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Kerri Gallagher

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Kerri Gallagher
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1989-05-31) May 31, 1989 (age 35)
Arlington, Virginia
Sport
SportTrack
Event(s)1500 meters, mile
College teamFordham
Turned pro2011
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)800 meters: 2:02.63[1]
1500 meters: 4:03.56[1]
Updated on August 31, 2015

Kerri Gallagher (born May 31, 1989) is an American middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500-meter run. She began to focus on running full-time in 2012 and consistently improved over the following years, resulting in a third-place finish at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2015. She competed collegiately for Fordham University.

Running career

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High school

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Born to John and Patricia Gallagher, she grew up in New York City, hometown of Belle Harbor, New York and attended Bishop Kearney High School in Brooklyn.[2] From a sporting family, several of her siblings took up running.[3] While at Bishop Kearney, her coach was John Lovett, who was friends with Matt Centrowitz. This friendship eventually resulted in Gallagher's post-college link-up with training partner Lauren Centrowitz.[3]

Collegiate

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She went on to enroll at Fordham University, taking a degree in mathematics.[2] She competed for the Fordham Rams collegiate sports team while there and in 2010 won the 800-meter run at the Atlantic 10 Conference championships and was runner-up over 1000 m at the indoor Eastern College Athletic Conference championships. In her final year she was runner-up in the 800 m at the indoor ECAC championships and winner of the Atlantic 10 1500 m. She ended her collegiate career with bests of 2:07.61 minutes for the 800 m a 4:20.25 minutes for the 1500 m.[4] Her 800 m best was a school record and she served as the school's track team captain in 2010 and 2011.[5]

Post-collegiate

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After college, she began working in the finance sector at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney but changed her mind and chose to focus on running full-time, training under coach Matt Centrowitz with the New Balance Pacers Track Club.[6] She worked with Centrowitz as a women's track assistant coach at the American University.[5]

She set her sights on qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, but failed in that attempt, later saying "I didn't have a great understanding of professional running and what it takes to make an Olympic team."[3] She ended the season as a much improved runner, however, with bests of 2:06.73 and 4:16.07 for the 800 m and 1500 m, and had a win at the Army Ten-Miler.

The following year she improved her bests in all distances from 800 m to 10 miles, including a 1500 m win at the Victoria International Track Classic in 4:09.64 minutes and a course record of 54:56 minutes at the Army Ten-Miler. She competed for the first time at national level and placed fifth in the 1500 m at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.[4]

Gallagher made her debut in the IAAF Diamond League at the 2014 adidas Grand Prix in New York, coming eighth with an 800 m best of 2:05.91 minutes. Her improvement over 1500 m stalled, having a best of 4:09.99 minutes that year, but she knocked over twenty seconds off her 3000 meters best with 9:07.39 minutes. She had a third straight win at the Army Ten-Miler.

Her breakthrough into the world elite came at the 2015 Penn Relays, where her 4:34.42 minutes win over the mile run was a world-leading time. Entering the 1500 m at the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she set a personal record of 4:08.70 minutes in the qualifiers and, in a more tactical final, placed third overall to qualify for her first world championships team. She achieved the qualifying standard with another best of 4:03.56 minutes to win at the Meeting Sport Solidarieta in Lignano – her first win in Europe.[7] She had her first race against the world's elite at the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco and placed sixth.[3]

Kerri Gallagher finished runner-up behind Shannon Rowbury at the 2016 NYRR Wanamaker Mile in a personal record 4:26.18 (#7 U.S. woman all-time indoors).[8] In July, Gallagher placed 23rd in the 1500 meters in 4:22.47 at 2016 United States Olympic Trials (track and field).[9]

Personal records

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References

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  1. ^ a b All-Athletics. "Profile of Kerri Gallagher". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
  2. ^ a b Kerri Gallagher. TeamUSA. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  3. ^ a b c d Gambaccini, Peter (2015-06-22). Kerri Gallagher: From Running Dropout to World Championships Team Member. Runners World. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  4. ^ a b Kerri Gallagher. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  5. ^ a b Kerri Gallagher Archived 2019-01-24 at the Wayback Machine. American University. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  6. ^ Abrahamson, Mitch (2012-05-06). Kerri Gallagher, former runner at Bishop Kearney and Fordham University, quits job to pursue dream of running in Olympics. New York Daily News. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  7. ^ Bellino, Meg (2015-07-07). Women's 1500 (Kerri Gallagher hits IAAF A Standard, 4:03.56!) Archived 2015-08-10 at the Wayback Machine. Flotrack. Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
  8. ^ "Kerri Gallagher - Athlete: Bring back the mile". bringbackthemile.com. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  9. ^ "2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Results - Track & Field - 6/30/2016 to 7/10/2016 Eugene, Oregon". USATF.org. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
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