Flanagan named USATF athlete of the week

[Ryan]

INDIANAPOLIS – Shalane Flanagan has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after successfully defending her Division I title Monday afternoon at the 2003 NCAA Women’s Cross Country championships in Waterloo, Iowa.

The University of North Carolina senior from Marblehead, Mass., ran 19:30.4 over the 6 km course to become the first woman since Carole Zajac of Villanova (1992-93) to win back-to-back NCAA cross country titles. The 2003 NCAA indoor 3,000m champion and 5,000m runner-up at the the NCAA and USA Outdoor Championships, Flanagan finished twelve seconds ahead of runner-up Kim Smith of Providence College in Waterloo to lead North Carolina to an eighth-place team finish.