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 USATF.org.
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