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Felicia Guliford (2nd, West)

Hometown: Gallup, NM
High School: Gallup High School
Year of Graduation: 2002

After finishing 4th as a freshman and 5th as a sophomore at the Foot Locker National Finals, Guliford ran a strong race at the 2001 Foot Locker West Regional to finish second and earn one final trip to Orlando. It's been a long four years for Guliford.

After showing so much promise as a freshman, she was favored to win as a sophomore in 1999. She entered the home stretch that year with a lead but experienced breathing problems and fell, allowing Victoria Chang to sprint by for the win. Guliford managed to get up and run across the line in fifth place. She later learned that the breathing problems were due to a vocal chord dysfunction.

Felicia Guliford runs amidst the pack at the 2001 Foot Locker West Regional.
(Photo by Brian J. Myers @PhotoRun, click to enlarge)

As a junior, a hip injury hampered Guliford's training. Though she still dominated the high school scene in New Mexico, she was unable to regain enough fitness to qualify for Nationals. In the spring of 2001 she showed that she was back by finishing third in a competitive 3,200m race at Golden West, running a PR of 10:29.30.

This fall, Guliford won her fourth straight New Mexico State Cross Country Championship. It's difficult to look at her performances throughout the season and determine how she's running because the courses she competes on are frequently 6,500 feet above sea level and far more mountainous than any of the courses her national competitors will ever see.

Other Notes:
...Guliford is vice-president of an organization called Students Against Destructive Decisions at her school... Is a member of National Honor Society... Wants to take pre-med classes in college... Is her school's senior class president.

In the News:
Guliford gets another state cross country crown (11/4/01)
Guliford continues to dominate for Bengals (10/7/01)
Running Times profile of Felicia Guliford

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