Shanahan 14th at Nationals, Purrier in Finals Saturday on NBC

DURHAM, N.H. – Mike Shanahan (Dover, N.H.), who earned All American honors twice in the last three months for the University of New Hampshire track & field team, closed out his season with a 14^th place finish in the hammer throw at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Des Moines Friday.

Shanahan had a best throw of 67.97 meters – 223 feet – on his second of three attempts to grab the 14^th spot and match where he was seeded.

Shanahan and fellow former Wildcat Elinor Purrier (Montgomery, Vt.), an 11-time All American, are both at the Nationals.

Purrier signed a professional contract to run for New Balance Boston on Wednesday and Thursday turned in a personal best time of 4 minutes, 8.24 seconds to finish third in her heat of the 1500 meter run.

She earned a spot in Saturday's finals of the 1500 meters at the Nationals and runs at 4:46 p.m. Eastern. The Nationals will be broadcast live on NBC on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern.

Purrier is one of 12 women in the finals, four of whom have competed in the Olympics.

Jenny Simpson, who won Purrier's heat in a time of 4:07.67, won a bronze medal in the 1500 in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

New Balance Boston is coached by Mark Coogan, an Olympic marathoner.

Purrier and Shanahan closed out their UNH careers with All American finishes at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., two weeks ago.

THE COMPETITION

Shanahan was the 14^th seed in a field of 18 competitors in the hammer throw.
Lauren Johnson was second in Purrier's heat on Thursday in 4:08.21.
Purrier's heat was by far the fastest of the day.
The top three runners in each of three heats advanced to the finals along with the three runners with the next best times.
All three of the runners who advanced on time were in the Simpson-Johnson-Purrier heat.
Purrier's previous best time in the 1500 was 4:10.08, which was the 22^nd best seed time of the 30 women in Thursday's field.
She hit that mark in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships.
Brenda Martinez won the second heat in 4:10.51.
Shelby Houlihan won the third heat in 4:14.79 and Kate Grace was second in 4:14.95.
Martinez (1500), Grace (800) and Houlihan (5000) are Olympians along with Simpson.

ALL AMERICANS

Purrier finished seventh in the 1500 meters in Eugene to earn All American honors for the 11^th time as a Wildcat.
She was a first-team All American at the Outdoor Championships each of the four times she competed there.
The first three times she earned All American awards in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Purrier won the NCAA championship in the mile at the Indoor Championships at College Station, Texas in March.
She was also an All American in the 3000 at the Indoor championships.
Shanahan finished 13^th to earn second-team All American honors in the hammer throw in Eugene.
He was seventh at the Indoor championships to earn first-team All American honors.

WILDCAT CROSS COUNTRY

The UNH men's and women's cross country teams swing back into action on Friday, Aug. 31.
The Wildcats open the season with a traditional Labor Day weekend home meet, their only home meet of the season.
They will play host to Providence, Holy Cross, Dartmouth and Brown that day.

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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