Posted: October 15, 2004

Athletics: USA Masters 5 km XC Championships set for Sunday

Many of the nation's elite masters runners will compete Sunday at the 2004 USA Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships in Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Championships are held in conjunction with the Saratoga National Bank Open 5km Cross Country Classic.

Teams will consist of five to eight masters cross country runners, with the top three or five in each team scoring in their respective age groups.

Defending men's champions entered this year include 2003 USATF Masters Cross Country Athlete of the Year, Tom Dalton-M45 (Schenectady, N.Y.); Harry Nolan-M55 (Navesink, N.J.); Bill Borla-M60 (Torrington, Conn.); Thom Weddle-M65 (Minneapolis, Minn.); Bill Fortune-M75 (Pearl River, N.Y.); and Sab Kiobe-80 (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.)

In women's competition the following 2003 champions are set to defend their titles: Catherine Stone-Borkowski-W40 (Ringwood, N.J.); Janice Morra-W45 (Piermont, N.Y.); Katherine Martin-W50 (Northport, N.Y.); and Barbara Spannuse-W55 (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Clubs expected to via for national team titles include: Adirondack AC (Adirondack, N.Y.), Club (Niagara, N.Y.), Liberty Athletic Club (New England, Mass.), Milrose AA (Metropolitan, N.Y.), Philadelphia Athletic Charities TC (Mid-Atlantic, Pa.), Syracuse Chargers Track Club (Niagara, N.Y.), Shawangunk Runners (Adirondack, N.Y.), Team Runners High (Southern California, Calif.).

For more information on the 2004 USA Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships, visit USATF.org.

Other News:

Deem and Lananna headline NACACTFCA Congress

Amy Deem and Vin Lananna will speak at the 14th Annual North America, Central America and Caribbean Track & Field Coaches Association (NACACTFCA) Congress held October 14-17in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles.

Deem is the personal coach of 2004 Olympic 100m silver medalist Lauryn Williams and the head women's coach at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., where she has Miami to five of the last six BIG EAST Conference outdoor track & field titles. She also is President of the NCAA Division I Coaches Association.

Lananna was the Olympic coach for Team USA responsible for the middle and long distance athletes in Athens, and is a well known expert around the world in the endurance events. The former longtime head coach at Stanford University now is the Director of Athletics at Oberlin College (Ohio). He led Stanford to four national team titles during his tenure.