Posted: October 23, 2005

Athletics: Canada Again Claims Crown at North American 5K Team Championship

Elite Race Highlights 17th annual Arturo Barrios Invitational

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (Oct. 23, 2005) - Under cool, overcast conditions Canada's Paul Morrison and Emilie Mondor took home top individual honors and led their country  to its second straight North American 5K Team Championship. The elite 3.1-mile foot race, which also involved the United States and Mexico, was held in conjunction with the 17th annual Arturo Barrios 5K & 10K Invitational in Chula Vista, Calif.

In the unique three-nation team competition, Morrison broke free from America's Fernando Cabada and Mexico's Juan Luis Barrios (no relation to race namesake Arturo) on the final of three laps on the 3.1-mile course around Chula Vista Harbor, to finish in a time of 13:58 and secure Canada's first individual men's title in the four-year championship history.

"We knew we (Canada) had a strong team coming," said Morrison, who attended Princeton and is now a graduate student at the University of Texas. "The Mexican men have always been really strong at the finish. I didn't want to leave it to the kick. They are all 1,500-meter runners, so fast. My strategy worked perfectly, to go out fast. I'm really happy. Any time you wear the Canadian jersey, you want to perform well. It's a source of pride and you want to step it up."

For Mondor this year's victory, at 15:37, marked her third consecutive North American 5K individual title, though it was just shy of last year's course and Canadian national record time of 15:16.

"I said from the start, I'm going to go out fast and I'm going to win or I'll die trying," Mondor added. "It was a big gamble but I felt confident."

A prize purse of $25,000 was awarded to the teams, with Canada receiving $12,000, the United States $6,000, and Mexico $3,000. Morrison and Mondor each earned $1,300 for their individual victories.

In the low score cross country-type format where the top two from each gender score, the U.S. and Canada were tied as the race entered its latter stages. The championship was determined when Canada's Tara Quinn Smith battled past America's Amy Mortimer for third place behind Mondor and American Amy Yoder Begley. That gave the Canadian women four points and the American women six.

Behind Morrison's one point victory, teammate Reid Coolsaet finished third for the second straight year, combining with Morrison for a total of four points. America's chances waned when 23-year-old Fernando Cabada, a senior at Virginia Intermont College, faded from his second place position all the way back to seventh at the finish. That left countrymen Pete Julian (fourth, 14:11) and Ian Conner (sixth, 14:19) as America's scoring duo at 10 points.

In the previous three years, each country had scored a first, second and third place finish in the team competition, making 2005 the tie-breaking year. Mexico's men, who had won the previous two individual titles, failed to find their usual form as Barrios and Teodora Vega finished second and fifth, respectively. Their top women, America Mateos (16:41) and Gisel Bautista (16:57) could only manage 15th and 16th overall.

The U.S. women's team lost one of its stars just before the start of the race when 2005 USA Outdoor 5,000- meter runner-up Lauren Fleshman pulled out with a foot injury suffered in her warm-up.

A pair of UCLA student-athletes won the "People's 5K" race, with Erik Emilsson, 23, running 14:56 on the men's side and San Dieguito High School product Jenna Timinsky, 21, winning the women's race in 17:05. In second place behind Timinsky was three-time Boston Marathon champion Uta Pippig, 40, who finished in 17:26. Pippig, a native of Germany, is now a U.S. citizen and lives and trains in Boulder, Colo. In the 10K Nick Arciniaga, 22, of Fountain Valley, Calif. won in 30:47 and Jessi Stensland, 29, a professional triathlete from San Diego, captured the women's race in 36:19.

In all, more than 4,300 runners and walkers enjoyed the 17th annual "Fiesta by the Bay" at Chula Vista Marina. During that span over $225,000 has been raised for the South Chula Vista Library.

-- Results Follow --

North American 5K Championships
Chula Vista, Calif.
Sunday, October 23, 2005

Team Championship
1, Canada, 8 points, $12,000
2, United States, 16 points, $6,000
3, Mexico, 20 points, $3,000

Elite Men's Results
1, Paul Morrison, 25, Canada, 13:58, $1,300
2, Juan Luis Barrios, 22, Mexico, 14:08, $700
3, Reid Coolsaet, 26, Canada, 14:10
4, Peter Julian, 34, US, 14:11
5, Teodoro Vega, 29, Mexico, 14:18
6, Ian Connor, 25, US, 14:19
7, Fernando Cabada, 23, US, 14:20
8, David Galvan, 32, Mexico, 14:22
9, Matthew Kerr, 29, Canada, 14:43

Elite Women's Results
1, Emilie Mondor, 24, Canada, 15:37, $1,300
2, Amy Yoder Begley, 27, US, 16:04, $700
3, Tara Quinn Smith, 26, Canada, 16:07
4, Amy Mortimer, 24, U.S., 16:15
5, Megan Metcalf, 23, Canada, 16:36
6, America Mateos, 33, Mexico, 16:41
7, Gisel Bautista, 27, Mexico, 16:57
8, Leticia Acosta, 29, Mexico, 17:34

* Lauren Fleshman, 24, US, Did not run. (Inj.)

American 5K Road Team Championship is a competition between the United States, Mexico and Canada. All three countries are represented by a team of six athletes, three men and three women. The race uses a cross country scoring format where the first two (of three) runners of each gender, for each team score points.