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NEW YORK, January 23, 2012 – Not one, not two, but three U.S. National records could fall during the men’s 5,000m event in the 105th Millrose Games,
February 11 at the Armory’s New Balance Track & Field Center.
Millrose Games meet director Ray Flynn
announced today the completion of a super 5,000m field that includes
eight-time Wanamaker Mile winner and record holder Bernard Lagat, who is
attempting to break Galen Rupp’s
American Indoor record of 13:11.44. The other two American records at
stake in the race will be the collegiate and high school marks.
A fourth record – the Millrose mark of
13:20.4 – could be eclipsed. Suleiman Nyambui of Tanzania established
that record in 1981 when he edged Alberto Salazar (13:22.6) to set a
World Indoor record. Salazar’s second-place
time was an American record.
“The chance of seeing four records going
down in one race makes the 5,000m one of the most exciting ever,”
Flynn said. “This is what it’s all about.”
Joining Lagat in the 5,000m event will be
four of the country’s premier collegiate runners, each with an
excellent chance to surpass Rupp’s college mark of 13:18.12. Those
runners are Lawi Lalang, the NCAA Cross Country
Champion from the University of Arizona; Leonard Korir, the NCAA Indoor
5,000m champion from Iona; Elliott Heath, the NCAA Indoor 3,000m NCAA
champion from Stanford; and NCAA Cross Country runner-up Chris Derrick
of Stanford.
Kenyan Steven Sambu and Juan Luis Barrios
of Mexico – training partners with Lagat – are featured in the event.
Sambu was a First-Team All-American in the 10,000m at the University of
Arizona while Barrios is the recent
Pan Am Games 5,000m Gold medal winner.
Two of Britain’s most celebrated track
& field athletes, Andy Baddeley and Mark Draper are in the field
along with Sam Chelanga, a former NCAA champion at Liberty University in
the 5,000m, 10,000m (NCAA record in 2010
with a 27:08.39) and cross country.
Baddeley and Draper are members of the
British record holding relay team in the 4x1500m (14:54.57) and
Baddeley, a 2008 Olympian, turned back Lagat to win the 2009 NYRR Fifth
Avenue Mile. He also won the New Balance
Mile at the Armory this past weekend in a world-leading 3.57.22.
Last, but certainly not least, is the
addition of Edward Cheserek. In December the junior from St. Benedict’s
Prep in Newark, N.J. captured the Foot Locker National Cross Country
Championships in San Diego. He will
take aim at the 5,000m indoor mark set by Lukas Verzbicas at 14:06.78.
On Saturday, Cheserek ran the second fastest Indoor Mile ever by a high
school athlete, 4:02.21 in the New Balance Games at the Armory.
“Kip (Lagat) and Lawi are all training
really well, doing some of the best workouts I have seen them do,” said
James Li from the University of Arizona, coach of both Lagat and
Lalang. “They are both very excited
about coming to New York to run in the 5,000m at Millrose.”
Besides being owner of the American
Indoor two-mile record, Lagat is the country’s record holder in the
1,500m, mile, and 3,000m as well as the Outdoor 1,500m, 3,000m and
5,000m. Lagat previously held the Indoor 5,000m
until last February when Rupp clipped his record by a mere 6/100th of a
second in Birmingham, England.
 
(LEFT) Bernard Lagat breaking the American two-mile Indoor record last February at the Armory.
Photo by Tim Fulton/Armory Track
(RIGHT) On Saturday, Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict’s Prep in
Newark, N.J., ran the second fastest Indoor Mile ever by a high school
athlete, 4:02.21 in the New Balance Games at the Armory.
Photo by Gregg Armstrong/Armory Track
MORE ABOUT THE 105th MILLROSE GAMES: The country’s top men’s and women’s track & field athletes along with the finest college and high school student-athletes
will showcase their talents in the Millrose Games at the Armory.
The Armory previously announced 22-year-old
Matthew Centrowitz, the 1,500m Bronze medal winner in
the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, will be in this
year’s NYRR Wanamaker Mile. Other celebrated track & field
representatives confirmed for the Millrose Games include 2008
Olympic Gold Medal winner LaShawn Merritt, who will compete in the 500m event, and eight-time Wanamaker Mile champion
Bernard Lagat will be running in the 5,000m.
Contender for an Olympic Gold medal and current Outdoor High Jump World Champion
Jesse Williams joins 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Allyson Felix and World Champion/2008 USA Olympian
Jennifer Simpson as confirmed athletes in the nation’s
premier indoor track & field event. Felix will compete in the
Women’s 60m event and Simpson will participate in the Millrose Games’
first New York Road Runners’ Wanamaker Metric Mile for
Women.
Seven-time Wanamaker Mile champion and “Chairman of the Boards”
Eamonn Coghlan returns to be part of this year’s
Millrose Games. Coghlan will be the honorary coach of Ireland’s “Dream
Team” from Dublin City University to compete in the
Byron Dyce College Men’s Distance Medley Relay against national college power Villanova, coached by five-time Wanamaker Mile champion
Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland, and Duke, Providence, Iona, LaSalle, Albany and Brown.
Tickets may be purchased online at
www.armorytrack.com. Click on to Millrose Games for more
information, including ticket prices and seating chart. Note: there is
an 8 ticket limit for online sales. For group sales of more than 8
tickets please call the Group Sales at (818) 276-6790 (818-ARMORY-0).
For more information on the Millrose Games, click to
www.millrose-games.org.
CREDENTIALS FOR THE MILLROSE GAMES: Members of the media must go to
http://www.armorytrack.com/credential/Create. Please fill out the form. Deadline to sign up for the Millrose Games is 5 p.m., Feb. 7.
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by Larry Eder
