SAN DIEGO, Calif., Feb. 11, 2008 – Bob Larsen won’t be on the starting line, but the veteran coach will have a major impact on the USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego as the entries of two of his top Team Running USA athletes – reigning American Olympic Marathon Trials champion Ryan Hall and 2004 Marathon Trials bronze medalist Dan Browne – have been announced by race officials.

The USA Cross Country Championships are scheduled February 16 over a looped course at Mission Bay Park. A series of seven races that begins with the Road Runner Sports Community 4K at 9 a.m., the championships culminate with the Open Women’s 8 kilometer race at 1:15 p.m. and the Open Men’s 12 kilometer race at 2:00 p.m.

Because this is an Olympic year and the two Open races serve as the U.S. qualifiers for March’s World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, a strong field is gathering to run at Mission Bay. And, it doesn’t get any stronger in American distance running these days than Hall.