No. 5 All-Time American:
ROWBURY RUNS USA’S FASTEST 1,500 IN SIX YEARS TO TAKE 2008 WORLD LEAD

By FRED BAER
 
May 18, 2008 -- Training on the Peninsula since finishing a master’s degree at Duke last month has certainly agreed with former Central Coast Section star Shannon Rowbury.
 
       The Sacred Heart Cathedral grad became the Olympic year world leader in the women’s 1,500 meters Sunday, running 4 minutes, 1.61 seconds at the Adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson.     
 
       The time in the race, televised live on ESPN, took nearly four seconds off the previous best, 4:05.52, by Liliana Barbulescu-Popescu of Romania.  That mark was also bettered by race runner-up Christin Wurth-Thomas, who was more than three seconds back in 4:04.94.
 
       Both runners became the only Americans to achieve the Olympic “A” standard for 2008 -- in a race where the USA has never won any medal.  
 
        “I knew I was capable of it,” Rowbury said after hearing her time.  “I just didn’t know how long it would take to get there.”
 
       This is the second time this season that Rowbury has led the world.  Her 4:07.59 at Stanford on May 4 took the early season lead. But Sunday’s performance will put a target on her back for Olympic year expectations in a glamour event.   No American has run faster than Rowbury over the last six years!
 
The best U.S. mark last year was 4:05.55.
 
       She is now America’s No. 5 all-time runner in an event which Mary (Decker) Slaney still holds the American Record of 3:57.12, set in 1983.  That is the oldest women’s record in any individual event!            

       The USA has never won even a medal in an Olympic 1,500 meter race.
 
       Rowbury’s previous best, prior to this season, was 4:12.31 in 2006 when she was sixth in the USA nationals and won the North American, Central American, and Caribbean 1,500 championship.   

       She won the 2007 NCAA indoor mile and was second in the 3,000 meters in her final collegiate races.
 
       A stress fracture in her left hip shortened Rowbury’s 2007 season as a senior at Duke.  
 
       She completed a master’s degree in humanities at Duke last month and is now back at her San Francisco home, training for next month’s Olympic Trials in Oregon on area tracks (including at Burlingame High).  
 
        “I want to be in the top three and get to the Games,” Rowbury said.  “This sets me up well for the next 2-3 months.”
 
       She plans to attend (but not run in) Sunday’s Pacific Association USATF Championship meet at College of San Mateo – at which several of her friend will be competing.  
 
       Rowbury has also run the 800 meters in 2:02.76 this season, which was the second best outdoor time by an American prior to the weekend.  Cal’s Alysia Johnson ran 2:00.57 on Saturday to win the Pac-10 title.  A few other runners also moved up.
            
       Cal grad Grace Upshaw, a 2004 Olympian, won the Adidas women’s long jump at 21 feet, 11 inches, her best legal mark of the season and tenth best in the world for ‘08.    Upshaw currently resides in Los Altos Hills.
                
 
All-time top American women metric milers (1,500 meters):
Time              Athlete                                                   Year
3:57.12  Mary Slaney               1983
3:57.40  Suzy Favor Hamilton       2000
4:00.18  Ruth Wysocki              1984
4:00.35  Regina Jacobs             1999
4:01.61  Shannon Rowbury           2008
4:01.79  Diana Richburg            1987
4:02.61  Jan Merrill               1976