America’s newest member of hurdling royalty, Queen Harrison, and multi-time national distance champion Galen Rupp will compete in the women’s 60m hurdles and the men’s 2 mile, respectively.

The 104th Millrose Games will be contested Friday, January 28, 2011 at Madison Square Garden. The first event of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, the Millrose Games will be televised live from 8-10 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.

At just 22 years old, Harrison will make her Millrose debut in 2011, where she’ll take on one of the world’s best in 28-year-old Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada.

Harrison launches her professional career after having earned the 2010 Bowerman Award as the top female collegiate track & field athlete in the country. Competing for Virginia Tech, Harrison last year became the first woman ever to win the NCAA outdoor 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles in the same year. She also won the NCAA indoor 60m hurdle title and was undefeated in hurdle finals in her collegiate season. Now beginning her first full season as a professional, she is a 2008 Olympian in the 400m hurdles and was the 2004 Pan Am Junior gold medalist in the 400 hurdles and silver medalist in the 100 hurdles.

Lopes-Schliep is among the toughest women’s hurdlers in the world. The defending Millrose champion, she is the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, 2010 World Indoor bronze medalist and 2009 World Outdoor silver medalist. She was the 2004 NCAA indoor champion as well and owns a personal best of 7.82 seconds to Harrison’s 7.94.

One of the country’s most exciting young runners, Rupp will return to Millrose for the NYRR Distance Challenge, a men’s 2-mile race. Others in the field will be announced in coming weeks.

Now competing at the ripe old age of 24, Rupp was the 2009 men’s Bowerman winner, after winning five NCAA track titles in his senior year at the University of Oregon. He is a two-time USA 10,000m champion outdoors and in 2009 held the American indoor record for 5,000 meters – a record which has since been broken by Bernard Lagat, who will run the Wanamaker Mile at Millrose.

Rupp last ran at Millrose in 2008, when he placed fourth in the Wanamaker Mile as a college junior.

For more information on the 104^th Millrose Games, visit http://www.millrose-games.com . Visit the 104^th Millrose Games on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=470543342195&set=a.72110492195.78542.728992195#!/event.php?eid=176045325751566

 

 

Fans can experience a night at the world renowned Madison Square Garden – with the ambience, history and great international competition that Millrose has to offer – on any budget. Tickets for the 104^th Millrose Games range from $15-$100 and are on sale now at the Madison Square Garden box office (212-465-6073) or through Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com/Millrose-Games-tickets/artist/847622)

 

 

The application for press credentials for the 104^th Millrose Games is now available online at http://www.millrose-games.com/meet-info/media-info/ . Deadline for application is Monday, January 24.