ZAP Fitness and Boston Athletic Association to defend team titles at USATF National Club Cross Country Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jim Estes
Senior Manager of LDR and Marketing
[email protected]  
317-713-4661



Thursday, December 6, 2007

	ZAP Fitness and Boston Athletic Association to defend team
titles at USATF National Club Cross Country Championships 

INDIANAPOLIS - The men's team from ZAP Fitness and the Boston Athletic
Association's (B.A.A.) women will meet America's top post-collegiate
club teams to defend their 2006 titles as they converge upon Voice of
America Park in West Chester, Ohio on Saturday, December 8, for the
ninth annual USATF National Club Cross Country Championships.

The USATF National Club Cross Country Championships features the top
clubs from across the United States vying for top honors and bragging
rights as the nation's top cross country team. Close to 1,100
competitors are expected at the event, which features a 10-kilometer
men's race and a 6-kilometer women's race. Clubs will compete for a
total prize purse of $25,000, with $20,000 going to the top open teams.

ZAP returns four of its five runners from the 2006 national championship
squad, led by Thomas Morgan, who finished second in last year's race.
Also returning are Joe Driscoll, ninth in 2006, who set his marathon
personal best of 2:18:22 at last month's US Olympic Team Trials-Men's
Marathon in New York; Brendan O'Keefe, 17th in 2006; and, Ryan
Warrenburg, 18th in 2006. The defending champions add Christopher
Pfafenroth and Jonathan Pierce to their 2007 team.

Other teams to watch are last year's second place squad, Team XO, along
with the Asics Aggies and Wisconsin Runner RT.

Leading contenders for the individual title include Morgan and Driscoll;
Payton Batliner and Ben Rosario, who were sixth and seventh respectively
last year; recent Team USA harrier squad members Patrick Gildea, Zach
Sabatino and Brett Schoolmeester; Ohio State University grads Rob Myers,
a 2005 World Championships team member at 1500 meters, and Brian
Olinger, a 2004 Big Ten champ at 5000 meters; and Nick Rogers, a 2000 US
Olympic team member at 5,000 meters, and a former Team USA cross country
squad member.

BAA defends women's title 

Looking to capture their fourth team title since 1998, the B.A.A.
returns Kasie Enman, 7th in last year's race, along with Jennifer
Donovan (39th) and Mary Proulx (59th). They'll be bolstered with Mariko
Holbrook, Lara Johnson, Nicole Plante, and Stephanie Wescott in their
efforts to win the national title.

Last year's runner-ups Wisconsin Runner Racing Team and 2005 champs See
Jane Run aim to dethrone the B.A.A., along with a strong Run Ohio squad
led by 2007 World Championships marathoner Ann Alyanak, who is a strong
contender for the individual title. Team Indiana Elite also looks for a
spot on the podium.

Other contenders for the individual title, which appears wide open,
include 2007 NACAC steeplechase champion Kristin Anderson; Wisconsin
Runner's Bethany Brewster; ZAP Fitness' Caroline Cretti; former NCAA 10
km champion Leigh Daniel of Run Ohio; former Columbia University
steeplechase standout (and inspiration for the Plain White T's hit "Hey
There Deliliah") Delilah DiCrescenzo, who finished 11th in last year's
race; Mary Duerbeck, who competed on Team USA this year in Mombasa,
Kenya; former Indiana University All-American Jessica Gall; North
Carolina State All-American Jemissa Hess; former University of Missouri
All-American Serena Ramsey; Maria Magdalena Sandoval, who was fifth in
this meet in 2004;and, Peninsula Distance Club's Kathleen Trotter, the
former Stanford standout and 2004 Team USA junior squad member. Jill
Boaz (Asics Aggies), a three-time member of Team USA in the marathon, is
another notable entry in this race.

Competitive Masters fields 

Many of the country's top masters (athletes 40 years and older) men's
squads will also do battle on the Voice of America Park turf for age
division championship titles over 10 km, while the women race over 6 km.

Tracy Lokken of Marquette, Michigan, representing the Front Line Racing
Team, looks to defend his national title. Former national masters 10 km
champion Peter Magill of South Pasadena, Calif., who runs for the Fluffy
Bunny Track Club seeks to wrest the championship from Lokken

Bill Iffrig of Everett, Wash., and the Snohomish Track Club will defend
his national title in the men's 70-74 division.

National masters distance running superstar Kathryn Martin (Northport,
New York) returns to defend her title in the women's 55-59 category, as
will 2006 champion in the women's 60-64 category Janet Bowman of Corte
Madera, Calif.

Additionally, William Dixon (Seattle, Wash.), Richard Larsen (Shelburne,
Mass.), William Dixon (Brattleboro, Vermont), and Thom Weddle
(Minneapolis, Minn.) four men who earned national titles in the USATF
National Masters' 5 km Cross Country Championships on October 14th in
Saratoga Springs, New York, will invade West Chester in hopes of adding
the 10k harrier title to their 2007 resumes.

Action at Voice of America Park gets underway at 9:30 am with the
community 6 km run. The masters women's 6 km starts at 10:30 am,
followed by the masters men's 10 km at 11:30 am. The open women's 6 km
begins at 12:45 pm, with the open men's 10 km concluding the day's
activities at 1:30 pm.

For more information about the USATF National Club Cross Country
Championships, please visit www.usatf.org.

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The Pacific Association is the largest member association of USA Track
& Field (USATF). We serve northern California and northwestern Nevada. 
USATF is the National Governing Body for track and field, long distance
running, and race walking in the United States. For more information 
about the Pacific Association, visit our Web site at 
www.pausatf.org.

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