Minneapolis/St. Paul - Feb. 24, 2010 - Three Team USA Minnesota women will be in competitions this weekend including Heather Dorniden at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, Michelle Frey at the Cowtown Half Marathon, and Meghan Armstrong at the World's Best 10k.

The USA Indoor Championships will be held in Albuquerque, N.M., at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Feb. 27-28.  Dorniden will compete in the 800 meters with the first round of that event set for Saturday at 5:15 p.m. and the final on Sunday at 3:50 p.m. (Central time).  Dorniden has a best in the distance of 2:01.05 and so far this year has run 2:04.63 in the event.

USA Indoor is the world's oldest indoor track championship, with the first meet being held in 1888 in New York.  Approximately 700 athletes will compete in Albuquerque with the first two finishers in the various track and field events qualifying for the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, on March 12-14.  The USA Indoor Championships will be televised on Feb. 28 from 7-9 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN2.

Cowtown Half Marathon - Feb. 27

Michelle Frey will run in the Cowtown Half Marathon in Fort Worth, Texas, on Feb. 27, with the race starting at 7:30 a.m.  The half marathon is one of six running events at Cowtown which this year has almost 19,000 participants, including 5,000 signed up for the half.

Frey has a best in the half marathon distance of 1:12:42.  In January, at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, she finished 19th in a time of 1:17:11.  She is preparing to run the Boston Marathon in April.

World's Best 10k - Feb. 28

Meghan Armstrong will make her second appearance at the World's Best 10k on Feb. 28, having also competed at the event in 2009.  The race, which is held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will celebrate its 13th anniversary at this year's event.  Some 10,000 runners are expected to participate.  Armstrong has a best of 33:26 in the 10k distance.

So far in 2010, Armstrong has posted a personal best of 1:13:56 to finish 11th at the USA Half Marathon Championships in January, followed by a first place finish at the ING Miami Half Marathon that same month.  Most recently, she finished 13th at the USA Cross Country Championships women's 8k held in Spokane on Feb. 13.

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 along with a grant from Running USA.  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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