(3-30-09) Courtesy Running USA wire #25-03-09, From Jim Estes, USATF, and IAAF reports - The Team USA Junior men's, Junior women's and Senior women's cross country squads each finished fifth in the respective team standings on Saturday at the 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships held at the Al Bisharat Golf Course. The Team USA Senior men's team finished eighth as a team.
In the Junior women's 6K, Team USA was led by USA Junior Cross Country champion Neely Spence (Shippensburg, Pa.) who finished 19th in 21 minutes, 33 seconds. Ashley Brasovan (Wellington, Fla.) ran a strong race to finish 26th in 21:55, while Alex Dunne (San Clemente, Calif.) and Emily Pritt (North Canton, Ohio) rounded out the scoring positions, finishing 34th and 43rd in 22:15 and 22:31 respectively.
Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia defended her individual title in 20:14 to lead Ethiopia to the Junior team title.
Two-time USA Junior Cross Country champion German Fernandez (Stillwater, Okla.) led Team USA with an 11th place finish in the Junior men's 8K, running 24:13. Chris Derrick (Napierville, Ill.) finished seven seconds behind Fernandez to take 15th place as Luke Puskedra (Ogden, Utah) and Patrick DuPont (Fairport, N.Y.) wrapped up the team score, running 24:43 and 25:52, finishing 30th and 48th respectively.
Ayele Abshero ran 23:26 to capture the second individual title of the day for Ethiopia as Kenya took their first of three team titles.
Julie Culley (Arlington, Va.) led the Senior women of Team USA in the 8K, running 28:08 to take 21st place. Delilah DiCrescenzo (New York, N.Y.) ran 28:34 to finish 33rd, followed by Rebecca Donaghue (State College. Pa.) and Kathy Newberry (Williamsburg, Va.) running 28:37 and 28:50 respectively to finish 36th and 40th.
Florence Jebet Kiplagat took the overall win in 26:13 over teammate Linet Masai to lead Kenya to the team title (1-2-4-7 to score a low 14 points). Kiplagat was the first Kenyan Senior women's winner since Helen Chepngeno in 1994, and Kenya's team gold was its first since 2001 and broke a string of seven straight by Ethiopia.
In the final race of the day, Ryan Vail (Gresham, Ore.) was the top Team USA man in the Senior 12K with a 33rd place finish, running 36:54, while Bobby Curtis (Ardmore, Pa.) finished six seconds back to take 37th as Max King (Bend, Ore.) followed in 37:05 for 40th. Edwardo Torres (Boulder, Colo.) rounded out the Team USA score, finishing 58th in 37:38.
The final 600 meters of the men's race saw six in contention for the gold medal with Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam of Ethiopia pulling ahead in the final exciting stretch for a two second win over Uganda's Moses Kipsoro, 35:02 to 35:04. Kenya claimed the final team title of the day, edging Ethiopia in a tie-breaker. With both Kenya and Ethiopia scoring 28 points, the outcome was decided on the fourth and last scorer: Moses Mosop (11th) vs. Feyisa Lilesa (12th).
37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships
Amman, JOR, Saturday, March 28, 2009
MEN - 12K
1) Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam (ETH), 35:02, $30,000
2) Moses Kipsiro (UGA), 35:04, $15,000
3) Zersenay Tadese (ERI), 35:04, $10,000
4) Leonard Komon (KEN), 35:05, $7000
5) Habtamu Fikadu (ETH), 35:06, $5000
6) Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio (KEN), 35:08, $3000
U.S.
33) Ryan Vail (USA / OR), 36:54
37) Bobby Curtis (USA / PA), 37:00
40) Max King (USA / OR), 37:05
58) Edwardo Torres (USA / CO), 37:38
60) Ed Moran (USA / VA), 37:42
75) Brett Gotcher (USA / AZ), 38:01
TEAM
1) Kenya, 28 points*, $20,000
2) Ethiopia, 28, $16,000
3) Eritrea, 50, $12,000
4) Uganda, 65, $10,000
5) Qatar, 79, $8000
6) Morocco, 107, $4000
8) Team USA, 168
*tie-breaker, better 4th place runner
WOMEN - 8K
1) Florence Jebet Kiplagat (KEN), 26:13, $30,000
2) Linet Masai (KEN), 26:16, $15,000
3) Meselech Melkamu (ETH), 26:19, $10,000
4) Lineth Chepkurui (KEN), 26:23, $7000
5) Wude Ayalew (ETH), 26:23, $5000
6) Hilda Kibet (NED), 26:43, $3000
U.S.
21) Julie Culley (USA / VA), 28:08
33) Delilah DiCrescenzo (USA / NY), 28:34
36) Rebecca Donaghue (USA / PA), 28:37
40) Kathy Newberry (USA / VA), 28:50
69) Samia Akbar (USA / VA), 29:51
75) Lindsey Scherf (USA / OR), 30:27
