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Full name | Melody Fairchild | ||||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
Born | 10 September 1973 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Melody Fairchild (born as the twin to Germaine on September 10, 1973 in Boulder, Colorado) is an American long distance runner. She is primarily known for an exceptional high school career. She has been called the "Best American High School distance runner of all time." [1] In 1991, she set the American Junior and National High School record in the indoor 3,000 meters.
As a child she took up running on her own volition. By age 10 she was running a hilly 5 mile run daily, timing herself to make herself faster each day. By age 15 she was a high school phenom. She won her hometown Bolder Boulder three consecutive times. Between Cross Country and Track, she won eight state titles [2] and became only the second person to defend their title at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, then called the Kinney Cross Country Championships, winning in 1989 and 1990. [3] Her 1990 winning time of 16:39, reputed to be by a quarter of a mile, is the still standing Morely Field course record. She is the first female scholastic athlete to run two miles in less than 10 minutes (9:55.9). [4] a record she held for 22 years. [5] While still in high school, she finished third in the 1991 World Junior Cross Country Championships behind a couple of Kenyan runners (the winner only 13 years old).
By the time she reached the University of Oregon on a track scholarship, injuries and an eating disorder prevented her from running for her first two years. She gave up her scholarship her junior year, only to return to earn it back as a senior, placing ninth in the 1995 NCAA Women's Division I Cross Country Championship and winning the 1996 3000 meters at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. [2] Inducted in the 2017 Oregon Ducks athletics hall of fame. [6]
In 2000, she made a failed attempt to make the U. S. Olympic team in the marathon, then disappeared from the scene. At age 37, she decided to give it one more go, training for the 2012 Olympic Trials. While failing to reach that lofty goal, she did finish 8th at the 2012 World Mountain Running Championships and winning the 2010 women's division of the Transrockies Run - the running version of the Transrockies race. [2] [7]
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who held the U.S. record in the half marathon from 2007 to 2025. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Jordan Melissa Hogan is an American distance runner. She attended Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo and was unanimously selected 2008 Girls High School Athlete of the Year by the voting panel at Track and Field News. In March 2009, she became the ninth high school athlete and third woman on the cover of Track and Field News magazine.
The Eastbay-Foot Locker Cross Country Championships are a series of annual cross country running races held in various regions of the United States to determine the premier cross country runner in various age groups, but mainly serves to find the best prep cross country athlete in the country. The event began in 1979 by the F. W. Woolworth Company, which initially branded it as the Kinney Cross Country Championships, at Morley Field Sports Complex in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, before Woolworth rebranded the event in 1993 to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships for Woolworth's sporting goods company. For most people associated with the sport, the name was just shortened to Foot Locker or even abbreviated in agate results as FL. In 2021 the event was rebranded again as the Eastbay Cross Country Championships after the Foot Locker owned company. The event is the longest-running national cross country race for high school students.
Jennifer Simpson is a retired American middle- and long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 1500 meters at the 2011 World Championships, silvers at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Gina Procaccio is a retired American long and middle-distance runner. In 1995, she was the USATF National Champion in the indoor 5000 metres, which qualified her to run for her native country in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics in Barcelona, Spain.
Sara Elizabeth Slattery is an American middle- and long-distance runner who mainly competes in track races. Slattery has represented the United States at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships at both junior and senior level.
Donald Cabral is an American cross country and track runner from Connecticut who went on to star at Princeton University. He has been most successful in the steeplechase, but has also been a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American in cross country and the 5000 meters, as well as the Ivy League champion at the 3000 meters. He is a former American collegiate steeplechase record holder and was the 2012 NCAA steeplechase champion. He competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics in the steeplechase. At Princeton, Cabral was an eight-time NCAA All-American and ten-time individual Ivy League champion. He was a long distance running champion in high school for Glastonbury High School, winning two Class LL championships as a sophomore and then open state and New England championships as a junior and senior.
Edward Cheserek is a Kenyan distance runner. He is a 17-time NCAA champion collegiate distance runner for the University of Oregon. Cheserek was the most highly recruited high school distance runner in the nation out of Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in New Jersey where he was named the Gatorade 2012-2013 National Cross Country Runner of the Year. In 2013, Cheserek became the first freshman in Oregon history to win the NCAA National Cross Country Championships. Cheserek repeated this feat in his sophomore and junior years at Oregon before coming in third in the race in 2016 during his senior year. In total, Cheserek has 17 NCAA National Titles, including two indoor distance medley relays and one cross-country team title.
Lindsay Flanagan is an American long-distance runner.
Colleen Quigley is an American middle-distance runner, steeplechase specialist, and Olympian from St. Louis, Missouri. She is a current world record–holder in the 4x1500-meter relay. Competing in the 3000-meter steeplechase, she finished 8th at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and 12th at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. She won the 2019 U.S. National Indoor Championship in the mile, running 4:29.47, and was the 2015 NCAA Champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase. In 2023, Quigley announced that she would start competing in triathlon events, but that she still plans to compete in track and field through 2024.
Luke Puskedra is an American long-distance runner who competes over distances ranging from 10,000 meters to the marathon.
Emily Sisson is an American long-distance runner. She set the North American record in the marathon on October 9, 2022, when she ran 2:18:29 to finish second at the Chicago Marathon. Sisson also held the American record in the half marathon from May 2022 until July 2023. She represented the United States in the 10000 metres at the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing 9th and 10th. In June 2021, she won the 10000m at the 2020 US Olympic Trials and placed 10th in the 10000m final at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2024, she placed second in the marathon at the US Olympic Trials, qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics Women's marathon on 11 August 2024, where she finished 23rd.
Andrew James Hunter is an American middle distance runner from Purcellville, Virginia, who competes professionally for Adidas on the running group Tinman Elite. He set the national indoor mile record for high school boys in 2016. He was named Gatorade National Cross-Country Runner of the Year in 2016. He committed to the University of Oregon on November 12, 2015 but instead decided to pursue a professional career by signing a 10-year contract with Adidas on July 8, 2016.
Erin Finn is a female long-distance runner from the United States. She competed in the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Junior women's race placing 34th in 20:03.
Allison Kieffer is an American athlete who competes in distance running events. Kieffer placed 5th in 2:29:39 at the 2017 New York City Marathon. She placed 7th at the 2018 New York City Marathon with a time of 2:28:12. Kieffer is a coach and nutritionist.
Karissa Schweizer is an American middle- and long-distance runner, Olympian and World Record holder in the women's 4x1500 meters relay. She competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters events finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. In 2020, she set the indoor 3000 meters American Record with a time of 8:25.70.
Katelyn Tuohy is an American professional middle- and long-distance runner.
Taylor Ewert is an American long-distance runner and college track and field athlete for the University of Arkansas and Michigan State University. In high school, she set numerous records and was the cross country OHSAA Division I individual state champion in 2019, representing Beavercreek High School. Ewert committed to the University of Arkansas later that year, and in 2020, she was named the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
Weini Kelati Frezghi is an American middle and long distance runner. Born in Eritrea, she claimed asylum in the United States in July 2014 and subsequently achieved multiple victories in state and national level competitions while attending Heritage High School in Leesburg, Virginia. While competing for the University of New Mexico, Kelati won the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
Alicia Monson is an American long-distance runner who primarily competes in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. She holds the North American record over the 5000 m, 10,000 m, and two mile distances, all set as part of the On Athletics Club under coach Dathan Ritzenhein.