Lauren Fleshman

Events: 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and Cross Country

PRs: 1,500 - 4:11.27, 3,000 – 8:43.95, 5,000 - 15:02.52

High School: Canyon HS (Canyon Country, Calif.) ‘99

College: Stanford ‘03

Career Highlights:
2006 USA Outdoor 5,000m Champion; 2005 USA Outdoors Champs 5,000m runner-up; 3-time NCAA 5,000m outdoor champion (’01, 02, & ’03); collegiate record holder in 5,000m; 15-time NCAA All-American

Lauren Fleshman is growing accustomed to the limelight. Frequent interviewee, regular blogger, she now finds herself out front and getting face time at the big meets. This year was no exception; after a move to Eugene to reunite with coach Vin Lanana, and despite missing out on a spot on the world championships team, she made the most of the rest of the year, breaking her 1500, 3000 and 5,000-meter PRs and beating top-level competition at every turn. Which is another way of saying that next year may include the Summer of Lauren. Fleshman got hooked on running her freshman year in high school, as part of a state-championship team. But it wasn’t so much the success that drew her in as the camaraderie. “There was this quiet confidence of a group of girls who knew each other like sisters. In a way, I was the outsider being so young, but they didn't make me feel like it.” Second runner for her team that year, Lauren has stepped up considerably since then, winning 15 collegiate championships and several national titles. But her continued improvement is linked to a lot of the lessons she learned early in her career. “Since day one, my high school coach taught me how to run with the emphasis on what he felt were the right things,” Fleshman says. “Having fun, being healthy, improving just a little bit every year, and stopping to smell the roses. I am still exactly that way.”

Fourth place at a major international championship is often portrayed as a cruel twist of fate. For a relative newcomer like Matt Tegenkamp, it was a breakthrough. Relatively unknown outside the U.S., Tegenkamp used a furious last couple of laps in the men’s 5,000 to weave through a splintered pack and pull himself into medal contention. The slimmest of margins (0.03 seconds) ended up denying him a medal. Had the race been 10 meters longer, he probably would have snagged bronze. Had he kicked a little earlier…well, who knows? As it stands, his surprise finish gave him an excellent glimpse of what lies ahead, and will give him confidence to ascend the medal stand in 2008. From his days at Lee’s Summit, when he set the state XC meet course record and won by a minute, to his 13:04 5,000 in 2006, Tegankamp has always had the ability to surprise people. But the way in which he’s achieved his results are pretty predictable. “I learned where hard work and some sacrifice can take you,” Tegenkamp said of his high school experience. “It's about having fun and making the most of your ability and not worrying about things that you cannot control. The sport is simple and you don't want to complicate things. Put in the work, and race hard.” Given what he’s achieved so far, Tegenkamp’s got a lot of work, a lot of hard races, and a lot of success in his future.

Kara Goucher

Events: 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m and Cross Country

PRs: 1500m 4:05.14; 3000m 8:41.42; 5000m 15:08.13; 10,000m 31:17.12

High School: Duluth East HS, Duluth Minn.

College: Colorado ‘97

Career Highlights:
2006 Runner-up U.S National Champs 5,000m; 3rd place World Cup 5,000m in 2006; 2000 NCAA Outdoor Champion at 3,000m & 5,000m; NCAA Cross Country Champion; 7-Time NCAA All American at University of Colorado.

Over the course of two months this summer, Kara Goucher packed in a lifetime’s worth of accomplishments: Win a medal at a world championships. Break your PRs in four events, and become the second-fastest 3,000-meter runner in U.S. history. Beat the world’s best marathon runner in your first half-marathon, running the fastest time ever by an American. Make the gossip column in a major New York City newspaper. So maybe the last one’s not relevant. But who’s the last runner to have their name featured alongside Paris and Brangelina? Goucher’s patience has paid off in spades these past two years. And it is her enthusiasm for the sport she loves that has allowed her to persevere and get where she is now. That love was fostered—naturally—on cross country courses, among high school teammates. “I absolutely would not have stuck with running had it not been for the team aspect of it,” she says. “I was good when I first started running, and then I started to struggle. Without my teammates and the goals that we were setting together, I would have found the sport too focused on myself and too frustrating. But being a part of a team was exciting, and I loved the girls on my team. To this day they are my best friends in life.” As she gears up to scale the podium once again in Beijing, Goucher’s future looks bright. So knowing what she knows now, what advice would she give? “Don’t beat yourself up over losing one race,” she says. “Take it, appreciate it, and learn from it. The sun will rise again tomorrow, and you will have many more sunny days ahead in running.”

Events: 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m and Cross Country

PRs: 1500m 3:36.64; Mile 3:54.17; 3000m 7:34.96; 5000m 13:10.00; 10,000m 27:59.41

High School: Doherty HS, Colorado Springs, Colo. ‘94

College: Colorado ‘97

Career Highlights:  2000 Olympian at 5000m; U.S Olympic Trials 5000m Champion; 2-Time U.S 5000m Champion; U.S 3000m Indoor Champion; 6th place at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships; 4-Time U.S Cross Country Champion; 4-Time NCAA Champion; 11-Time NCAA All American.

As a new wave of American distance runners begins to establish themselves globally, one stalwart is experiencing a rejuvenation of his own. For the past two seasons, Goucher has put up the kind of times people hadn’t seen from him in years. His second-place finish at the national cross country championships, third place 5k at the track championships, and 11th in the world final—despite a severe sprain of his ankle just days before the rounds began—prove you should never count Goucher out. Goucher’s first national title came in high school cross country, off of mileage most guys today would consider ludicrous—between 30 and 40 a week. Which is to say talent and attitude had a lot to do with his success. “Running came naturally to me,” he says. “I had this weird ability to run faster and further than anyone I knew. I was active and many other sports, and I excelled, but running was different. It was me against the world and I loved it.” That “them vs. me” mentality carried Goucher through the various setbacks he’s had to where he is today—living in Portland, getting faster, and gathering momentum for Beijing. But it’s the team aspect that he found in running that drove him to that high level of success in the first place. “The beauty about running is that you can only depend on yourself in a race,” he says. “No once can screw it up but you. However, running cross country allows you to experience the team aspect, the camaraderie and the synergy of a group. Cross country was always my favorite time of the year, because it allowed me to experience the excitement of a team going after one goal.”