2007 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile Bios

Carmen Douma-Hussar
Canada
Age: 30

Douma-Hussar overcame a strong field to win the 2005 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. The three-time NCAA champion for the Villanova University Wildcats still lives in the Philadelphia area and coaches track and field at her alma mater. She developed an interest in running in her Ontario elementary school, where her principal required all students to participate on the cross country team, and has gone on to set Canadian records in the indoor 1500 meters and indoor mile. Douma-Hussar also has three times won the mile or its equivalent at the famed Millrose Games track meet at Madison Square Garden, and she captured the title at the 2005 New Balance Games Mile at the Armory. In July, she fell during a race and sustained a deep thigh bruise, an injury that made her pull out of races that month. She bounced back quickly and achieved a personal best in the mile (4:26.76) in September.

Lindsey Gallo
United States
Age: 25

After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Michigan where she placed 11th and was the top collegian in the 1500 meters at the 2004 Olympic Trials, Lindsey Gallo has spent the summer shaving seconds off her 1500-meter record, starting with a 4:08.12 second-place finish on July 17 in Lignano, then a 4:06.03 win at the Helsinki Grand Prix on July 25, followed by a 4:05.75 finish at Rieti on August 28. In 2005, perhaps her best year to date, Gallo placed fifth in the 1500 meters at the USA Outdoor Championships (4:08.60) and sixth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (4:15.83). She placed first at the NCAA Mideast Regional (4:18.40), first in the Big Ten Indoor Mile (4:42.42), and third in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships (4:41.52). She won the 1500, 3000, and 5000 meters at the 2005 Big Ten Championships. Ranked number six in the U.S. at 1500 meters/mile by Track & Field News, she was the 2005 NCAA Indoor Track & Field champion and was awarded the 2005 Big Ten Medal of Honor.

Sara Hall
Defending Champion
United States
Age: 24

The Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile 2006 champion (4:28), Sara Hall completed her collegiate career as one of the top NCAA runners of the last decade, despite the fact that she never won an NCAA title. The first high school athlete in California history to win four state cross country championships, the former Sara Bei was four-time NCAA Championships runner-up. Since graduating from Stanford University in 2005, Hall has represented Team USA at the 2005 Chiba International Ekiden, the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She placed second in the mile at the New Balance Games in January (4:32.68), fourth in the mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games (4:32.24) January, and second in the 3000 meters at the Millrose Games in February (9:01.22). In June, she established a personal best of 4:08.99 in the 1500 meters at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis. She is married to American half-marathon record-holder Ryan Hall.

Mary-Jayne Harrelson
United States
Age: 29

A six-time All-American and winner of two NCAA 1500-meter titles, Appalachian State University graduate Mary-Jayne Harrelson was named 2001 NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of North Carolina. She was also named the Southern Conference Female Athlete of the Year in 1999 and 2001 after winning 23 conference championships. Now in her third year as a post-collegiate runner, Harrelson finished fifth in the 1500-meter finals of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials in Sacramento. In 2003, she represented the United States in the Pan-American Games, taking a silver medal in the 1500 meters, a feat she duplicated at the same competition in Brazil earlier this summer. She produced second-place finishes in both the mile and the 800 meters at the 2002 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, running personal records in both events.

Molly Huddle
United States
Age: 23

Yuriko Kobayashi
Japan
Age: 18

Rising Japanese star Yuriko Kobayashi set the Japanese national record of 4:07.87 at 1500 meters at the World Athletics Tour meeting in Osaka in May 2006. She also finished second (with the same time as the winner) in the Japan National Championships in 2006 and was the top Japanese finisher (12:12.88) in the senior short race at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships. She took home bronze in the 1500 meters at the world Junior Championships in Beijing last summer, and she won the silver medal in the 1500 meters at the Asian Games in Doha last December. Only 18 years old, Kobayashi is a freshman at Okayama University, where she is studying English, Chinese, and mathematics. She enjoys onsens, or Japanese hot springs, and listening to music. The Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile 2007 will be Kobayashi’s New York debut.

Amy Mortimer
United States
Age: 26

Since graduating from Kansas State University in 2003, Amy Mortimer has transitioned from collegiate star to successful professional distance runner. A 12-time All-American at Kansas State, Mortimer set personal bests of 4:12 for 1,500 meters and 15:44 for 5,000 meters. At the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, she finished ninth in a highly competitive 1,500, running a then-personal best of 4:11.51. Although primarily a track runner, Mortimer has also achieved success on the trails and the roads since turning professional. In February 2005, she was part of the bronze-medal-winning U.S. team at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Saint Galmier, France.

Sara Slattery
United States
Age: 25

University of Colorado ten-time All-American Sara Slattery was the NCAA Indoor 5,000-meter champion, and she earned her first national title in 2003. In only her second attempt at the 10,000 meters, Slattery won the 2005 NCAA individual title in 33:02:21. She won last year’s Bolder Boulder International Team Challenge and further solidified her presence in the field as both an individual force and a team player. She bested her 3000-meter record at the adidas Track Classic, where she finished in 8:58:09 last year. She married former University of Colorado teammate and 2003 USA steeplechase champion Steve Slattery in 2004. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the Pan American Games in July.

Kim Smith
New Zealand
Age: 25

At only 25, Kim Smith has made a habit of breaking New Zealand records: She currently holds six. Already known as the fastest female miler, 5K-, and 8K-runner in New Zealand, Smith set another national record by finishing second in the 10,000 meters at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford in 31:20.63, then yet another at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games by running 3000 meters in 8:38.14. She won the 5000 meters at the 2007 Boston University Valentine Classic in 14:59.62, and she set a New Zealand outdoor 5000-meter record of 14:56.58 in 2006 in Brussels. Smith smashed the New Zealand record for 3000 meters with her 8:35.31 at the Monaco IAAF Super Grand Prix. This year in New York, Smith placed second in both the 5000 meters (15:15.22) at the Reebok Grand Prix, and the NYRR New York Mini (32:18). Last September, she was second to Sara Hall at the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile in New York in 4:30.3. Smith was a four-time NCAA champion while at Providence College, with victories in cross country, in the 3000 and 5000 meters indoors, and in the 5000 outdoors.