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USA Cross Country Repeat Titles for Dathan Ritzenhein, Shalane Flanagan
From USA Track & FieldFebruary 15, 2010
Spokane, WA
Note: To watch complete race videos and athlete interviews on demand, see www.usatf.org
The 2010 USA Cross Country Championships were held on Saturday, February 13 at Plantes Ferry Recreation Park in Spokane, WA. American record holders Dathan Ritzenhein and Shalane Flanagan of Portland, OR separated themselves from the open men's and women's fields, and posted decisive wins. Shalane Flanagan won the women's 8K race in 25:10 for her fourth national cross country title; in the men's 12K, Dathan Ritzenhein won his third U.S. Cross Country title in 34:34.
The top-six open men and women and junior men and women qualified to represent Team USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on Sunday, March 28 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Shalane Flanagan Cruises to Women's Title
Shalane Flanagan (photo left by www.photorun.net) took control of the open women's 8K as soon as the race started, with two-time USA Women's 10K champion Molly Huddle of Providence, RI the only woman kept pace during the opening loop. By the end of the first 2K loop, Flanagan held a five second lead over Huddle. Over the remaining 6K, Flanagan extended her lead into a 51-second winning margin (25:10). Molly Huddle held on as runner-up (26:01), and Amy Hastings of Flagstaff, AZ finished strong in third (26:06), with Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet a close fourth (26:09).Renee Metivier Baillie of Boulder, CO and Sara Hall of Mammoth Lakes, CA rounded out the automatic Team USA qualifiers, finishing fifth (26:26) and sixth (26:37) respectively.
Patience Pays Off for Dathan Ritzenhein in Men's Championship
In the open men's 12K race, Dathan Ritzenhein (photo right by www.photorun.net) followed the pace of Patrick Smyth of Minneapolis, MN and Scott Bauhs of Chico, CA duringthe first four laps of the six lap course. Twenty-six minutes into the race, near 9K, Ritzenhein made a decisive move and ran
ahead.While Dathan Ritzenhein's lead grew to 18-seconds over the final lap (34:34), Patrick Smyth continued to battle with Scott Bauhs for second before pulling away for second place (34:52); Bauhs was third (35:01); Ben Bruce of Eugene, OR was fourth (35:16); Bobby Curtis of Ardmore, PA placed fifth (35:22); and Ryan Vail of Gresham, OR finished sixth (35:25).
Masters Women's and Men's Championships
The day of racing opened at Plantes Ferry with the masters women's 8K, as former Olympian Colleen De Reuck of Boulder, CO ran solo for the women's title (27:27). Tracy Lokken of Marquette, MI, a former masters national champion, won the masters men's 8K race in 25:39.
Greany Takes Junior Women's Title
In the junior women's race, Providence College freshman Shelby Greany of Providence, RI broke away from pack of four runners to secure the victory on the final lap of the 6-kilometer race. Greany ran 20:27 to finish five seconds clear of high school senior Emily Sisson of Chesterfield, MO, who ran 20:32.
Gaining the final four spots to Poland were Duke's Juliet Bottorff of Newark, DE (20:32), followed by Georgetown freshman Emily Jones of Harvard, MA (20:33); Laura Tremblay of Loveland, CO was fifth (20:46), and Sophia Ziemian of Lewisburg, PA finished sixth (20:49).
Dunbar Dominates Junior Men's Field
Trevor Dunbar of Kodiak, AK ran away with the junior men's 8K championship, building up an early lead that extended to 17 seconds at the halfway mark, before cruising to a six-second win in 24:04.
Walter Schafer of Centennial, CO finished second in 24:10, followed by North Carolina State's Andrew Colley of Williamsburg, VA in third (24:16).
Local favorite Andrew Kimpel of Spokane, a freshman at Washington State University, gave the home crowd something to cheer about, as he nabbed fourth (24:19). Michael Lynch of Columbia, MD finished fifth (24:24), and Ammar Moussa of Arcadia, CA earned the final junior spot in 24:28.
For more information on the 2010 USA Cross Country Championships, see www.usatf.org.