Courtesy: Running USA

Marla Runyan - holder of the American indoor and outdoor 5000 meter records and the first-ever Paralympian to compete in the Olympic Games - today announced that she will join the elite field assembled for the 24th annual Freihofer's Run for Women Saturday, June 1 in Albany, New York.

One of the great success stories in U.S. track and field, Runyan not only has overcome a lifelong visual impairment (she is legally blind), but has impressively moved from the heptathlon to the middle distances.

In 2001, Runyan, 33, announced she would target the 5000m and predicted an American indoor record. She delivered Feb. 18 with an American record (15:07.33) at the Armory in New York City. She then went on to win the U.S. outdoor 5000m title, beating outdoor American record holder Regina Jacobs in the process in a time of 15:08.03.

"Without a doubt, this is the best field ever assembled in the event's 23-year history," said George Regan, event director for the Freihofer's Run for Women, a race which has played host to 22 USA Women's Championships since 1979 (including this year). "I think it's going to be a strategic race, unless someone takes the early initiative. If that happens, others will be forced to go too. They won't want to be left behind."

Runyan comes to Freihofer's in peak form. This past weekend at the adidas Oregon Track Classic in Portland, Runyan finished second in the 5000m to Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba (15:13.78) in a time of 15:13.96. Both Dibaba and Runyan broke the old meet record of 15:14.03. Other Freihofer competitors who fared well at the Oregon meet included: Cheri Kenah (third, 15:14.69) and Team USA Minnesota's Carrie Tollefson (fifth, 15:32.18) and Katie McGregor (eighth, 15:37.71).

Runyan, who finished eighth in the 1500m at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, started to have eyesight problems at high school in Camarillo, Calif. where she struggled to see the soccer ball. She later was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, a degenerative disorder that is the most common cause of blindness in the U.S. Since then her vision has deteriorated to 20/300 in the left eye and 20/400 in the right eye, making her legally blind. Runyan chronicled her battle with the disease in her 2001 autobiography, "No Finish Line: My Life As I See It."

Runyan started participating in track and field at high school, where she excelled in high jump and picked up the heptathlon in college at San Diego State. She was twice nationally ranked in the top 10 in the heptathlon and she placed 10th at the 1996 Olympic Trials.

At Freihofer's, Runyan will battle four of the event's last five champions - Collette Liss (Valparaiso, Ind.) '01, Libbie Hickman (Fort Collins, Colo.) '00, Cheri Kenah (Reston, VA) '99, and Elva Dryer (Gunnison, Colo.) '97.

Like the open division, the 2002 Freihofer's master's field (over 40) will also be hotly contended. Making a bid for the USA 5K Masters Championship title and $3000 purse will be Joan Nesbit (Chapel Hill, NC), a new master and a '96 Olympian at 10,000m; Carmen Ayala-Troncoso (Austin, TX), '99 and '00 Freihofer's Run for Women master's champion; and Gordon Bakoulis (New York, New York), 18th place overall finisher in 2001.

In other master's news, race organizers said that Judi St. Hilaire, 2001 master's champion, will not be back to defend her crown. St. Hilaire (Somerset, MA), whose 2001 time of 16:18 was good enough for a fifth place overall finish, has an engagement which will prevent her from competing.