INDIANAPOLIS - USA Track & Field has named the members of the 2007 Team USA World Cross Country squad for the 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya on March 24.
The experience of five-time Team USA members Katie McGregor (Minneapolis, Minn.), three-time member Renee Metivier-Baillie (Boulder, Colo.), and Kathy Newberry (Williamsburg, Va.), will lead the open women's team in the 8 km race in Mombasa. Joining them will be Desiraye Osburn (Lyndon, Kan.), Catherine Ferrell (Eugene, Ore.) and Mary Duerbeck (Henderson, Nev.).
The men's team for the open 12 km event will be led by Michael Spence, (Ogden, Utah), fifth at the USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder, Colo. Joining Spence will be Zach Sabatino (Morgantown, W.V.), Fazil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Andrew Carlson (Minneapolis, Minn.), Matt Gabrielson (Minneapolis, Minn.), Celedonio Rodriguez (Alamosa, Colo.), 2003 USA Marathon champion Ryan Shay (East Jordon, Mich.), and Martin Rosendahl (Rochester Hills, Mich.).
Elliott Heath (Winina, Minn.), who took the field by surprise to win the national title in Boulder, will lead the U.S. team into the junior men's 8 km. Joining him will be Kenny Klotz (Beaverton, Ore.), Matthew Tebo (Albuquerque, N.M.), Ryan McNiff (Los Alamos, N.M.), Noel Bateman (Rochester, N.Y.), and Joshua Edmonds (Cooperstown, N.Y.).
Leading the junior women's team over the 6 km World Championship course will be junior sensation Jordan Hasay (Arroyo Grande, Calif.), the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country champion. Hasay's teammates for Mombasa will include 2004 Foot Locker Cross Country champion Aislinn Ryan (Bellvale, N.Y.), Kari Hardt (Queen Creek, Ariz.), Aurora Scott (Chesapeake, Va.), and Jocelyn Burke (Waunakee, Wis.).
The team staff for Mombasa will include legendary coach Joe Vigil (Tucson, Ariz.), former two-time World Cross Country champion Craig Virgin (Lebanon, Ill.), Olympian Gwyn Coogan (Exeter, N.H.) and Kim Duyst (Sacramento, Calif.).
A total prize purse of $30,000 will go to individuals placing in the top-six in both the men's and women's open races, while winning teams in the open divisions will receive $20,000 and awards again reaching down to sixth for men's and women's teams.