Good Fields On Tap For Furman's Elite Mile
Posted Thursday, 15 March, 2007
With a field featuring 2004 Olympian Alan Webb and eight other runners who have either run under four minutes for the mile or posted the equivalent of a sub-four-minute mile in the 1500 meters, the Furman University Invitational Elite Mile is shaping up to be one of the fastest mile races in the country this year.
The race, which is sponsored by ASICS, will take place Saturday, April 7 at Furman's track. It is part of several weekend activities to raise money for Furman's “Blue Shoes Track Scholarship” program. The Elite Mile race begins at 2 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
“We are very impressed that Furman has been able to assemble such a quality field,” said Gary Slayton, vice president for marketing at ASICS. “I believe this will be one of the fastest fields of runners in a mile race this year in the United States.”
Webb, one of America's premier middle distance runners and a member of the 2004 Olympic team, is among several top runners who will attempt to break the four-minute mark on a South Carolina track for the first time. Others in the field include 2005 University of Wisconsin-Platteville graduate Ryan Kleimenhagen, 2003 NCAA 800 meter champion and Penn graduate Sam Burley, Brown graduate Brendan O'Keefe, and former college All Americans Luke Watson (Notre Dame), Kyle King (Baylor), Thomas Morgan (Kentucky), Dan Wilson (Connecticut) and Hunter Spencer (Kentucky).
Rounding out the field are Appalachian State senior Adam Van Nortwick, Winthrop sophomore Brandon Huggins, Furman sophomore Patrick Morgan and Furman graduate Palmer Thomas. Furman's Mickey McCauley, director of the Elite Mile, said he will be adding a pacer and possibly one more quality runner to the field. Webb has a personal best time of 3:48.92 in the mile and 3:32.52 in the 1500 meters. Kleimenhagen has a personal best of 3:59:00 in the mile, and Burley, a 2003 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was a five-time NCAA All-American with a personal best of 1:45.39 for 800 meters.
The Elite Mile is just one of several events that will take place at Furman over the weekend of April 6-7 to support the university's “Blue Shoes Track Scholarship” program.
On Friday night (April 6), there will be a dinner at the Hyatt Regency featuring 1972 Olympic Gold medalist Dave Wottle as speaker. Prior to that, there will be a lecture on running with Furman Health and Exercise professor Dr. Bill Pierce. Wottle and Amby Burfoot, editor of Runner's World and winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon, will join a panel discussion following the lecture. While the lecture is free, tickets for the dinner are $45 if reserved ahead of time and $50 at the door.
On Saturday (April 7) at the Furman track, there will be several mile runs in addition to the Elite Mile. The day will also include a 5K run, as well as the Furman Invitational that will feature both high school and college teams.
All of the track events are free and open to the public. The weekend events will raise money for the Blue Shoes Track Scholarship program, which provides support for Furman's men and women distance runners.
The scholarship was established last year by 1978 Furman graduate Chris Borch, who named it for the blue ASICS Onitsuka Tiger‚ running shoes he and his teammates wore while attending the university. The scholarship endowment is currently $1.2 million. To reserve tickets for the Blue Shoes dinner, call Furman‚s Paladin Club office at 864-294-3565. To learn more about the running events, contact Gene Mullin at 864-294-3459 or gene.mullin@furman.edu
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