Former Knights at the Chicago Marathon

Former Richwoods cross country and track & field runner Justin Young (`97), shown to the right in an earlier race this season, finished 31st overall and qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 22.

Young's 2:19:25 showing on Sunday was 35 seconds faster than the "A" standard time of 2:20:00 required for an automatic invited to the Olympic Trials, which will take place on November 2, 2007, the same weekend as the New York City Marathon. In 2004, only 14 men met the Olympic Trials "A" qualifying standard.

Racing among a record 34,698 starters and a record 33,633 finishers, Young posted a 5:19 pace mile time over the 26.21875-mile (42195m.) course to finish 11:50 behind the 2:07:35 clocking of champion Robert K. Cheruiyot's from Kenya. Young's remained remarkably consistent with his pace throughout nearly the entire race. He produced near identical 5k segments in the low 16 minute range through 35k before closing the final 7,000m at a slowed pace (18:33).

At Richwoods, Young was a three time All-State runner, winning medals in track while competing in the 3200m as a junior in 1996 (7th place) and repeating the following year (8th place) and as a senior in cross country (25th place).

Also finishing the event was former Knight women's runner Kathleen Bowman. Bowman was the winner of the 1998 Kim Field Award for the Knights.