Olympians Kara Goucher, Dan Browne lead U.S. quintets
INDIANAPOLIS - USA Track & Field has announced the Team USA marathon squads for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, to be hosted by Berlin, Germany, August 15-23.
For the women, based on her U.S. debut record of 2:25:53 at the 2008 ING New York City Marathon, Kara Goucher (Portland, Ore.) leads the women's marathon squad to Berlin where they will compete on Sunday, August 23.
Joining Goucher on the line in Berlin will be Desiree Davila (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Paige Higgins (Flagstaff, Ariz.), who both qualified for the team based on their performances at the 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Davila was the top U.S. finisher in Chicago last fall, finishing fifth in 2:31:33, while Higgins was eighth in 2:33:06.
Based on their respective fourth and fifth place finishes at the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials, Zoila Gomez (Alamosa, Colo.) and Tera Moody (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will round out the five-person team.
For the U.S. men, 2004 Olympian Dan Browne (San Diego, Calif.) and Nate Jenkins (Lowell, Mass.) qualified for the men's team based on their respective performances at the Olympic Marathon Trials in New York in November 2007. Browne finished sixth in 2:13:23 while Jenkins finished seventh in 2:14:56. Justin Young (Superior, Colo.) was also selected for the team based on his 2:13:54 performance at the 2008 Rotterdam Marathon last April.
Fernando Cabada (Boulder, Colo.) and Matt Gabrielson (Minneapolis, Minn.) round out the Berlin team based on their respective first and second place finishes at the USA Marathon Championships in Minneapolis last October.
The men's team will compete in Berlin on Saturday, August 22.
At the World Championships, the USA has won a complete set of medals in the marathon: gold, Mark Plaatjes (Stuttgart 1993); silver, Marianne Dickerson (Helsinki 1983) and bronze, Steve Spence (Tokyo 1991).
For more information, visit: USATF.org or Berlin2009.org.
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