There are at least two great opportunities to meet with members of Team USA Minnesota in the next months.

First all Metro area residents will get the chance to meet Team USA – Minnesota on June 11, 2008. According to Down the Backstretch everyone is welcome to come run with Team USA members starting at 6:30pm. The event will take place at TC Running Company in Eden Prairie (6405 City West Parkway).

Bring your running gear and go on a 3-5 mile run with team members, the advertisement says that all speeds are welcome. After the run hang out at the party which starts at 7:30 with autograph sessions and a special presentation at 8:15.

It looks like a great event and I hope to be able to go for awhile, although I will probably have to skip the run part for a work function.

The second event is only for student athletes in grades 7-12. Carrie Tollefson, Team USA MN athlete will host a 3 day camp. The official press release highlights some important facts:

Designed for boys and girls in grades 7-12 who run distances from the 800 meters up through cross country, the performance-driven camp wil be held at the College on St. Catherine in St. Paul. There were 84 campers in 2007 and this year the limit is 100. Registration closes on June 10.

A highlight of this year’s camp will be Todd Williams, a two-time Olympian and the 15k American record holder. In high school, Williams won six Michigan state championships, was a runner-up at Footlocker in 1986, he was an eight-time All American at the University of Tennessee, and a 12-time USA National Champion competing for adidas.

The Carrie Tollefson Training Camp should be a great opportunity for young runners to hang out with an Olympian and multi-champion female athlete. Tollefson is a Minnesota native who won 13 Minnesota high school championships in cross country and track in the early 1990s, setting a national high school record for five individual titles in cross country. (Thanks to DtB for this one too!)

I am trying to encourage one of the middle schools girls to go to the camp. She ran a 5:55 indoor 1600 earlier this year, placing 4th in a high school meet.

[tags] Team USA – MN, Carrie Tollefson, Tollefson, Team USA [/tags]