THE BROOKS BLOG

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athletes Desiree Davila and Ryan Sheehan will race in the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon this Sunday.

Davila will be racing for first time since her fifth place and top-American performance at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, where she ran a six-minute personal best of 2:31:33.  Her half marathon best is 1:12:10 from her runner-up finish at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston last January.  The time from Houston is currently the third fastest time by an American this year.

Sheehan returns after running to a fourth place finish and a personal best 1:03:36 at the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon last year.  It will be his first race back after a debut marathon at the USA Marathon Championships in the Twin Cities last October.

The race will begin at 8:00 a.m. CST on Sunday.  Track Desiree and Ryan during the race at the Dallas White Rock results page on Active.com.

The Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) team will be chasing their fifth team title in six attempts, at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships this Saturday in Spokane.

Olympian Brian Sell, who raced in all four team titles, will lead the Hansons-Brooks squad.  Sell will be accompanied by teammates Chad Johnson, Kyle O’Brien, Patrick Rizzo, Mike Kilburg, David Jankowski, and Paul Jellema.  The Project has tallied team victories in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.  They were runners-up to the now defunct Farm Team in 2004—the only other year they sent a scoring team.

Chad Johnson en route to an eighth place finish at the 2005 Club XC Championships.

Among the forty-three teams that will be competing, the Hansons can expect a formidable challenge from the Oregon TC Elite (Portland, Oreg.), McMillan Elite (Flagstaff, Ariz.), and Bowerman Athletic Club (Beaverton, Oreg.) squads.  The North Carolina based and reigning two-time champion ZAP Fitness team is not expected to field a scoring team.

The race will take place at Plantes Ferry Recreation Park in Spokane Washington.  It is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. PST on Saturday.  For a complete list of team and individual entries, visit the USATF Club Cross Country web page.

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athlete David Jankowski will compete in Chiba, Japan as an alternate for Team USA in the 2008 Chiba International Ekiden on Monday.

Jankowksi earned an invite to the Chiba team with his strong showing at the USA 5km Championships, where he placed fourth with a 14:08.4 in his professional debut.

The Chiba International Ekiden will again feature the mixed team format, with six athletes (3 men, 3 women) alternating relay legs for the marathon distance. Team USA is comprised of Dan Browne (Portland, Oreg.), Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.), Sean Quigley (Braintree, Mass.), Carrie Messner Vickers (Vail, Colo.), Tera Moody (Boulder, Colo.), and Allison Grace (Blowing Rock, N.C.).  Jankowski and Teresa McWalters (Cambridge, Mass.) will serve as the team alternates.

Team USA finished fourth in the International Chiba Ekiden last year, with the help of Hansons-Brooks athletes Ryan Sheehan, Melissa White and Desiree Davila.

For an official press release with a complete listing of all athletes and countries entered in this year’s race, follow the link below.

2008 International Chiba Ekiden Team Rosters

John Davenport/Express-News

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) teammates Brian Sell and Melissa White captured crowns in the Inaugural Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon on Sunday morning.

Sell earned his third half marathon title of the year with a near personal best 1:02:50—the sixth fastest time by an American this year.  In second place was Jesse Armijo (Albuquerque, N.M.) who ran 1:04:55, followed by Hansons-Brooks athletes Nick Arciniaga in third and Kyle O’Brien in fourth.  Arciniaga and O’Brien ran 1:06:06 and 1:06:07, respectively.

Melissa White won the women’s race easily and set a new personal best of 1:13:05 in the process.  White’s previous best was from her 10th place finish at the 2008 USA Half Marathon Championships in January, where she ran 1:13:13.  Rounding out the podium spots for the women were Melisa Christian (Dallas, Tex.) and Anita Perez (Rockport, Tex.), who finished in 1:15:14 and 1:21:06, respectively.

For complete results, visit the RNR San Antonio results page.

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athletes Brian Sell, Kyle O’Brien, Nick Arciniaga, and Melissa White will race the inaugural Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon this Sunday.

For Olympian Brian Sell the race marks his return to racing after a 22nd place finish in the Olympic Games Marathon.  Sell began the year with half marathon victories at the ING Miami Half Marathon (1:03:46) and at the AT&T Austin Half Marathon (1:04:11).  He was the 2006 USA Half Marathon Champion—a race where he set his personal best of 1:02:38.  Sell is also a three-time USA 25 km Champion (2004, 2006, and 2007).

Teammate Kyle O’Brien has a half marathon personal best of 1:04:43, and Nick Arciniaga set a new half marathon personal best of 1:05:04 in the Rock and Roll San Jose Half Marathon last month.  Arciniaga also placed 6th at the USA 20 km Championships last September in 1:00:47.

In the women’s race, Melissa White will be the lone Hansons-Brooks representative.  White is coming off a 21st place finish in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships last month in Rio de Janeiro, where she led Team USA to its highest finish in the events 15-year history.  White recently ran a personal best 33:15.8 in the 10,000 at the Indiana Invaders High Performance Track Meet.  She has a personal best of 1:13:13 in the half marathon.

The inaugural Rock and Roll San Antonio Marathon and Half Marathon joins a rapidly expanding roster of races organized by Elite Racing, Inc.—the sports marketing and management company responsible for the Rock and Roll series, the Carlsbad 5000, and the ING Philadelphia Distance Run, among others.

The race will begin at 8:30 a.m. EST. Results will be available on the RNR San Antonio website following the race.

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athletes Mike Morgan, Chad Johnson and Ryan Sheehan will kick off the fall marathon season for the team this weekend at the USA Marathon Championships on Sunday in the Twin Cities.

Morgan brings a 2:15:11 personal best, from his debut at the 2006 Chicago Marathon. Since his debut in Chicago, he represented the USA with a 23rd place finish at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka–followed closely by a 12th place showing at the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City last fall.

Teammate Chad Johnson leads the trio with a marathon best of 2:15:03, also from the 2006 Chicago Marathon. Johnson placed 20th in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials last fall, and placed 59th at the 2005 IAAF World Marathon Championships in Helsinki.

Making his marathon debut, Ryan Sheehan has the road racing credentials to place him on the short list of contenders with his more experienced teammates. Last fall, Sheehan ran 1:03:36 at the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon–the 13th fastest time in the country for 2007. He also placed 4th in the 2007 USA 20 km Championships (1:00:33).

Other top contenders that will be racing Sunday include 2004 Olympian and 2002 USA Marathon Champion Dan Browne (Beaverton, Oreg.), Fasil Bizuneh (Boulder, Colo.), and Justin Young (Superior, Colo.).

The men’s marathon championship, which is held in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, also serves as a qualifying race for the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin–for two of the top-five finishers–and is also the first qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Trials for athletes who run under the new 2:19:00 qualifying standard.

The race gets underway at 9:00 a.m. EST. Race results and real-time runner tracking will be available at www.onlineraceresults.com.

After a breakthrough senior season at the University of Portland–which included two All-American honors, two school records, and a berth in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials–Michael Kilburg made the move to Michigan last month to join the Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) Distance Project.

The Seattle native earned All-American honors in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships (6th), and at the Outdoor Championhips in the 10,000 meters (12th). In qualifying for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, he posted the 16th fastest qualifying time–running a school record 28:20.57 at the Stanford Invitational this spring. Portland coach Rob Conner called the record setting run “the greatest race in [U of Portland] Pilot history” in an interview with the Oregonian. His 5,000 meter personal best of 13:49.88 is also a U of Portland school record.

While accruing accolades on the track, Kilburg maintained a 3.22 grade point average as a physics major–earning the title of 2008 U of Portland Student-Athlete of the Year.