By Peter Gambaccini Julie Culley finished second in the women's 8K race at the USA Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Derwood, Maryland, behind winner Emily Brown of Team USA Minnesota and ahead of her (Culley's) third-place New York Athletic Club teammate Kathy Newberry.

She thus qualifies to run in the World Cross country Championships in Amman, Jordan, in March. Culley was seventh in the 5000 at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in a personal best 15:34.43 (she'd run 15:36.50 in her semi). She was third in the 3000 at the 2008 USA Indoor Championships behind Shannon Rowbury and Jen Rhines in 9:00.14 and was eighth in her semifinal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. Culley attended Rutgers University, where she set school records in the 3000, 5000, and Distance Medley Relay, won the Hedley-Singer Award as the school's top female athlete, and was a Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was the Rutgers team MVP three times in cross country and twice in track. She later became the first women's track coach at Loyola University in Baltimore and was also an assistant cross country coach. Culley now lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is coached by Matt Centrowitz. Will this be the U.S. team heading to Jordan be the first you've been on for a World Championship? Julie Culley: I went to Spain last indoor season. Shannon (Rowbury) decided not to go and I had hit the indoor standard (for 3000 meters) and was able to go. That was my first team. But I guess this is the first one I've fully qualified for. What was that first experience of wearing the U.S. uniform like, and competing against come of the best people in the world? JC: Oh gosh, it was so exciting. I hadn't even thought about it, going into that indoor race, and actually my coach wasn't too excited about me running indoors at all last year. My manager at New York Athletic Club called him and said "oh, she's running pretty well, why don't you let her run up in Boston (at the USA Indoor Championships)?" So he let me go, and it just was a great day for me. I found out later that day that Shannon wasn't going to go (to Spain). It was kind of a shock. I guess I'm new to the elite scene. I had taken some time off. I didn't even realize there was a World (Indoor) Championship until I got up there (to Boston) and people were like "oh yeah, top two get to go." It was a huge, huge bonus View complete interview at runnersworld.com