Posted: August 23, 2007

Athletics (RWire): Michelle Lilienthal, Emily Brown and Antonio Vega Join Team USA Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS - Three athletes - including two standout runners from the University of Minnesota track and cross country teams - have joined the Team USA Minnesota Distance Training Center. They include marathoner Michelle Lilienthal and Golden Gopher runners Emily Brown and Antonio Vega, who both graduated from the U this spring. "It's great to be able to provide post-collegiate support for three runners who went to high school and college in this area," said Team USA Minnesota Coach Dennis Barker. "Emily and Antonio developed into very good runners at the University of Minnesota and we look forward to helping them take the next steps in their running careers. In addition, many of us have been aware of Michelle from the time she was setting records in Iowa while she was still in high school, to what she accomplished last fall at the Twin Cities Marathon in obtaining her "A" qualifier for the Olympic Trials. "We are excited to be bringing these three runners onto the team going into an Olympic year. They are a nice fit with the athletes currently on the team and will be good training partners at a variety of distances." Michelle Lilienthal Lilienthal, 25, who was a seven-time state champion in track and cross country for Iowa City High School and a sixth place finisher at the Foot Locker Cross Country championships in 1999, set state prep records in the cross country 2 miles, the 1500 meters and 3000 meters. She ran at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she competed at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and ran the 3000, 5000 and 10,000. She was a 12-time letter winner and two-time All-Big Ten honoree in cross country and track. Since 2005, while studying for her master's degree at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Lilienthal has focused on the marathon. She obtained her Olympic Trials "A" standard mark of 2:35:51 at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in 2006, where she finished fourth in the USA Women's Marathon Championships. So far this year. she has placed third at the USA Half-Marathon Championships (1:12:42), and was third at the USA 25k Championships (1:29:53). Emily Brown Brown, 23, went to Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wis., where she was an eight-time letter winner in cross country and track and finished second in the 2001 State Cross Country Championship. At the University of Minnesota, she was a four-time All-American, and was the first Gopher in 20 years to earn All-America status in both cross country and track in an academic year. She is the school record holder in the 3000 meters indoor (9:27.33) and 3000m steeplechase (9:56.62). Brown was also the Big Ten Champion in the steeple and was fourth in the event at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In cross country, she led the U of M team to its two best finishes (ninth and 11th) at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Antonio Vega Vega, 23, is a graduate of Tartan High School in Oakdale, Minn., where he competed in the 1600 and 3200 meters in track, earned five letters in soccer and two letters in football as the place kicker. At the University of Minnesota, he was an All-American in cross country and competed in three NCAA Cross Country Championships. He was the Midwest Regional cross country champion in 2005 and was named the 2006 Midwest Runner of the Year. On the track, he made his mark in the 10,000 meters in his senior year to run 29:04.13, a time that ranks eighth on the Minnesota top-10 list in the 10,000. He also competed in the 10,000 at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. For more information, visit: TeamUSAMinnesota.org Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director (805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016 Ryan@RunningUSA.org www.RunningUSA.org. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest