Tegtmeier wins USA 15km Race Walking Championship

Article Body: Chris Tegtmeier, a sophomore at Concordia University, Nebraska, captured the title at the USA 15km Race Walking Championships on August 19, in Minneapolis, Minn. The 2007 USA 15km Race Walking Championships was hosted by the Twin Cities Race Walkers and was an open event.

Tegtmeier, a graduate of Fairbury high school and Jansen, Neb., native, finished the race with a time of 1:13:58. His time was nearly seven minutes faster than any of the other competitors. The USA 15km Race Walking Championships is part of the USA Race Walking Grand Prix, a season long competition combining results from 13 different competitions, across a range of distances from 1 mile to 50km.

Race Director Bruce Leasure was very complimentary of Tegtmeier's ability and form. In addition, he impressed by the fact that he is already trying the longer race walk distances.

"Winning the USA 15km title is a huge accomplishment for Chris," said Concordia Head Track and Field Coach Dr. Kregg Einspahr. "This is a big step towards participating and qualifying at the Olympic trials."

All of Tegtmeier's accomplishments are even more impressive because of the fact that he has developed his race walking skills quickly, participating in the event for just over nine months.

Under the guidance of Concordia race walk coach Steve Hoger, he began to learn the race walk technique in mid December 2006. Tegtmeier earned All-America honors with a second place finish at the NAIA Indoor National Championships in March 2007 at the 3k distance. He was also an outdoor NAIA All-American for the Bulldogs; finishing third at the NAIA Championship meet in the 5k race walk.

Posted by site staff on 9/19/2007 2:30:00 PM

Tegtmeier wins USA 15km Race Walking Championship

Tegtmeier wins USA 15km Race Walking Championship

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