EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - Former Drake standout Matt
Gabrielson, competing for Team USA, finished 18th at the Bupa Great Edinburgh
International Cross Country Team Challenge Saturday (Jan. 8) at Holyrood Park
in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Team USA took second place with a score of 53
points at the first ever race of the International Team Challenge series. Teams
competing had a total of nine runners with the top six scoring on each team.
The lowest overall score determines the winning squad. The European Select team
won the event with a score of 50 points.
Gabrielson, a Belmond, Iowa, native, finished the
8.2 kilometers race in 26:43.
However,
his time was five seconds shy of the scoring mark for Team USA. Great Britain's Mo Farah won the race with a time of
25:41.
Gabrielson, a 12-time All-Missouri Valley
Conference performer, owns the school indoor record in the 3,000-meter run of
8:06.44 set in 2000. He also ran the anchor leg on Drake's distance medley
relay which won the 1999 MVC indoor title en route to setting a school record
of 9:40.03.
Leading the Team USA charge was Galen Rupp, who
was timed in 25:50. Rupp won the 10,000-meter title last year at the USATF
Championships at Drake Stadium.