Walt Murphy's News and Results Service X-Country X-Press (Written from a U.S. point of view---all subscribers to X-Country X-Press already have complete results of today's three races. Contact me off-list if you'd like subscription information)
IAAF World X-Country Championships Leopardstown Race Course-Dublin, Ireland, March 23 Senior Women-Long Course(7,974m) It was a great day for the U.S. women, who finished 2nd, only 10 points behind Ethiopia (28-38). Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe pulled away late in the race to win her 2nd straight long-course title, but Deena Drossin held on for 2nd, while Colleen DeReuck moved all the way up to 3rd to enable the U.S. to finish ahead of Kenya(41). Jen Rhines finished 12th and Milena Glusac 23rd to finish out the U.S. scoring. Elva Dryer and Amy Rudolph gave strong backup in 28th and 31st places, respectively. Junior Women (4,982m) Kenya's Viola Kibiwot defended her title with a narrow win over Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who was 5th last year. Colorado-bound Erika Odlaug, a senior at Deerfield(IL) H.S. was the top American finisher(17th), while the U.S. women finished a respectable 5th in the team standings. Senior Men--Short Course(4,228m) Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, the 2001 Junior Champion, who also finished 2nd in last year's senior short course race, won easily over Kenya's Luke Kipkosgei. Colorado's Jorge Torres was an impressive 11th, with Matt Lane not far behind in 18th. The U.S. team finished 5th, a slot below last year.
