Minnesota Distance Elite
Minnesota Distance Elite, previously known as Team USA Minnesota, is a long-distance running team based in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The team is designed to support the running careers of post-collegiate athletes, supporting athletes from middle distance to the marathon. Minnesota Distance Elite is recognized as one of the top American running teams.
Runners apply to join the team, who have to be approved by the board of directors after reviewing the athlete's training history. The most important criteria for joining as of 2007 was steady improvement in performance.
Chris Lundstrom has been the coach of Minnesota Distance Elite since 2017. Lundstrom heard the previous coach, Dennis Barker, was retiring and applied for the position.
Various marathons have sponsored Minnesota Distance Elite. Twin Cities in Motion, the organization that produces the Twin Cities Marathon, sponsored Team USA Minnesota at least between 2013 and 2017. This support provided a salary for the coach. As of 2015, the Pittsburgh Marathon was a sponsor of Team USA Minnesota allowing each athlete to earn a minimum of a $500 monthly stipend. As of 2002, the stipends varied from $450 to $850 per month. In 2014, the Houston Marathon Foundation announced it was donating $40,000 for elite athlete development, part of which was used by Team USA Minnesota. In general, participating runners generally need to supplement their income given the modest stipends earned from being part of the team. For example, in 2002 Carrie Tollefson and Katie McGregor worked at Run N Fun running store in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Gabriele Grunewald cited this financial support as being critical to keep going in the sport.
As of 2002, participating athletes could use athletic facilities at the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College.
History
2001
Patricia Goodwin founded Team USA Minnesota in 2001 and hired the team's first coaching staff. From the start, Team USA Minnesota was half-women and half-men making it unique from other professional development running teams. She was inspired to start the team because the performance of U.S. distance runners was perceived as being poor at the 2000 Summer Olympics.Running USA and USA Track & Field announced the founding of Team USA Minnesota in 2001. The first women's coach was Dennis Barker, the cross country and track coach at Augsburg University. The first men's coach was Steve Plasencia, the distance running coach at the University of Minnesota. Ditlev Larson, the men's cross country coach at the University of Minnesota, and Charlie Mahler, the former cross country and track coach at Gustavus Adolphus College, served as assistant coaches. The team was started with a roster of nine runners including Carrie Tollefson who had been training in Florida until the creation of the team. At the time of its creation, Team USA Minnesota had a budget of $90,000 to $100,000 for athlete stipends and race travel funding. Team USA Minnesota also arranged for each athlete to have a health club membership, as well as housing; some women were given arranged housing in Edina, Minnesota while some men were given arranged housing in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As of 2002, participating athletes could get housing for $350 if they needed it. The team was originally supposed to have ten members, but Kelly Keeler dropped out after learning being on the team would require too much time away from her job.
The other Team USA training centers established at the same time include Hansons Running Shop Team USA Michigan, Team BrownStone USA New York, and Team USA California.
Carrie Tollefson ran the first race as a Team USA Minnesota athlete at the Prefontaine Classic in 2001. Kim Kauls, Kurt Keiser and Kelly Mortenson were training for the New York City Marathon at the time and hoping to qualify for the US Olympic marathon trials. Chris Lundstrom ran the 2001 Grandma's Marathon where he was the first American finisher.
Turena Johnson-Lane joined Team USA Minnesota in 2001 to train for a year to prepare for the Olympic Trials in 2004, leaving an assistant coaching job at Luther College to do so.
The Twin Cities Marathon and Minnesota Distance Running Association held a fundraiser for Team USA Minnesota near Bde Maka Ska in July 2001 at which former Olympic runner Steve Holman spoke.
Kurt Keiser, Kelly Mortenson, Matt Gabrielson, Katie McGregor, Kristin Nicolini, and Turena Johnson-Lane competed at the Minnesota Distance Classic track meet in July 2001.
Katie McGregor competed at the Athletes Foot Mile in Lincoln, Nebraska in July 2001. She sought to qualify for the US Olympic trials in 2004 competing in the 10,000 metres.
Katie McGregor, Carrie Tollefson, Kim Kauls, Kelly Mortenson, and Matt Gabrielson competed in the Perfect 10k in Minneapolis, Minnesota, an event in which women started four minutes before the men and $25,000 of cash prizes were distributed to the first five finishers. Katie McGregor finished in fourth place with a time of 34:43.7 and won $2000 in prize money. McGregor and Tollefson ran together for the first three miles before Tollefson fell off the pace, however John Korir passed McGregor with a mile to go in the race.
Katie McGregor won the Twin Cities 10 Mile in 2001 with a time of 57:21.
Chris Lundstrom finished in 16th place at the 2001 New York City Marathon despite gastrointestinal issues with a time of 2:18:08, fast enough to qualify for the 2004 US Olympic marathon trials.
Matt Gabrielson and Turena Johnson-Lane competed in the USA Track and Field national cross country championships in Mobile, Alabama in December 2001. They both finished in 11th place in their respective 10,000 meter and 6,000 meter races respectively.
Katie McGregor won the Western Hemisphere Half Marathon in Culver City, California in December 2001 with at time of 1:18:09.
Matt Gabrielson was struck by a vehicle in December 2001 while running in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was released from a local hospital five hours later with seven staples in his head but didn't have any broken bones. He had to miss training in Albuquerque, New Mexico in January and February with the other nine members of Team USA Minnesota.
2002
Dennis Barker took over coaching the men's team while continuing to coach the women's team, becoming the sole coach of Team USA Minnesota until his retirement following the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.Carrie Tollefson, Katie McGregor and Kristen Nicolini qualified for the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 3,000 meters, with Tollefson finishing 3rd in 9:01.49, McGregor finishing 6th in 9:18.15 and Nicolini finishing 7th in 9:23.19.
Carrie Tollefson and Katie McGregor qualified for the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Tollefson finished 3rd in the 5,000 meters in 15:21.37, McGregor finished 3rd in the 10,000 meters in 32:17.49.
In February 2002, Carrie Tollefson set a fieldhouse record at the Minnesota Open track meet, running a mile in 4:37.44. Kristen Nicolini won the 3000 m race at the Penn State Invitational with a time of 9:25, and Turena Johnson won the 3000 meter race at North Carolina State indoor meet in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with a time of 9:30.
Male runners from Team USA Minnesota also competed in the 12 km USATF cross country championships in Vancouver, Washington finishing in 4th place. Carrie Tollefson also finished 2nd in the USATF 4k championship race.
Kelly Mortensen ran in the Los Angeles Marathon, his first marathon since he finished 12th at the 2000 US Olympic marathon trials. He finished in 11th place with a time of 2:27:50, having faded in the second half of the race since he covered the first in 1:10:53. Turena Johnson Lane finished in 15th place at the Gate River Run championship with a time of 52:59. Chris Lundstrom and Jason Lehmkuhle also competed in the 15 km championship race, finishing in 17th and 26th place among the men. Carrie Tollefson ran the world cross country championships in Dublin, Ireland in March 2002. She finished in 11th place in the race. Katie McGregor ran the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago, Illinois with a time of 26:49 in the race, finishing third overall.
Training under Team USA Minnesota coach Dennis Barker, Tollefson was running consistently about per week, and sought to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in the 5000 or 10,000 meter races. She also hoped to break the US record of 14:45:35 set by Regina Jacobs. Likewise, Katie McGregor hoped to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in the 10,000 meters and was running to per week in 2002.
In April 2002, Chris Lundstrom set a new personal best running the 10,000 meter race at the Stanford Invitational track meet with a time of 29:05.9. Turena Johnson-Lane finished in sixth place at the Drake Relays 5,000 meter race with a time of 17:05.03. Katie McGregor finished sixth at the Drake Relays 3000 meter race with a time of 9:29.79. Katie McGregor and Chris Lundstrom competed in the Mt SAC Relays at San Antonio College. McGregor set a new personal best in the 5,000 running a 15:30 and finished in fourth place. Lundstrom also set a new personal best in the 5,000 with a time of 14:10. Matt Gabrielson won the 1500 race at the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake University with a time of 3:51.2.
In May 2002, Carrie Tollefson won the 1500 meter race at the Minnesota Open women's track meet with a time of 4:17.70. She also ran the 3000 meters with a time of 9:07.79, finishing in second place. Katie McGregor placed second at the Lifetime Fitness 10k in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a time of 33:36.4, just 0.2 seconds behind the winner. Chris Lundstrom also competed in that race.
2003
Five Team USA Minnesota athletes competed at the USATF Cross-Country Championships in Houston, Texas. Katie McGregor and Sara Wells ran the women's 8 km race, Matt Gabrielson ran the men's 4 km race, and Chris Lundstrom and Mike Wisniewski ran the 12 km race. McGregor and Wells finished fourth and sixth respectively and qualified for the USA national team competing at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gabrielson finished 10th, Wisniewski finished 16th, and Lundstrom finished 19th.Katie McGregor finished 15th and Sara Wells finished 39th in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Katie McGregor qualified for the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 3,000 meters, finishing 5th in 8:59.64.
Katie McGregor ran the 3000 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, England., finishing 8th in her heat.
Sara Wells was selected to compete on the USA team competing at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal. She finished 52nd in 1:18:03.
Four Team USA Minnesota runners qualified for the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Katie McGregor finished 3rd in the 10,000 meters in 31:54.78. Carrie Tollefson finished 7th in the 5,000 meters in 15:36.87. Matt Gabrielson finished 15th in the 5,000 meters in 14:57.79. Toby Henkels finished 5th in his 800 meter semifinal in 1:48.97.
Matt Gabrielson competed in the USATF 8 km championships in New York City.
Sara Wells won the 2003 US Women's Marathon Championship race in Saint Louis, Missouri with a time of 2:35:37. Colleen De Reuck led the race until, when Wells took the lead.
Matt Gabrielson competed in the mile at the Drake Relays and was running with the lead pack when he tripped and fell with about 500 m to go.
Kristen Nicolini and Matt Gabrielson competed in the Capitol Mile in Madison, Wisconsin, finishing in 4:44.51 and 4:13.68 respectively.
Kristen Nicolini and Matt Gabrielson won the State Capitol 5 km, an event in conjunction with the Twin Cities Marathon, finishing with times of 16:49 and 14:25 respectively.
Matt Gabrielson competed in the USATF 10 km Championships in Mobile, Alabama and finished in third place with a time of 28:44.