Garrett Heath

Garrett Heath is an elite American middle-distance and distance runner from Winona, Minnesota who represented the U.S. national team at the 2010 World Indoor Champions where he finished 7th in the 1500 meters.^[2] He is the older brother of Elliot Heath.

Running career

High school

Heath is from Winona, Minnesota where he won 6 state titles in track and field and cross-country and two state titles in cross-country skiing.^[3] He qualified for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in his junior and senior years of high school and finished 6th in 2002^[4] and 10th in 2003.^[4]

Collegiate

Heath graduated high school and attended Stanford University where he was a nine-time All-American (placing in the top 8 at the national championships in track and field or 35 in the single-event NCAA cross-country championships) including leadoff leg to the championship distance-medley relay team in the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.^[5] He specialized in the 1500, mile and 5K and was one of the lead runners for the Stanford cross-country team. He broke the 4-minute mile barrier in 2007. He was one of only three collegians along with teammate Russell Brown and Leonel Manzano to run a mile in under four minutes that year. Heath was also the runner-up to Oklahoma State University's German Fernandez in the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.^[6][7]

Post-collegiate

As a professional, Heath runs for Saucony. In 2012, the Olympic year, he was ranked 4th among US distance runners in the mile and the 1500 indoors although he was ranked 8th among U.S. metric milers in outdoor track and finished 9th in his semifinal heat, thus failing to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Team. Heath, defeated Leonel Manzano in 2013 to win the USA 1 Mile Road Championship.

References