2001 SEATTLE OPEN CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC RESULTS

(Seattle, WA--3 Feb 2001) Under perfect conditions, Canadian Olympian Tina Connelly of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia and Mindy Leffler of Bellevue, WA., each broke their own course records in winning the women's 6-kilometer (3.74 miles) and 4-kilometer (2.48 miles) distances at today's Seattle Open Cross Country Classic at Lincoln Park.

Joining Connelly and Leffler in shattering the Lincoln Park course record was former University of Washington runner Geoff Perry of Seattle who won the men's 4-kilometer race.

Two-time defending champion Connelly, the 1998 and 1999 Canadian national cross country champion from Port Coquitlam, BC, cruised to victory in the women's 6-kilometer race, winning in 20:30, besting her old course record by five seconds. Former University of Oregon standout Lisa Nye of Bend, Oregon, was a distant second in 21:08. Fellow Canadian Olympians Robyn Meagher of Victoria and Leah Pells of Coquitlam finished third and fourth in 21:25, and 21:31.

Connelly, Meagher (#225) , and Pells (#61, shown competing at the 2000 Canadian Olympic Track & Field Trials; photo courtesy Athletics Canada & www. canoe.ca)

all were using today' Seattle Open to demonstrate fitness to members of Athletics Canada's selection committee who are determining spots on their World Cross Country Championship team that competes in Dublin, Ireland next month.

The three Canadian Olympians, along with former University of Washington runner Margaret Butler, and Anne Barrington, led the British Columbia team to a convincing win in the women's Northwest International Team Challenge competition, scoring a near-perfect 11 points over the Washington state team, which scored 28 points.

Mindy Leffler of Bellevue, a former Issaquah High School standout and current track coach at Newport High, who attended Georgetown University, easily won the women's 4-kilometer race in a course record time of 15:06, besting her own course record by 16 seconds. Anne Howard-Lundquist from Portland was second in 16:38, followed by the Unversity of Washington's Samantha Michel in 16:42.

The men's 4-kilometer race was essentially a race between former University of Washington runner Geoff Perry and a pack of young Husky runners. Perry beat the old course record of 13:07 by two seconds (13:05) in dispatching of current UW runners Morgan Thompson (13:10), and Hendrik Kok (13:32).

Portland's Ian Solof demonstrated that he may be a factor at the USA Winter Cross Country Championships in two weeks by winning the men's 10-kilometer race in a time of 30:25, besting a strong field.

Canadian national team member Peter Cardle finished in the runner-up position in a time of 30:33, followed by fellow countrymen Al Klassen (30:50), and 2000 Canadian cross country champion Mark Bomba (31:07) . Bothell's Matt Messner and Seattle's Chris Charles rounded out the top six, running 31:13. and 31:14.

In the accompanying Northwest International Team Challenge competition, the British Columbia team won both events convincingly like their female counterparts, defeating the Washington squad. The B.C. team that won the 10-k race 12-28, consisted of Cardle, Klassen, Bomba, Steve Osadiuk, Trevor O'Brien, and Graham Cocksedge.

The Seattle Open Cross Country Classic was presented by NIKE, with assistance from AT&T Wireless Services, Talking Rain, and Active.com, with assistance from the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation and the Pacific Northwest Association of USA Track & Field. The Seattle Open is part of a series of high-performance cross country races throughout North America designed to prepare distance runners for the US national championships two weeks later in Vancouver, Washington, as well as international competition.

SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Men's 10K Division: 1 Event # 2 ******** RESULTS BY ORDER OF FINISH ******** --------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists ---------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Affiliation Score Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 79 Ian Solof Oregon/NIKE Portland 30:25 2 84 Peter Cardle British Columbia/Valley Royals 1 30:33 3 83 Al Klassen British Columbia/Kajaks 2 30:50 4 82 Mark Bomba British Columbia/City Track 3 31:07 5 75 Matt Messner Washington/Club NW 4 31:13 6 76 Chris Charles Washington/Club NW 5 31:14 7 176 Shawn Beitelspacher Oregon/NIKE Portland 31:19 8 88 Steve Osadiuk British Columbia/Asics 6 31:33 9 87 Trevor O'Brien British Columbia/Pacific Storm 7 31:49 10 86 Graham Cocksedge British Columbia/Pacific Storm 8 32:33 11 174 Jeffrey Totten Washington 9 32:55 12 169 Jesse Williams Washington/Club NW 10 33:05 13 173 Dennis Bauer Washington 11 33:37 14 192 Travis Boyd Washington 12 34:50 15 179 Patrick McGuire Washington 35:53 16 180 Jason Redd Washington 38:31 17 93 Doug MacLean Washington 39:05 18 196 Ryan Vanderloop Washington 39:18 19 94 Gary Gill Washington 39:50 20 78 Bill Cusworth Washington/Club NW 40:18 21 193 Davlot Fountain Washington 40:46 22 74 Roy Seliber Washington 41:46 23 197 Ed Coulson Washington 43:28 24 80 Mel Preedy Washington/Snohomish TC 45:41 SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Men's 10K Division: 1 Event # 2 ******** TEAM SCORING SUMMARY ******** ----------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists ----------------------- Place Affiliation Total 1 2 3 4 ( 5 6 ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 British Columbia 12 = 1 2 3 6 7 8 2 Washington 28 = 4 5 9 10 11 12 SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Men's 10K Division: 1 Event # 2 ******** RESULTS BY TEAM ******** -------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists --------------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Score Time Team Data ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 84 Peter Cardle 1 30:33 3 83 Al Klassen 2 30:50 4 82 Mark Bomba 3 31:07 8 88 Steve Osadiuk 6 31:33 Team Time: 2:04:03 9 87 Trevor O'Brien 7 31:49 10 86 Graham Cocksedge 8 32:33 -------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists --------------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Score Time Team Data ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 75 Matt Messner 4 31:13 6 76 Chris Charles 5 31:14 11 174 Jeffrey Totten 9 32:55 12 169 Jesse Williams 10 33:05 Team Time: 2:08:27 13 173 Dennis Bauer 11 33:37 14 192 Travis Boyd 12 34:50 15 179 Patrick McGuire 35:53 16 180 Jason Redd 38:31 17 93 Doug MacLean 39:05 18 196 Ryan Vanderloop 39:18 19 94 Gary Gill 39:50 20 78 Bill Cusworth 40:18 21 193 Davlot Fountain 40:46 22 74 Roy Seliber 41:46 23 197 Ed Coulson 43:28 24 80 Mel Preedy 45:41

SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Women's 6K Division: 1 Event # 1 ******** RESULTS BY ORDER OF FINISH ******** --------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists ---------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Affiliation Score Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 70 Tina Connelly British Columbia/NIKE 1 20:30 (course record) 2 72 Lisa Nye Oregon/NIKE 21:08 3 91 Robyn Meagher British Columbia/Island Pacific 2 21:25 4 71 Leah Pells British Columbia/NIKE 3 21:31 5 89 Jennifer Hillier Washington/Asics 4 21:38 6 90 Margaret Butler British Columbia/Kajaks 5 21:50 7 92 Anne Barrington British Columbia/unat 6 23:33 8 73 Kelly Kruell Oregon/unat 24:28 9 189 Erin Newman Washington/unat 7 27:36 10 194 Elizabeth Fehrenbach Washington/unat 8 30:08 11 195 Heidi Hanson Washington/unat 9 30:39 12 81 Jessica Steinberg Washington/unat 10 31:53 SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Women's 6K Division: 1 Event # 1 ******** TEAM SCORING SUMMARY ******** ----------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists ----------------------- Place Affiliation Total 1 2 3 4 ( 5 6 ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 British Columbia 11 = 1 2 3 5 6 2 Washington 28 = 4 7 8 9 10 SEATTLE OPEN Lincoln Park, Seattle WA 3 February 2001 Women's 6K Division: 1 Event # 1 ******** RESULTS BY TEAM ******** -------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists --------------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Score Time Team Data ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 70 Tina Connelly 1 20:30 3 91 Robyn Meagher 2 21:25 4 71 Leah Pells 3 21:31 6 90 Margaret Butler 5 21:50 Time: 1:25:16 7 92 Anne Barrington 6 23:33 -------------------- Clerk of the Course (c)1993 Tournament Specialists --------------------- Pos Entrant # Name GR Score Time Team Data ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 89 Jennifer Hillier 4 21:38 9 189 Erin Newman 7 27:36 10 194 Elizabeth Fehrenbach 8 30:08 11 195 Heidi Hanson 9 30:39 Time: 1:50:01 12 81 Jessica Steinberg 10 31:53

Race # FIRST LAST CITY STATE M/F AGE TEAM TIME 127 Geoff Perry Seattle WA M 23 Unattached 13:05 (CR)164 Morgan Thompson Seattle WA M 20 Unattached 13:10 128 Hendrik Kok Seattle WA M 18 Unattached 13:32 129 Matt Topping Seattle WA M 18 Univ of Wash 13:47 165 Ben Koss Seattle WA M 20 Unattached 13:49 177 Dain Engebretsen Seattle WA M 19 Unattached 15:01 167 Mindy Leffler Bellevue WA F 28 CNW 15:06 (CR) 97 Alex Chohlas-Wood Seattle WA M 14 Unattached 15:45 182 Ryan Choi Bellevue WA M 18 Unattached 15:45 172 David Takeshita Spokane WA M 30 BRCC 16:02 190 Philip Welch Seattle WA M 51 Snohomish TC 16:04 95 Steve Angell Seattle WA M 44 Unattached 16:27 98 Dave Johnson Seattle WA M 43 Unattached 16:27 188 Anne Howard Lundquist Portland OR F 33 Team Oregon 16:38 166 Samantha Michel Seattle WA F 19 Univ of Wash 16:42 183 Robert Brewer Seattle WA M 31 Unattached 16:55 126 Adam McCormick Seattle WA M 21 Unattached 17:29 96 Kenny Johnson Seattle WA M 15 Unattached 17:31 187 Julie Thomas Canby OR F 33 Team Oregon 17:50 191 Nick Welch Seattle WA M 12 Rain City F 17:59 181 Anna Reeve Bellevue WA F 18 Unattached 18:17 186 Trevor Griffith Issaquah WA M 24 Unattached 18:34 185 Sherri Sims Portland OR F 35 Team Oregon 18:53 184 Judy Fisher Auburn WA F 57 Unattached 21:44 123 Gary Wright Bremerton WA M 62 Unattached 23:10 121 Jimmy Smith Bremerton WA M 60 Unattached 24:36

Note: Connelly, Perry & Leffler each set a new course record. Connelly, Solof, Leffler & Perry each win $50 plus NIKE merchandise. The British Columbia men's and women's teams earned NIKE merchandise for winning the Northwest International Team Challenge.

Special thanks to NIKE, AT&T Wireless, Talking Rain, Active.com, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Pacific Northwest Association of USA Track & Field for making today's event possible. A tip of the hat goes to the course volunteers and PNTF finish line officials for helping make the Seattle Open happen!