Minneapolis/St. Paul - June 22, 2010 - Team USA Minnesota has qualified five of its distance runners to compete at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships to be held in Des Moines from June 24-27.  The events will be staged at the Drake Stadium on the Drake University campus.

Running in the 10,000 meters will be Katie McGregor, Meghan Armstrong, Patrick Smyth and Josh Moen.  Both the men's and women's 10,000 meter races will be conducted Thursday evening at 8:20 and 8:55 p.m. respectively.  Heather Dorniden will compete in the women's 800 meters with the first round on Thursday at 4:45 p.m., the second round on Friday at 7:15 p.m., and the final set for Sunday at 1:50 p.m.

McGregor has a best in the 10,000 of 31:21.2.  She has been a three time-member of the U.S. World Outdoor team in the 10,000 meters, has been fourth in the 10,000 at both the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, and is a six-time national champion including in the 10,000 meters and the 10k roads twice.

Armstrong has a best in the 10,000 of 33:21.55.  While she competed as a collegian at the University of Iowa, she finished sixth in the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000m.

In the men's 10,000, Smyth has posted 28:25.8 in the distance and last summer finished seventh at the USA Outdoor Championships and then fifth at the USA 10k Road Championship.  In addition, he was fourth at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000m as he completed his senior year at Notre Dame.

Moen has run 28:26.26 in the 10,000 meters and was 13th at the 2009 USA Outdoor Championships in the distance.  He has also placed fourth at the USA 10k Road Championship.

Dorniden has posted a best of 2:01.05 in the 800 meters.  In her first professional championship race since graduating from the University of Minnesota last December, she finished third in the 800 at the USA Indoor Championships in February.

The 2010 USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines will be televised as follows:  ESPN from 8-10 p.m. June 25, 1-2:30 p.m. June 26 and 1-2:30 p.m. June 27.  On NBC, the championships will be shown on Saturday and Sunday from 3-4 p.m.  In addition, RunnerSpace.com will provide live webcasts of all events not broadcast on television.  Go to www.runnerspace.com.

Weekend Results

Antonio Vega finished eighth and first American at the Steamboat Classic 4 miler in Peoria on Saturday in a time of 18:18.  Kristen Nicolini was second at the Bk 5k in Winona on June 19 in a time of 16:57.  Michelle Frey competed at the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth over the weekend and finished fifth with a time of 1:17:10.

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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