Chris Graff, 29, lives in Washington, DC with his wife Elizabeth. His lifetime 10,000 meter best of 28:03.11 was run on May 1, 2005 at the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, CA. Graff, a Long Island native from Oceanside (New York) High School, graduated from St. John’s University. In 2001-04, the 2003 USA 10 mile champion trained with the Nike Farm Team and coach Frank Gagliano in Palo Alto and last December, he moved back to Washington, DC. Chris recently placed 9^th at the USA 15K road championship in Jacksonville, FL on March 12 and 3^rd at the USA 10 Mile Championship in Louisville, KY on April 9, 2005.
 

Pete Julian, 34, lives in Boulder, CO with his wife Colleen. Julian is altitude trained with a couple of top ten finishes in USA Road Championships this spring. He was recently named the Head Cross Country Coach at Metro State College in Denver. Pete who served as assistant coach for the Regis University cross country team this past fall won a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Rising from the sleepy logging town of Ashland, OR, Pete Julian has seen it all and then some. A veteran of multiple national teams, he continues a steady climb from high school “also ran” to an “A” list road racer with a serious twist - he's a cancer survivor. Diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumors in 1999, Pete slowly put the pieces back together and proved to everyone that he is as tough as they get. With altitude induced guts and determination and his recent 8^th place showing at the recent USA Men's 8K Championship, look for the crafty veteran to combine sit-and-wait strategy topped with a good ol' fashioned teeth-gritting last mile for a top place.
 

Jason Hubbard, 30, lives in Alamosa, CO with his wife Sandie. The ten-time All-American at Adams State has a lifetime best of 28:30.65 in the 10,000 meters. On April 15, 2005, he placed 3rd at the Mt. SAC Relays with a time of 28:37.65. In 2004, Jason finished third at the USA 10K Championship in 28:57.
 

The International Team Challenge, started in 1998, is the largest international road racing team competition held annually in the United States. International teams are made up of three runners per gender. The teams compete for the largest non-marathon prize purse in the world. Monies are awarded in the team and individual categories. Teams are scored cross-country style with points awarded on the basis of finishing place. The team with the lowest score for all three runners is the winner. Ties are broken by the position of the third-place finishers.
 

Last year at the Challenge, in a riveting competition, the U.S. men’s team – Olympians Meb Keflezighi, Alan Culpepper and Abdi Abdirahman – won their first team title by two points over powerhouse Kenya, 19 to 21. It was also the first time that the Kenyan men – when fielding a complete finishing team – had been beaten at the event.

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