Posted: August 1, 2004

Athletics: Rupp Sets U.S. Junior 5000M Record

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Tonight at the KBC Night of Athletics Meeting, Galen Rupp ran 13:37.91 in the 5000m "B" race to set a new U.S. junior record for the distance. He finished 11th.

Coached by marathon legend Alberto Salazar, the 18 year-old Rupp (b. 08-May-1986) surpassed the record of 13:38.59 by Franklin Sanchez on 31-Mar-2001 at Stanford.

Rupp attended Central Catholic High School in Oregon, just graduating this year. He has made huge strides in lowering his 5000m times this year, first running a 13:55.32 personal best at the Cardinal Invitational on 30-Apr. Then, after running 14:16.21 to win the U.S. Junior Championships on 26-Jun, he finished 9th at the World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, in another personal best of 13:52.85. His run tonight in Belgium was a dramatic improvement over that performance.

Rupp also broke the ancient U.S. high school record of Gerry Lindgren, 13:44.0 set in 1964!

In the same meet in the "A" race, Dan Browne (also coached by Salazar) set a personal best by about 12 seconds, running 13:16.02. Browne will run both the 10,000m and marathon at the Athens Olympics.