Athletics: Team USA Minnesota Sends Six Athletes to USA Indoor Championships

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - (Feb. 25, 2004) - Six Team USA Minnesota athletes - Carrie Tollefson, Katie McGregor, Kristen Nicolini, Jenelle Deatherage, Luke Watson and Lyle Weese - will be among the more than 600 competitors at the 2004 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston on Feb. 27-29.

The meet will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College and is USATF's Indoor Golden Spike Tour finale. Portions of the meet will be televised on ESPN2 on Feb. 28 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and on Feb. 29 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. (Central time).

The USA Indoor Track & Field Championships is the world's oldest indoor track championship, with the first meet being held in 1888 in New York. The top two finishers in each event will be selected for the U.S. team that will compete at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships March 5-7 in Budapest, Hungary.

Deatherage will compete in the 1500 meter, McGregor will run the 3000 meter, while Tollefson and Nicolini will do both the 1500 and 3000 meter events. Deatherage has a 1500 meter best of 4:12.75. McGregor, who was a member of the U.S. World Indoor Team in 2003, has a 3000 best of 8:59.64. Tollefson's bests at 1500 and 3000 are 4:08.21 and 8:52.67 respectively; and Nicolini's bests at 1500 and 3000 are 4:22.17 and 9:16.90.

Watson and Weese will both run the men's 3000 meter. Watson has a 3000 best of 7:49.56 which he set at the adidas Boston Indoor Meet on Jan. 31, and Weese has a best of 7:54 in the 3000 meter which he set in February 2003.

About Team USA Minnesota
Team USA Minnesota, part of the Team USA Distance Running program, is based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It was formed in January 2001 and began selecting athletes in April of that year. The Team USA Minnesota Distance Training Center is a coordinated effort to bring local resources together to improve post-collegiate American distance running and develop future Olympians. The athletes are coached by Dennis Barker, head cross country and track coach at Augsburg College.

The Minnesota training center's major sponsor is Life Time Fitness (www.lifetimefitness.com); silver and bronze sponsors respectively are the Twin Cities Marathon and the Minnesota Distance Running Association. For more information about Team USA Minnesota, visit the web site at www.teamusaminnesota.org..