Sept. 30, 2006

NEW YORK CITY, New York - Kevin Sullivan, husband of head Illinois women's cross country coach Karen Harvey, claimed first place in the professional men's race at Saturday afternoon's Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. The Canadian, who assists with the training and coaching of the Illinois women's cross country team, had to rush to the race after helping coach Illinois to a fifth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invite Friday evening.

Trailing behind Elkanah Angwenyi of Kenya for the first half of the race, Sullivan lead a chase pack in 1:58, but no dominant runner pulled ahead. However, Sullivan overcame New Zealand's Nick Willis in the last 100 meters to claim the race with a time of 3:54.1. He was the oldest entrant in the race at age 32. Willis finished second, followed by the United States' Matt Tegenkamp in third.

Less than one week before the race, Sullivan flew from Shanghai, China back home to Illinois. He then traveled to South Bend, Ind. Friday for the Illinois meet and arrived in New York by plane at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. He checked into his hotel at 10 a.m., less than three hours before the start of the race at 12:50 p.m.

Sullivan, who finished eighth in the 2005 race, was surprised with the win.

"I knew I was fit coming in," Sullivan said, "but I didn't know how the travel was going to affect me. I just decided to stick my nose in it early on. I wanted to make sure I was up and in the mix and hopefully, do something special in the last 100."

Harvey was proud of her husband's performance and applauded his dedication to the Illinois team.

"This was a huge win for Kevin," Harvey said. "The fact that he risked his race to help coach at Notre Dame shows how committed he is to this team. Everything worked out great."