Note: biographies are printed as submitted and have not been checked for factual accuracy.

Ben Levine, M.D.

Jim Stray-Gundersen, M.D.

Shasta Beal (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) is the daughter of Bob and Peggy Beal and sister to Colby and Hunter Beal. She has lived in Decatur, Arkansas all her life. It's a small town of about 1,000 people. She graduated high school as valectorian of her class of 32 with a 4.0 grade-point average. Shasta began track in grade school through P.E. class but never took it seriously until high school. She began cross country her sophomore year just because it was a new sport with a new challenge. Shasta played basketball since she was 7, and her dream was to be the first woman in the NBA. As a shocker, in her senior year she became unusually good at track. She then began to get recruited by track coaches as well as basketball coaches. She finished All-State in both sports but also advanced to the Meet of Champions in track and the All-Star Tri-State Meet in cross country. To make a long story short, Shasta chose to run cross country and track for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is still waiting for the day to pick up her basketball game once again, but until that day, she'll continue to give her all to running. Her future goals are to finish college with a biology major and a chemistry minor and to run a 34-minute 10K, if not faster, by her senior year. (That would be a major improvement on her 38:50 10K time at Duke this year.) She also plans to go to medical school to become a pediatrician.

Catherine Coates (Lees McRae University) is from Boca Raton, Florida. She started her running career as a miler in 8th grade and went undefeated that year except for one race. In high school, in addition to playing soccer, she did very well in cross country, coming in 4th in the state as a freshman, 1st as a sophomore, 3rd as a junior, and 2nd as a senior. At the Foot Locker South region seeded 5K, she finished 18th. Catherine will continue her running career at Lees McRae in Boone, North Carolina on an athletic scholarship. Her favorite quote is from her old coach: "Catherine's basically Catherine. She's very talented, but the one thing is, she has a very large untapped potential." Catherine enjoys surfing, and her favorite foods include cookies and more cookies. She wears DMX running shoes and loves Led Zeppelin and her yellow truck.

Carlajane Costantini (Charleston Southern University) was raised in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania by Jane and Anthony Costantini. CJ started running under Ken Sanders for Harry S. Truman High School, where she received the Tiger Award for athletic achievement. She is now a junior at Charleston Southern, where she is a science education major. Last year, CJ made all-conference for the Big South in cross country and winter track. She was also conference champion in the 3000-meter run. Her personal records are 2:16 for 800 meters, 4:43 for 1500 meters, 10:08 (a school record) for 3000 meters, and 18:23 for 5000 meters (cross country).

Aaron Crockett (University of Texas at Austin) was born in Abilene, Texas and grew up in McKinney, Texas. He took up running because that was the only thing he was decent at. He got serious about track during his senior year in high school and then decided to pursue a career in chemistry and the half mile at the University of Texas. Aaron enjoys running the 800 because it requires a mix of speed, strength, and tactical skills. He also enjoys rock climbing, mountain climbing, and women.

Greg Crowther (Williams College '95) is currently a graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studies muscle energetics. He is also a marathoner with a personal best of 2:22:32 and a personal worst of 2:34:28. His hobbies include writing music, designing websites, and looking for a job.

Emily Field (University of Texas at Austin) writes: "Hi! I'm Emily Field. I don't have good times so I'm not going to tell you them. If I ever do become a fast runner, then I will write a book about myself and you can buy it. But until then, just know that my name is Emily Field and my favorite food is raw oysters."

Ben Gall (Eastern Oregon University)

Matt Hill (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) hails from Russellville, Arkansas. He began running at the age of 11 thanks to his father. Although he wasn't too successful in other athletic endeavors, he found success in running and fell in love with the sport. At Russellville High, Matt excelled in cross country; he was All-State three times and won a state championship in 1998. In track, he qualified for the Meet of Champions four times. As a freshman at U.A.-Little Rock, he placed 10th (track 5K), 11th (track 10K), and 12th (cross country) at Sun Belt conference championships.

Steve Humphrey (Lindenwood University)

James Johnson (Bowdoin College '97) is currently teaching and coaching at Saint George's School in Spokane, Washington. Training goals include the New York Marathon in sub-2:22:32 (see Crowther). Hobbies include Hash House Harriers, day trading, computers, and vacation adventures.

Tommy Kunish (Florida State University)

James Lander (West Virginia University)

Joe Mazzeo (Florida International University)

The self-proclaimed "Italian Stallion," Mike Peditto (University of Florida) has an alleged range of 100 meters to the marathon with a knack for the longer distances. A walk-on at the University of Florida, Peditto is majoring in advertising with aspirations of being famous. Favorite foods include gummi bears, ravioli, and Cherry Kool-Aid. He hopes you enjoy the web page.

Julie Perez (University of Houston)

Abby Peters (University of Arizona)

Karina Quesada (University of Houston)

Brian Rawlings (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

A native of Norway and a former national team handball player, Brandon Roche (Georgetown University) took up running after it was discovered that he had an obscenely high VO2max in one of Norway's mandatory tests of all young men in an attempt to produce the best cross country orienteers in the world (read: Scandinavia). Brandon now trains in the States under the auspices of Georgetown University, where he hopes to someday graduate with a degree. Thus far in his distinguished career, he has clocked one of the fastest times in the world as the fourth leg of Georgetown's 8 x 600-meter team and has declared himself the best runner to come out of Woodinville, Washington in the last 18 1/2 months.

Gabriel Rodriguez (Florida International University '00) was born on March 3, 1978, in Newton, Massachusetts. He graduated with a B.A. in Sports Management from Florida International University this past spring. Gabriel was a 1997 USATF Junior All-American (3000-meter steeplechase) and US World Junior Team Member (alternate). He is a 2004 Olympic Trials hopeful in the Marathon and professional runner extraordinaire.

Erin Sims (University of Texas at Austin) was born and raised in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She started running in fifth grade through the Hershey track and field program. Blessed with wonderfully patient coaches in junior high and high school, Erin copped eight state titles as a prep: four at 800 meters, three at 1600 meters, and one in cross country. She set a state record of 5:03 for 1600 meters and was the first Mississippi girl ever to run a sub-5-minute mile. In addition, she took 3rd (1998) and 5th or 6th (1999) in the 1500 at junior nationals. In her freshman year (1999-2000) at the University of Texas, Erin placed 13th at her conference cross country meet, 5th in the indoor conference mile, and 5th in the outdoor conference 1500-meter run. She capped each season (cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track) with a trip to the NCAA championships. Her personal records are 2:12 for 800 meters, 4:20 for 1500 meters, 9:48 for 3000 meters, and 17:42 for 5000 meters (cross country). She intends to major in Art History.

Derek Veilleux (University of Southern Maine), a native Mainer from Benton, is currently studying psychology and has an interest in studying serial killers. He is the captain of the cross country and track teams at USM and holds four school records. One of his greatest achievements is hiking Pike's Peak in Colorado. His future running goal is to run under 2:20 in the marathon. In his free time he enjoys surfing the web, reading running books, and playing hoops (he has been compared to Jordan on many occasions).

Geoff Wayton (Indiana State University '00)

Kurt Wayton (Indiana State University '00)

Trine Karlsen (University of Trondheim '97; master's, Norges Idrettshogskole '00)

G.K. Resaland (University of Sogn og Fjordane '97; Norges Idrettshogskole '98) was born in Sognal, Norway. He obtained bachelor's degrees from both the University of Sogn og Fjordane and Norges Idrettshogskole (the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education) and is currently finishing up his master's degree in human biology at the latter school. He has taught at both the kindergarten and college levels and has played and/or coached team handball for the past 15 years. His future plans include earning a Ph.D. in human biology or teaching sports and physical education at a university.

As an undergraduate, Sarah Witkowski (William and Mary '95; master's, University of Delaware '00) majored in kinesiology and minored in psychology. Athletically, she tended goal for her field hockey and lacrosse teams and earned All-American honors twice in each sport. She was the CAA Player of the Year for lacrosse in 1995. Since then, she has coached field hockey and lacrosse at her alma mater and at the University of Delaware, where she also studied exercise physiology. After guiding her Delaware lacrosse team to a top-15 national ranking, she moved to Dallas, where she now works at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine.

Robert Yates (Eastern Washington University '92)