Projo Running Blog

More on Heidi Westerling's U.S. Olympic Trials performance, courtesy of University of Rhode Island Sports Information:

Rhody Alum Heidi Westerling Finishes 26th at Olympic Trials

BOSTON, MASS -- Former Rhode Island standout Heidi Westerling finished 26th
at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials -- Women's Marathon, conducted Sunday, April
20 in Boston, Mass.

Westerling, a three-time Atlantic 10 10,000-meter champion and URI school
record holder at 3000- and 5000-meters indoors and 5000- and 10,000-meters
outdoors, shattered her personal record for the 26.2-mile distance by nearly
three minutes to run 2-hours, 41-minutes, 9-seconds. Ranked 65th entering
the race, Westerling finished 26th among the 148 women who started the
Olympic Trials.

Westerling, an Acworth, N.H. native, ishattered her own school record in
2005 at 10,000 meters by almost a minute, running 34:23.32 to finish 18th at
the Mount San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, Calif. Her 10,000 meter mark
was an NCAA Championship provisional qualifying mark. She also finished
first in the 10,000 at the 2005 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track & Field
Championship, winning her third individual title in the 10,000 with a time
of 37:23.36. Westerling is the first runner in A-10 Championship history to
win the 10,000 three times; no other athlete has won the event more than
once.

Westerling, who also finished second in the 5,000 meters at the 2005
Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, qualified for the NCAA
Regional Outdoor Track & Field Championship at 5,000 meters with a time of
16:50.53 and holds the fourth-fastest 1,500 meter time in URI history
(4:36.03), which was second-best in the A-10 this season. Westerling was
named the 2005 A-10 Women's Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the
Year.

Westerling also claimed runner-up honors at the 2004 Atlantic 10 Cross
Country Championships, as well as in both the 3000-meters and 5000-meters at
the 2005 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Westerling was named the Rhode Island Association for Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (RIAIAW) Distinguished Student-Athlete and was selected
as the recipient of the prestigious Winifred Keaney Award, which recognizes
URI's most outstanding graduating female student-athlete who has been a role
model in her collegiate career and has maintained a high level of academic
standing. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in
kinesiology with teacher certification in May 2004. While an undergraduate,
Westerling was on the Dean's List six times and earned a spot on six
Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference teams. Westerling is a member of the Chi
Alpha Sigma National Honor Society and the Omicron Delta Kappa National
Honor Society.

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