June 24, 2005

Los Angeles - Former Yale track star Laura O'Neill '03 placed sixth in the 10,000m run at the USA Track and Field Championships Friday night. O'Neill finished in 32:15.70, less than 42 seconds behind first-place Katie McGregor.

O'Neill and her twin sister Kate left Yale as two of the most decorated athletes in school history. They were both Academic All-Americans as seniors and became the only female runners in Ivy League history to run under 16 minutes in the 5,000 meters as well as the only ones to go below 33 minutes in the 10,000. They were together named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships in 2003. Between them, they finished first and second in the 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m - finishing within a second of each other in all three events. Kate became the first woman to win the 5000m three straight times and Laura was the first do so in the 10,000m.

Laura earned three All-America honors as a senior in 2002-03. She finished fourth in the 10,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, fifth in the 5000m at the indoor championships and 13th at the cross country championships.

The USA Track and Field Championships, held at the Home Depot Center, hosted more than 1,000 athletes as they competed for the right to represent Team USA at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Athletics August 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland.

report by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity

Women 10000 Meter Run Open
===============================================================
       World: W 29:31.78  9/8/1993    Junxia Wang, CHN
    American: A 30:52.32  5/3/2002    Deena Drossin, Asics
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals
===============================================================
Finals
  1 Katie McGregor               Reebok                31:33.82
  2 Blake Russell                Reebok                31:35.25
  3 Jennifer Rhines              adidas                31:37.20
  4 Deena Kastor                 Asics                 31:45.08
  5 Elva Dryer                   Nike                  32:00.91
  6 Laura O'Neill                Nike                  32:15.70
  7 Jennifer Crain               Wisconsin Ru          33:07.43
  8 Turena Johnson Lane          Unattached            33:22.69
  9 Casey Owens                  S W Missouri          33:32.51
 10 Lindsey Scherf               Westchester           33:35.91
 11 Nicole Hunt                  Moving Comfo          33:42.01
 12 Melissa Cook                 Reebok                33:49.77
 13 Anne Bersagel                Wake Forest           34:20.99
 14 Sabrina Monroe               Hansons Odp           34:29.51
 15 Megan Daly                   Impala Racing Team    34:40.59
 16 Melissa White                Hansons Odp           35:37.40
 -- Sylvia Mosqueda              Nike                       DNF
 -- Samia Akbar                  Unattached                 DNS
 -- Kimberly Fitchen-Young       Unattached                 DNS
 -- Amy Rudolph                  adidas                     DNS