Minneapolis/St. Paul - May 8, 2010 - Team USA Minnesota's Katie McGregor won the women's division of the USA 25k Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich., today marking the second time she has won the 25k national championship.  Her time was 1:26:24 on a day with temperatures around 40, some rain and wind.  There were 6,562 runners in the Fifth Third River Bank Run which served as the host of the 25k championships.

"It's always nice to get another national championship since they're not easy to come by," said McGregor, who is now a six-time national champion (10k twice, 10,000m, 15k and 25k twice).  "I've been racing on the track these past two weeks so I knew I would be a little bit tired coming into this race.  It wasn't as fast as my race here in 2007 (her time that year was 1:25:53) but I'm happy with it.  I just wanted to have a strong race overall."

Two international women were first and second in the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25k (winning time was 1:23:46) with McGregor coming in third overall and first American.  The second place U.S. finisher crossed the line in 1:29:03.

"Once I let the leaders go I was pretty much by myself the whole time," said McGregor, a former University of Michigan standout.  "Once I knew I wouldn't win the race overall I just wanted to win the national championship.  I was keeping track of my splits and based off times run here in the past, unless someone was having a great day, I was pretty sure by the half way point that I would win the championship.  I just kept a consistent speed."

McGregor will return to the track again with a focus on running the 10,000 meters at the USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines in late June.  "I'll probably do more more track race before I go to USA Outdoor," she said.  "Although my track races this spring (she ran a 3000m race on April 23 in 9:14.45 and a 10,000m in 32:30.84 on May 1) haven't gone as well as I had hoped, I know that I am moving in the right direction.  Having a good solid run at a race like this gives me a lot of confidence."

Recent Road Results

Emily Brown was the second American and 12th overall at the 34th running of the Lilac Bloomsday 12k on May 2 in Spokane.  Her time was 42:13.

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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