Team USA women finish fourth at IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
Posted Monday, 13 October, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - The women of Team USA finished fourth Sunday at the 2008 IAAF / CAIXA World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ethiopia won the team title over defending team champion Kenya, and Japan took third.
The Hansons-Brooks duo of Melissa White (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Dot McMahan (Rochester Hills, Mich.) led all team USA finishers. White finished 21st in 1:14:37 and McMahan was 24th in 1:15:14. Kristen Nicolini Lehmkuhle (Minneapolis, Minn.) rounded out the U.S. score, finishing 25th in 1:15:15. Stephanie Herbst Lucke (Atlanta, Ga.) and Jill Steffens (Athens, Ga.) ran personal best times of 1:15:25 and 1:16:02 to finish 27th and 30th, respectively. Lornah Kiplagat (NED) ran 1:08:37 to retain her world title.
In the men's race, Zersenay Tadese of Eritea ran 59:56 to win his third world title by nearly two-minutes. Jason Lehmkuhle (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the U.S. men, finishing 21st in 1:05:17. Rod Koborsi (Washington, D.C.) finished 35th in 1:06:46 and was followed by Steve Sundell (Redwood City, Calif.). Patrick Gildea (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Ryan Kirkpatrick (Colorado Springs, Colo.) ran 1:14:06 and 1:20:50 to finish 73rd and 84th, respectively. Kenya easily defeated Eritrea to retain the team title for the third time. The U.S. men finished tenth.
The championships were held in conjunction with the Rio de Janeiro Half Marathon, featuring 16,000 participants.
For more information on the 2008 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships visit www.usatf.org.
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