Quigley, Rothstein lead U.S. teams at World Half Marathon Championships


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INDIANAPOLIS - Sean Quigley (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Stephanie Rothstein (Flagstaff, Ariz.) each scored 19th-place finishes in the respective men's and women's races at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning, China Saturday.

Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea was on a quest to win his fifth world title at these championships but was upset by Wilson Kiprop of Kenya. Kiprop took the men's title in 1:00:07 to Tadese's 1:00:11.

Quigley and Antonio Vega (Minneapolis, Minn.), the USARC champion for 2010, started out together in a large group, running in 30th position. Working together, the pair steadily moved through the pack with Quigley moving in front of Vega with about one kilometer to go. Quigley was timed in 1:03:23, while Vega finished 23rd in 1:03:37. Andrew Carlson (Flagstaff, Ariz.) finished as the third scoring member of Team USA, running 1:05:38 for 39th-place. Ben Bruce (Eugene, Ore.) and Stephan Shay (Oakland, Calif.) finished 56th and 58th in 1:09:26 and 1:10:12 respectively. Kenya took their fifth consecutive team title with a total time of 3:01:32 over Eritrea, who finished with a total time of 3:03:4. Team USA finished sixth in 3:12:38.

In the women's race, Kiprop's teammate, Florence Kiplagat, dueled with Dire Tune of Ethiopia over the final kilometer before pulling away for a 10 second win. Running 1:08:24, Kiplagat led Kenya to a sweep of both the individual and team titles.

The U.S. women ran together from the start, forming a pack in about 40th-place. Over the next five kilometers, Rothstein surged to move up to 29th, and by the halfway mark, moved to 20th. Over the final two kilometers, Rothstein made a final surge that moved her into 19th place, hitting the line in 1:13:37. Samia Akbar (Herndon, Va.) and Loretta Kilmer (New York, N.Y.) rounded out the Team USA score, finishing 36th and 38th in 1:16:15 and 1:16:32 respectively. Kristen Zaitz (Boulder, Colo.) and Heidi Westover (Walpole, N.H.) finished 39th and 41st, in 1:16:51 and 1:18:06.

In the team race, like their male compatriots, the women of Team Kenya won their fifth consecutive title in 3:26:59. Ethiopia was second in 3:27:33. Team USA finished seventh in 3:46:24.

A total of $245,000 prize money was offered at the championships, with $30,000 going to the individual champions and $15,000 to the respective men's and women's team champions.

For more information on Team USA at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, visit www.usatf.org.