Three former greats to compete in Sunday's Olympic Marathon Trials

by Chris Day, Sports Information Director Adams State

*BOSTON-* Three Adams State College alumnae will run for a chance to represent their country on the world's largest stage as they compete in the United States Olympic Women's Marathon Trials around the city's streets here Sunday morning.

Former Grizzly greats Zoila Gomez, Nikole Johns (Sterling) and Emily Mortensen are amongst the 162 registered runners that will compete on the 26.2-mile course for one of three available spots to represent the nation at the Summer Olympic Games to be held in August in Beijing, China.

The top three finishers in the event, held a day before the running of the 112th Boston Marathon, will earn that right provided they have met the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 2 hours, 37 minutes on an IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) approved course.

Gomez has already accomplished that feat and like Mortensen, has already recently represented the country

A 2004 ASC graduate, Gomez was an 11-time All-American and a 6-time NCAA Division II National Champion for the Grizzlies and coach Damon Martin, who is still guiding her in her post-collegiate career.

Named as the Honda Sports Award Division II Female Athlete of the Year after her senior year, Gomez represented Team USA at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan last fall finishing 35th overall, and second amongst Americans, in 2:44:49.

After finishing 20th in her marathon debut, the 2005 ING New York City Marathon, Gomez set a personal best and her qualifying mark of 2:35:26 to finish third at the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 1, 2006 in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. That finish allowed her to qualify for Team USA.

Gomez, 28, became a United States citizen in 2005. She was born and raised in the small town of Charcas, San Luis Potosi, Mexico before spending her high school days in Costa Mesa, California. She then started her collegiate career at Orange Coast College before transferring to ASC.

The first of 16 children in the family to graduate from college, Gomez earned a bachelor's degree while double-majoring in sociology and Spanish. She is now pursuing a master's degree in counselor education at ASC.

Mortensen also represented the country last year as she took eighth place as the second American finisher at the Pan American Games last summer in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. Running in immense heat, Mortensen clocked a time of 3:02:00 in that race but had a much quicker time of

2:39.59 at the 2006 Twin Cities Marathon, where she finished eighth.

That effort came in her debut over the distance and came just months after she wrapped up her 12-time All-America career, highlighted by 2006 indoor 5,000-meter and outdoor 10,000-meter titles.

A native of Craig, Colo., Mortensen actually began her collegiate career as a basketball player at Dakota Wesleyan University before transferring to ASC to run cross country and track and field for the Grizzlies in the fall of 2002.

Mortensen, 25, was a member of three of Martin's NCAA Division II National Championship Cross Country Teams and like Gomez, trains under him, in Alamosa, Colo.

A 2006 ASC graduate, she is now pursuing a master's degree in human performance and physical education.

Johns, 33, is a 1998 ASC graduate and now trains in Fort Collins, where she lives with her husband Martin, also a former multiple-time ASC All-American, and their two children Ella and Delaney.

She was a 9-time All-American during her collegiate career and was a member of four national championship cross country teams.

Her personal best is 2:43.57, which she ran en-route to a 28th place finish at the 2004 Olympic Team Trials in St. Louis, Mo. She made her marathon debut in 2002 finishing 20th at Grandma's in a time of 2:47.24.

She qualified for Sunday's race with her time of 2:45.48 at the 2006 ING New York City Marathon, where she finished 19th.

No less than 10 former Olympians, seven of which have competed in previous Olympic Marathons, are entered. That list is certainly highlighted by 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist Deena Kastor, who used to train in Alamosa as well.

1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Joan Samuelson, now 50 years old, is also entered.

The race begins at 8 a.m. and will be run on a unique new course that utilizes the traditional Boston Marathon start and finish line. The course begins with a 2.2-mile "City Add-On" loop that will run by many of the most historic sites in the city. The 6-mile long "Core Loop"

that features a stretch on Commonwealth Avenue and views of Downtown Boston from across the Charles River will then be covered four times.

A live webcast of the event will be carried live at www.nbcolympics.com/marathon <http://www.nbcolympics.com/marathon>.

Highlights of the race will then be televised from 12-1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m.-11 a.m. Mountain) on MSNBC.