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U.S. 15-K Championships set for Saturday in Jacksonville

Posted March 7th, 2007 at 2:32 PM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country

Saturday’s Gate River Run 15-K in Jacksonville, Fla., will feature some of America’s best male and female distance runners vying for the U.S. 15-K title and sizable prize and bonus money.

It will be the 30th edition of this warm weather race which last year recorded 9,241 finishers and is the site of both U.S. 15-K records: 42:22 by Todd Williams in 1995 and 47:15 by Deena Kastor in 2003.

Olympic silver medalist, Meb Keflezighi, has won this race five of the last six years it has been contested has also won the race’s “Equalizer” division twice. In the Equalizer division the elite women are given a five-minute headstart over the men, and the first athlete to cross the finish line receives a $5,000 bonus. The overall male and female champions receive $12,000 in prize money.

(Click here to listen to Deena Kastor speak about trying to beat Meb and Ryan Hall in the “Equalizer” on Saturday!)

Keflezighi is indeed entered in this year’s race and is amongst the favorites, but victory is not assured for him in either the men’s or the equalizer divisions. His key rival will be Ryan Hall, the lanky former Stanford star who crushed the North American record for the half-marathon in his debut at the distance in Houston on Jan. 14. On his way to the finish line in Houston in an eye-popping 59:43, Hall passed the 15-K mark of the race (unofficially) in 42:21, one second faster than Todd Williams’s record set in Jacksonville. If Hall can win in Jacksonville and break Williams’s record, he would be eligible for an additional $8,000 in bonuses.

In addition to Hall, other hopefuls for the podium include Fasil Bizuneh, Fernando Cabada, Andy Carlson and Jason Lehmkuhle.

The women’s race is also shaping up to be extremely competitive, led by Kastor, the course and American record holder and the 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist. Kastor has been in great form so far this year, easily winning the U.S. Cross Country Championships last month then laying down a 31:09 10-K leg at the Yokohama Ekiden on February 26. In addition, she looks like the favorite to win the Equalizer bonus: if she ran 47:30, the men’s winner would have to run faster than 42:30 to beat her to the finish line, nearly an American record run.

Also in the field is two-time champion, Jen Rhines; defending champion, Blake Russell; recently crowned U.S. half-marathon champion, Elva Dryer; last year’s U.S. 25-K champion, Turena Johnson Lane; 2005 U.S. 10,000m champion Katie McGregor; and 2004 Olympian, Kate O’Neill.

“If we can hold it (the field) ’till race day we have a great bunch running this year,” long time race director Doug Alred wrote in an e-mail message.

Open prize money is reserved for eligibile U.S. athletes as follows: $12,000-5,000-3,000-2,000-1,000-900-800-700-600-500. The Equalizer bonus is $5000, and bonuses for World ($10,000), American ($5,000) and course ($3,000) records are also on offer. An athlete who wins the race, plus the Equalizer bonus and sets a world record in the process would receive $35,000.

The complete entry list of athletes is below:

MEN:

Fasil Bizuneh
Dan Browne
Kevin Burke
Fernando Cabada
Andrew Carlson
James Carney
Henry Dennis
Matt Folk
Pete Gilmore
Chris Graff
David Gramlich
Simon Gutierrez (40+)
Ryan Hall
Jason Harmann
Stephan Hass
Dan Kahn
Daniel Kanyuaruhuru
Meb Keflezighi
Leo Kormanik
Scott Larson
Jason Lehmkuhle
Brandon Leslie
Matt Levassiur
Chris Lundstrom
Celedonio Rodriguez
Chris Seaton
Ryan Shay
Nick Stanko
Edwardo Torres
Sean Wade (40+)
Ryan Woods
Justin Young

WOMEN:

Samia Akbar
Ann Alyanak
Alvina Begay
Christine Bolf
Stephanie Bylander
Jenny Crain
Jenna Darcy
Elva Dryer
Emily Field
Kristen Fryburg
Zoila Gomez
Deena Kastor
Janelle Kraus
Turena Johnson Lane
Kathryn Masselam
Emily McCabe
Katie McGregor
Lindsey Mills
Sylvia Mosqueda (40+)
Kate O’Neill
Kim Pawelek
Kristin Price
Jen Rhines
Kara Roy
Blake Russell
Kara Storage
Tara Storage