FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Class Fields Announced for B.A.A. 5K and B.A.A. Invitational Mile
Defending champions Buze Diriba and Hagos Gebrhiwet join American record
holder Ben True to lead full slate of B.A.A. races on Saturday
BOSTON - The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) today announced an elite
field of world class competitors for the 2019 B.A.A. 5K and B.A.A.
Invitational Mile, to be held on Saturday, April 13, two days prior to the
2019 Boston Marathon®. Defending champions Hagos Gebrhiwet and Buze Diriba,
both of Ethiopia, return to defend their 2018 titles, as American record
holder Ben True will look to earn his fifth B.A.A. 5K crown.
Following the B.A.A. 5K, milers from near and far will gather to take part
in the B.A.A. Invitational Mile finishing at the Boston Marathon finish
line on Boylston Street. The B.A.A. Invitational Mile will also include
Middle School 1K races and Scholastic Mile races featuring youth athletes
from the eight cities and towns along the Boston Marathon course.
A detailed start list and schedule of events for both the B.A.A. 5K and
B.A.A. Invitational Mile can be found below.
B.A.A. 5K - SATURDAY, APRIL 13 | 8:00 a.m., Boston Common
Last year, Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet and Buze Diriba earned hard-fought
victories after sprinting down Charles Street to win the B.A.A. 5K.
Gebrhiwet fended off four-time winner Ben True and Boston's own Tommy
Curtin at the line, with all three recording the same finish time of 13:42.
True and Curtin return with hopes of shuffling the standings; True set an
American record of 13:20 en route to winning the 2017 B.A.A. 5K title.
Gebrhiwet - an Olympic bronze medalist - has the fastest 5,000-meter time
of the field at 12:45.82.
Among other men's contenders are reigning B.A.A. Invitational Mile and U.S.
Indoor 2 mile champion Drew Hunter; Falmouth Road Race winner Ben Flanagan;
NCAA Cross Country champion Justyn Knight; and European Championships
medalist Chris O'Hare. B.A.A. 10K champions Stephen Sambu and Gabriel Geay
will toe the line as well.
On the women's side, Diriba is looking to join Molly Huddle as the only
three-time consecutive champion in B.A.A. 5K history. Last year, Diriba
covered the 3.1-mile course through Boston's Back Bay in 15:22, a mere
second up on Fotyen Tesfay and two seconds ahead of Monicah Ngige. Diriba,
Ngige, fourth place finisher Gotytom Gebreslase, and fifth placer Molly
Seidel are the top returners from a year ago. Seidel, a four-time NCAA
champion while at Notre Dame, will look to score a win in her home city.
From Ethiopia is two-time world championships silver medalist Senbere
Teferi, owning a lifetime best of 14:23.33 on the track. Also entered is
Kim Conley, a two-time Olympian at 5,000 meters for the United States.
The B.A.A. High Performance team will be well represented on home turf with
Jacob Thomson and Trevor Dunbar competing for the men, and Erika Kemp, Dana
Giordano, Kaitlin Goodman, Elaina Tabb, and Katie Matthews racing for the
women. Kemp is coming off a victory at the USA 15K Championships in
Jacksonville in March.
The men's event record for the B.A.A. 5K stands at 13:20, set by Ben True
in 2017, while the women's event record is 14:50 run by Molly Huddle in
2015.
This year's B.A.A. 5K will also feature the largest and strongest
wheelchair field in race history, bringing together national champions from
around the world. Defending B.A.A. 5K champions Jose Argenes Jimenez
Hernandez of Costa Rica and Vanessa de Souza of Brazil return, as does
B.A.A. 10K winner and Massachusetts-native Katrina Gerhard. A full list of
entrants can be found below.
B.A.A. 5K MEN'S ELITE FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY ROAD 5K PB TRACK 5000M PB
Hagos Gebrhiwet 24 Ethiopia 13:14 12:45.82
Ben True 33 USA/NH 13:20 (AR) 13:02.74
David Bett 26 Kenya N/A 13:06.06
Stephen Sambu 30 Kenya 13:21 13:13.74 (Indoor)
Clement Langat 27 Kenya 13:41 13:15.81
Justyn Knight 22 Canada N/A 13:17.51
Gabriel Geay 22 Tanzania N/A 13:20.35
Ambrose Bore 23 Kenya N/A 13:20.39
Tommy Curtin 25 USA/MA 13:42 13:23.11
Alfred Barkach 22 Kenya N/A 13:25.30
Trevor Dunbar 27 USA/MA 13:55 13:26.27
Jacob Thomson 24 USA/MA 14:15 13:34.50
Willy Fink 25 USA/VA 14:07 13:39.05
Chris O'Hare 28 GBR 13:46 13:42.00
Ben Flanagan 24 Canada 13:57 13:48.58 (Indoor)
Scott Smith 32 USA/AZ 13:51 13:49.38
Drew Hunter 21 USA/CO 13:56 13:49.56
B.A.A. 5K WOMEN'S ELITE FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY ROAD 5K PB TRACK 5000M PB
Buze Diriba 25 Ethiopia 14:54 14:50.02
Senbere Teferi 23 Ethiopia 15:43 14:23.33
Gotytom Gebreslase 24 Ethiopia 15:17 14:57.33
Laura Thweatt 30 USA/CO 15:52 15:04.98
Ann Mwangi 30 Kenya N/A 15:05.34
Kim Conley 33 USA/CA 15:29 15:08.61
Molly Seidel 24 USA/MA 15:33 15:15.21 (Indoor)
Kaitlin Goodman 31 USA/RI 16:01 15:29.89
Hawi Feysa 20 Ethiopia N/A 15:31.50
Elaina Tabb 27 USA/MA 15:59 15:32.49
Katie Matthews 28 USA/MA 15:50 15:32.89
Mary Munanu 24 Kenya 16:04 15:36.74
Erika Kemp 24 USA/MA 15:50 15:41.23
Lindsey Scherf 32 USA/NY 16:10 15:42.81 (Indoor)
Dana Giordano 25 USA/MA 15:47 15:53.96
Monicah Ngige 25 Kenya 15:24 15:58.5
B.A.A. 5K MEN'S WHEELCHAIR FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY
Jose Argenes Jimenez Hernandez 36 Costa Rica
Joey Gibbs 22 USA/IL
Brendan Quinn 27 USA/IL
Tiaan Bosch 39 South Africa
Fidel Aguilar Zepeda 41 Mexico
Christian Clemmons 24 USA/IL
Tony Nogueira 51 USA/NJ
Johnboy Smith 29 Great Britain
Francisco Sanclemente 30 Colombia
B.A.A. 5K WOMEN'S WHEELCHAIR FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY
Vanessa De Souza 29 Brazil
Katrina Gerhard 22 USA/IL
Michelle Wheeler 32 USA/PA
Eliza Ault-Connell 37 Australia
Margriet van den Broek 45 Netherlands
Jenna Fesemyer 22 USA/IL
Yen Hoang 22 USA/IL
Carla Trodella 37 USA/MA
B.A.A. 5K PRIZE STRUCTURE (Equal for both men and women)
PLACE OPEN MASTERS WHEELCHAIR
1 $7,500 $300 $300
2 $4,000 $200 $200
3 $2,500 $100 $100
4 $1,500
5 $1,000
6 $750
7 $600
8 $400
9 $300
10 $200
GRAND TOTAL: $39,900
B.A.A. INVITATIONAL MILE - SATURDAY, APRIL 13 | 10:30 a.m., Boylston Street
The B.A.A.'s signature unicorn uniform will also be racing in the B.A.A.
Invitational Mile, where Mike Marsella and John Simons vie for the title.
Simons placed second a year ago in 4:09. They will be joined on the line by
German national champion Sam Parsons, world indoor championships finalist
Julian Oakley, 3:54-miler Robert Domanic, and Eric Avila, who finished
second at the U.S. Indoor National Championships in the two mile.
Ben Groleau, a native of Framingham and the course record holder for the
B.A.A. Scholastic Mile, will race the B.A.A. Invitational Mile, becoming
the first athlete to have competed in both levels of the event. Groleau won
the B.A.A. Scholastic Mile twice while attending Framingham High School;
this past January he broke the four-minute mile barrier by running 3:58.93.
The women's B.A.A. Invitational Mile field is highlighted by Heather Kampf,
a four-time USA road mile champion, and Shannon Osika, runner-up at last
year's event. Emily Lipari, 2018 national champion in the road mile, and
Helen Schlachtenhaufen are also entered, along with former Arkansas
Razorbacks Nikki Hiltz and Therese Haiss.
The men's and women's event records for the B.A.A. Invitational Mile are
4:03.3 (Nick Willis, 2013) and 4:33.7 (Nicole Sifuentes, 2017).
B.A.A. INVITATIONAL MILE MEN'S ELITE FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY ROAD MILE PB TRACK MILE PB
Robert Domanic 24 USA/VA 4:01 3:54.73
Eric Avila 29 USA/CA 3:56 3:55.43
Julian Oakley 25 NZL/RI 4:05 3:55.10 (Indoor)
James Randon 24 USA/MA N/A 3:58.07 (Indoor)
Ben Groleau 25 USA/MA N/A 3:58.93
John Simons 28 USA/MA 4:09 3:58.95
Mike Marsella 24 USA/MA N/A 3:59.13 (Indoor)
Sam Parsons 24 Germany 3:58 3:59.70
Jeff Thies 25 USA/OR 4:14 3:59.89 (Indoor)
B.A.A. INVITATIONAL MILE WOMEN'S ELITE FIELD
NAME AGE COUNTRY ROAD MILE PB TRACK MILE PB
Shannon Osika 25 USA/MI 4:21 4:25:47
Heather Kampf 32 USA/MN 4:21 4:27.23
Helen Schlachtenhaufen 24 USA/MA 4:30 4:27.09
Emily Lipari 26 USA/WA 4:22 4:28.62
Nikki Hiltz 24 USA/CA 4:38 4:31.42 (Indoor)
Therese Haiss 23 USA/CA 4:39 4:34.54 (Indoor)
Emily Oren 25 USA/MI 4:37 4:35.48 (Indoor)
Ashley Stinson 25 USA/CO 4:36 4:35.62 (Indoor)
B.A.A. INVITATIONAL MILE PRIZE STRUCTURE (Equal for both men and women)
PLACE OPEN
1 $3,000
2 $2,000
3 $1,500
4 $750
5 $500
GRAND TOTAL: $14,500
B.A.A. YOUTH RACES - SATURDAY, APRIL 13 | 10:30 a.m. & 1:00 p.m., Boylston
Street
The B.A.A. Invitational Mile also features a quartet of scholastic races
ranging from 1K to one mile. The first two races showcases middle school
age students from the eight cities and towns of the Boston Marathon course
- Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and
Boston. The girls' and boys' Middle School 1K races include runners between
sixth and eighth grade and finish at the Boston Marathon finish line on
Boylston Street.
Following the Middle School 1K races is the Scholastic Mile, which features
girls' and boys' races for high school students from the eight cities and
towns of the Boston Marathon course. The Scholastic Mile follows the same
three-lap, USATF-certified course the professional mile athletes run,
finishing at the Boston Marathon finish line.
Completing the day is the B.A.A. Relay Challenge, an event that brings more
than 20 schools and 1,000 student-athletes from around Greater Boston
together. For the 23rd straight year, the B.A.A. Relay Challenge introduces
young people to the benefits of running, teamwork, and active lifestyles.
The B.A.A. Relay Challenge is held on Boylston Street between Clarendon and
Dartmouth Streets.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2019: SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
8:00 a.m. B.A.A. 5K, Boston Common
10:30 a.m. Girls' B.A.A. Middle School 1K, Boston Marathon Finish Line
10:40 a.m. Boys' B.A.A. Middle School 1K, Boston Marathon Finish Line
10:55 a.m. Girls' B.A.A. Scholastic Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line
11:05 a.m. Boys' B.A.A. Scholastic Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line
11:20 a.m. Men's B.A.A. Invitational Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line
11:30 a.m. Women's B.A.A. Invitational Mile, Boston Marathon Finish Line
1:00 p.m. B.A.A. Relay Challenge
ABOUT THE BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (B.A.A.)
Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit
organization with a mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle through
sports, especially running. The B.A.A.'s Boston Marathon is the world's
oldest annual marathon, and the organization manages other local events and
supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round running programs.
Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has been John
Hancock. The Boston Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors,
along with international marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, and
New York City. More than 60,000 runners will participate in B.A.A. events
in 2019. The 123rd Boston Marathon will be held on Monday, April 15, 2019.
For more information on the B.A.A., please visit www.baa.org.
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