Palo Alto, Calif. - March 27, 2009 - As a tune-up run for the Flora London Marathon (April 26), Kate O’Neill of Palo Alto, Calif. won the top section of the women’s 10,000-meter race at the Stanford Track & Field Invitational in a time of 33 minutes, 2.31 seconds. O’Neill, 28, achieved the “A” qualifying standard (33:45) for the 2009 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship in Eugene, Ore., where the USA team for this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics will be selected.

The 2004 Olympian at 10,000 meters and 7-time NCAA All-American at Yale University owns a personal best of 31.34.37 for 10,000m, set in ’04 on Stanford’s track. O’Neill is coming off a disappointing Olympic year in which she was the 2008 USA women’s half-marathon champion but then a knee injury put the lids on her ’08 Olympic aspirations. The injury forced her to drop out of the U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials at 21 miles and undermined her track season.

At the London Marathon, O’Neill hopes to better her personal best of 2:34:04 for the 26.2-mile distance that she set at the 2008 Chicago Marathon.

Full meet results for the 2009 Stanford University Invitational are available at:

http://www.sml1.com/recordtiming/stanford/invite09/

Video courtesy of Flotrack.com