Minneapolis/St. Paul - Feb. 21, 2011 - Team USA Minnesota's Heather Kampf and Gabriele Anderson have qualified to compete at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships that will be held in Albuquerque on Feb. 26-27.  Kampf is qualified in both the 800 meters and the mile and Anderson will run in the mile.

Both athletes ran personal indoor bests in the mile at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 11 with Anderson posting 4:35.17 and Kampf running 4:37.76.  At the New Balance Indoor Games on Feb. 5, Kampf obtained her qualifier in the 800 meters.

Ohme 30 km

Jason Lehmkuhle was the winner of the Ohme 30 km Road Race in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 20.  His time in the international race was 1:32:08 with second place coming across the line in 1:32:09.  This was the first time an American has won the Ohme 30 km since 1983.  Some 15,000 runners ran in the 30 km and another 5,000 participated in the accompanying 10 km.

"The course was definitely difficult, more so than I had expected," said Lehmkuhle.  "It's an out-and-back that rises about 250 feet from the start to the turnaround point, and there are a couple of big hills through the middle.  It was a very nice day for running, about 50 degrees, and cloudy with a little breeze.  The crowd was tremendous and lined the street the whole way.

"I was with the lead pack from the beginning, occasionally leading.  I was wary of the course though, and I didn't want to press early on.  I made a little move at the turnaround, then another at around 22 km up a big hill that broke up the remaining pack of five.  I had a little gap by 23 or 24 km, but Toyoyuki Abe (second place finisher) caught me at the 25 km and we ran the rest of the way in together.  I had just enough left to get him by a second at the line.

"I was very excited to get to race in Ohme and they treated me incredibly well during my first trip to Japan.  I think the race displayed that the London preparations are going well."  Next up for Lehmkuhle will be the New York City Half Marathon on March 20 followed by the London Marathon on April 17.

Snowshoe Open

At the Snowshoe Open track meet at the University of Minnesota on Friday evening, Feb. 18, Andrew Carlson won the men's 3000 meter race with a time of 8:03.93.  His teammate, Matt Gabrielson, paced him through the first mile.  Both Carlson and Gabrielson are preparing to run the USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville on March 12.

About Team USA Minnesota

Team USA Minnesota is based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Formed in 2001, the purpose of the training center is to improve the competitiveness of post-collegiate American distance running and to develop Olympians.  The athletes are coached by Dennis Barker, head cross country and track coach at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.  Team USA Minnesota's major sponsor is Life time Fitness (www.lifetimefitness.com) and its silver sponsor is Twin Cities In Motion (www.mtcmarathon.org).  It is also supported by the New York Road Runners and the USA Distance Project.  For more information, visit the team's web site at www.teamusaminnesota.org.

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Contact:

Pat Goodwin

952-924-1081

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