Minneapolis/St. Paul - Nov. 28, 2011 - Eleven Team USA Minnesota distance runners were in competitions over the Thanksgiving holiday including at the Life Time Fitness Turkey Day 5k, the Manchester Road Race, and the International Chiba Ekiden.

At the Turkey Day 5k in Minneapolis, which had over 12,000 participants, Jon Grey was first across the line followed by teammate Jason Lehmkuhle in unofficial times of 14:18 and 14:22 respectively (no official times were kept).  Also running were Jamie Cheever who was third and Katie McGregor in fourth place in the women's field.  Heather Kampf participated in the event for fun.

Out in Connecticut at the 75th running of the Manchester Road Race on Nov. 24, Meghan Peyton finished second in the women's field over the 4.748-mile distance with a time of 25:03.  In the men's competition, Andrew Carlson was third with a time of 21:41, Matt Gabrielson was fourth in 21:43, and Matt Llano was 12th in 22:29.

Peyton was making her first appearance at the historic race along with Llano, who was running his first race as a professional runner.  Carlson improved upon his fourth place finish from 2008, with Gabrielson also having his best placing at the event.

In Chiba, Japan, Emily Brown was a member of the U.S. team that competed at the International Chiba Ekiden on Nov. 23.  Brown posted 16:25 on a 5k leg of the relay and the U.S. team finished fifth out of 12 teams from nine countries.

As an alternate, Josh Moen competed in a separate 5k race with a time of 14:12 to finish third in the field.

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.tcmevents.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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