June 3, 2004

Shalane Flanagan set a personal best and met the Olympic 'A' standard in the 5000-meters with a time of 15:05.08 this past weekend at the Boston High Performance Series in Waltham, Mass. Flanagan, a senior at UNC who is redshirting the 2004 collegiate track & field season, ran unattached at the meet and placed third behind Marla Runyan, a three-time U.S. Nationals champion and Amy Rudolph, who ran for Adidas.

Flanagan's Olympic 'A' standard means that if she finishes in the top three at the Olympic Trials in July, she will automatically qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens later this summer. She is redshirting the collegiate season to focus on training for the Olympics in the 5,000-meters.

Flanagan has improved her personal best 15 seconds in the event, as she has gone from 15:20.64 in 2003 to 15:05.08 this year. Flanagan needed to run faster than 15:08 in order to reach the 'A' standard, and accomplished the feat by more than two seconds at the Boston High Performance Series.

Flanagan is the current UNC record-holder in the indoor mile and 3,000-meters as well as the outdoor 1,500-meters and 5,000-meters. She is a four-time national champion including twice in cross-country.

The Olympic Trials will take place July 9-18 at the Alex G. Spanos Complex in Sacramento, Calif. The women's 5,000-meter semifinal is scheduled for July 9 at 7:45 p.m. and the finals are to take place on July 12 at 9:25 p.m.