Top Athletes to Run USA XC Championships

(Photo Credit: Mike Scott)

With the USA XC Championships just a week away, many top athletes are getting prepared for the race in Forest Park.  Lee's Summit graduate and two-time Olympian, Matt Tegenkamp, will be returning to Missouri for the race.

Tegenkamp, who holds a PR of 12:58 for 5K, was the USA Junior XC Champion back in 2001, only a year after his days at Lee's Summit.  A legend in Missouri, Tegenkamp still holds the 3200m record for the State Track Meet.

He will be joined by three-time Olympian, Dathan Ritzenhein.

One of the greatest HS XC athletes of all time, Ritzenhein won Foot Locker Nationals in both 1999 and 2000. Ritz, who went on to win the 2003 NCAA championship as a Colorado Buffalo, has won the USA XC Championships three times. Both Ritzenhein and Tegenkamp were Olympians in the 10,000m this past summer.

The race will include dozens of top athletes such as 2012 XC Champ, Bobby Mack, 13x NCAA All-American Chris Derrick, 2012, and 2012 NCAA 3K Champion Elliot Heath to name a few. 

Here are complete Open Men’s Entries.

The women's race will also include a handful of Olympians.  Headlining the women's race will be Shalane Flanagan of Nike.  Flanagan is a five-time USA XC Champion and was a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympic games in the 10K.

Another top name in women's distance running for the past decade has been Deena Kastor.  Kastor, 8x USA XC Champ, will try to add another title to her long list of achievements next week. Kastor was a bronze medalist in the marathon at the 2004 Olympic games.

2012 5K Olympian, Kim Conley, who never made it to NCAA Nationals at her time at UC-Davis, has become one of the top distance runners in the country.  She currently holds PRs of 15:15 for 5K, 8:56 for 3K, and 4:12 for 1500m.

UPDATE: Last year's champ, Sara Hall, will be returning to defend her title. 

Hall, a seven-time All American at Stanford, has personal bests of 15:20 for 5K, 9:39.48 for 3K steeple, and 4:08.55 for 1500m.  Back in 2006 Hall finished 12th in the IAAF World Indoor Championships for 3K. 

Here are complete Open Womens Entries

Previews of the Junior races will be posted this week.