55) and placed fourth overall at the B.A.A. Boston Marathon. In August, Sell easily won the Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon running it as a 'marathon pace' run in 1:04:25, more than a minute ahead of the second-place finisher. He is currently setting his sights on the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, where he hopes to run a personal best and lay down a time that will set him up to compete for a place on the 2008 U.S. Olympic marathon team.

Sell, 28, is a native Woodbury, Pennsylvania, and now resides in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Kathryn (Kassi) Andersen of Brigham Young University made a strong return to competition on September 9th when she won the BYU Autumn Classic by more than 30 seconds, in 17:54.3. It was Andersen's first race since she ran the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, a race in which she finished second but broke her foot and sprained her ankle going over the final water barrier. Because the women's steeplechase was not contested at a major championship until 2005 (it will be a part of the 2008 Olympic Games), Andersen did not miss an opportunity to go to the Olympic Games due to her injury, but she was sidelined for a while.

After the Olympic Trials, Andersen spent the summer crosstraining in preparation for the 2004 NCAA cross country season. On Labor Day of that year, she was hit by a truck while doing a workout on her bicycle. The crash resulted in a broken hip which required surgery but, amazingly enough, she was able to resume running three months later. Instead of returning to competition, Andersen opted to take that time to go on an LDS mission. She spent a year in Cleveland and Kirtland, Ohio, and returned to BYU in April of 2006. Now healthy and back at BYU, Andersen is expected to be one of BYU's leaders this year.

Andersen has twice competed in the NCAA Cross Country Championships. In 2002, she finished seventh and helped BYU to a team title, and in 2003 she finished 13th. She has earned All-American honors (eight total) every time she's competed at an NCAA cross country or track championship, and she won her first individual NCAA title in 2003, in the steeplechase. The 23-year-old Provo, Utah native is a two-time runner-up in the steeplechase at the USA Championships (2003 and 2004). She holds personal bests of 4:16.77 (1,500m), 9:44.68 (3,000m steeplechase), and 15:57.60 (5,000m).

While at Provo High School, Andersen won 10 Utah state titles and had an 800 meter best of 2:08. Andersen had already completed her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in Fitness and Wellness Management, and she is now working toward a Master's in Exercise Science with a concentration in Health Promotion.

Andersen will next compete at the Bill Dellinger Invitational at the University of Oregon on September 29th.

We caught up with middle-distance runner Gabe Jennings via e-mail while he was training and racing in Europe. Shortly before this interview, Jennings ran 2:18.33 for 1,000m (five seconds shy of the American Record) in Nancy, France. He is a 2002 graduate of Stanford University, where he was a three-time NCAA Champion (two titles in individual events, one relay title). In 2000, he was ranked as the #1 1,500m runner in the U.S. and won the Olympic Trials 1,500m in 3:35.90. Jennings represented the U.S. in the 2000 Olympic Games, placing ninth in his 1,500m semifinal.

From 2002-2004 Jennings dropped out of competitive racing altogether. In 2003, he decided to ride a 30-year-old 10-speed bike approximately 6,000 miles from Northern California to Brazil in order to practice capoeria (Afro-Brazilian martial arts) under the guidance of a Brazilian capoeria master. Jennings' 'vision quest' ended with him contracting hepatitis A upon reaching his destination and having to be hospitalized for treatment. (He contracted the hepatitis while using water from the polluted Amazon River to brush his teeth.)

In 2005, Jennings began a comeback. He began working with a coach, Terrence Mahon of Team Running USA, and began training for longer distances. In December of 2005 at the California International Marathon, he debuted with an impressive 2:19:32, good for second place. Since then, Jennings has refocused on middle distance training and ran a 3:39.42 1,500 at the 2006 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, placing a close second to Bernard Lagat. He is currently focusing on making the 2008 Olympic team in the 1,500 meters and medaling in Beijing.

Shalane Flanagan, 25, has managed to squeeze an impressive list of accomplishments into a short running career. Flanagan qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team in the 5,000 meters the same year as she graduated from the University of North Carolina, and she has won three USA titles (4k cross country in 2004 and 2005, 2005 outdoor 5,000m) to go along with her three NCAA titles (2002 and 2003 cross country, 2003 indoor 3,000m). In short, she is one of the USA's most promising young distance runners.

Due to injury, Flanagan has been absent from competition since the 2005 track season. We caught up with Flanagan, who is currently training in Mammoth Lakes, California, for a progress report.

Before she even arrived at Stanford University in the fall of 2003, Arianna Lambie had a very impressive resume. It included such things as 2003 USA Junior 1,500m champion, eight-time Massachusetts state champion, a national high school indoor 1,000m record, and a 4:37.23 mile, which made her the third-fastest performer of all time among U.S. high school girls. Since then, Lambie has added seven All-American honors, helped Stanford to two NCAA Cross Country team titles, and has generally been one of the top runners in the NCAA.

Lambie has done all of this despite dealing with three stress fractures in her three years of collegiate running and despite undergoing a coaching change. Between Lambie's sophomore and junior years, former Stanford coach Dena Evans resigned and Peter Tegen, the longtime University of Wisconsin women's coach, was hired to coach Stanford's distance runners. Lambie seemed to take it all in stride and her junior year was one of her best yet. Unfortunately, her year came to an abrupt end after the Pac-10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, when she was diagnosed with a stress fracture. She is now working her way back and expects to return to competition in the fall.

Lambie, who turned 21 on June 12th, has two seasons of cross country and indoor track eligibility and one season of outdoor track eligibility remaining, and she hopes to use it all while she completes her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Earth Systems. The Harvard, Massachusetts native is spending her summer living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is doing an internship for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Four years ago, Shannon Rowbury was part of the best recruiting class in Duke's distance running history. That class, along with the other great recruits the program has since attracted, has turned Duke into a regular ACC and NCAA title contender. Rowbury, a fifth-year senior who originally hails from San Francisco, California, has become one of the program's--and the NCAA's--biggest stars.

Rowbury currently holds Duke's school records in the indoor 800m, indoor mile, and outdoor 1,500m, and has contributed to all of Duke's middle-distance/distance relay records. She is a four-time All American, four-time ACC champion, and was the runner-up in the mile at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Rowbury also anchored Duke to its first-ever Penn Relays Distance Medley Relay title in 2005.

A 2002 graduate of Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco, California, Rowbury was a two-time California state champion (winning the 800m as a junior and the 1,600m as a senior) and the 2001 national high school champion in the 800.

Rowbury redshirted the 2006 indoor and outdoor track seasons to give herself a fifth year of eligibility while she earns a Master's degree. While redshirting often means a period of down time for athletes, Rowbury was as active and successful as ever. She finished 11th in the 4k at the USA Cross Country Championships in February, ran a 5,000m PR (15:38.52) in April at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, ran her first steeplechase--in an eye-opening 9:59--in May, finished sixth in the 1,500m at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, set a 1,500m personal best (4:12.31 at the American Milers Club Series in Bloomington, Indiana on July 1st), and won the NACAC Under 23 1,500m title in the Dominican Republic on July 7th.

We spoke with the affable Rowbury while she was on a train into New York City, where she would spend the day hanging out with friends.

Nicole Hunt, a professional runner, personal trainer, and coach from Montana, was crowned the U.S. Women's Mountain Running Champion June 17 at the Mount Washington Road Race. Hunt's running prowess extends outside of mountain running scene as well; she finished 18th with a 2:40 PR at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. With an outstanding fourth-place, 2:43:25 finish at the 2005 Twin Cities Marathon, Hunt has already secured a 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier. Hunt also sports PRs of 1:16 (half marathon), 33:24 (10,000m), and 15:52 (5,000m).

Hunt and her husband, Ray Hunt, live, run, and play in the small town of Deer Lodge, Montana, which is nestled within some of the state's finest wilderness. EliteRunning.com spoke with Hunt by telephone from her home, where she's currently training for the World Mountain Running Championships to be held September 10th in Bursa, Turkey.

As the lead pack circled the track in the 10,000 at the 2006 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, it was no surprise to see Katie McGregor, Amy Rudolph, and Sara Slattery up there. What was more of a surprise to some, however, was the fact that Samia Akbar was also holding on to that pack, and that she was able to stay with the leaders for 22 laps of the 25-lap race. Akbar wound up third in that race, with a new personal best of 32: