Keflezighi, Hall lead U.S. hopes in Boston

Keflezighi, Hall lead U.S. hopes in Boston

INDIANAPOLIS - The eyes of all U.S. long distance running fans will be on Boston Monday for the 114th Running of the B.A.A. Boston Marathon in hopes of seeing the first U.S. men's champion since Greg Meyer in 1983.



Leading the charge will be Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) who last year became the first U.S. man to win the famed New York City Marathon since 1982. A win would make Keflezighi the first U.S. man to pull-off the New York/Boston double since Alberto Salazar in 1982.



Keflezighi will have company in his quest to become Boston champion in occasional training partner and Mammoth Track Club teammate Ryan Hall (Big Bear Lake, Calif.). Hall, the reigning Olympic Trials Marathon champion, finished third in last year's Boston Marathon after taking charge of the pace in the early stages of the race.



Keflezighi and Hall will face a top international field that includes defending champion Deriba Merga of Ethiopia. Merga, the fourth-place finisher from the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing ran away from the 2009 Boston field in the Newton hills to win comfortably.



A major threat to Keflezighi, Hall and Merga will be Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, who will make his debut on the Boston course as the fastest man in the field. With second-place finishes in London, Chicago and in New York City (twice), he is the fastest marathoner in history never to win, and this time he is determined to clinch the top spot in Boston.



Other international athletes looking to claim the Boston crown include Chala Dechase of Ethiopia. In only his second marathon, Dechase challenged world record holder Haile Gebrselassie in the closing miles of the Dubai Marathon.



The women's race in Boston will feature a rematch between 2009 champion Salina Kosgei of Kenya and runner-up Dire Tune of Ethiopia. Last year, the pair dueled until the final steps when Kosgei edged ahead for the one-second win.



Other top Americans in the field include 2006 NCAA Division I Cross Country Champion Josh Rohatinsky (Portland, Ore.), 2010 USA Half Marathon Champion Antonio Vega (St. Paul, Minn.) as well as his Team USA Minnesota teammates Jason Lehmkuhle (Minneapolis, Minn.), and Michelle Frey (Minneapolis, Minn.). A late addition to the field also includes 2009 Team USA World Championship marathoner Paige Higgins (Flagstaff, Ariz.).



For more information on the 144th B.A.A. Boston Marathon visit www.baa.org.



About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.