Laura Meyers Class: Senior Hometown: Pasadena, Calif. Height: 5-5 Birthdate: 01/25/1985

At USC: Laura Meyers begins her first season of running cross country at USC after transferring from Columbia with one year of eligibility remaining while she works on her masters. She was selected as the 2007 USC cross country team captain, after serving as the Columbia cross country team captain last year.

College: Began her collegiate career running cross country and track at Columbia...Helped lead Columbia to Ivy League championships each year she ran cross country (2003-05)...Qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2004 and 2005...She finished second at the Fordham Invitational in her first cross country meet for Columbia in 2003, giving a glimpse of what was to come...Ran 18:25 to place second out of 89 runners at the 2003 NCAAA Northeast Regional Open Race...Finished 24th at the 2004 XC Heps, running 21:37.82...Ran 23:00 at the 2006 NCAA Regionals and 22:22.29 at the 2005 NCAA Regionals...Also in 2005 helped lead Columbia to its first Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh in the events' 26-year history with a time of 21:50 in the 6K event...Placed 18th at the 2005 Ivy League Cross Country Championships with a time of 18:05.1 to clinch Columbia's fourth consecutive league title...Columbia went on to place second at the Regionals and 13th at the NCAA Championships...Ran a 10:24.83 in the 3000m steeplechase in 2006 for the third-fastest time ever by a Columbia runner...Qualified for the 2006 NCAA Regionals in the 3000m SC...Placed fifth at the Ivy League Championships in the 3000m SC...Finished her career at Columbia with the 18th fastest time (18:05.1 - 2005) at their home course, Van Cortlandt Park...She was a 2006 track and field first-team All-Ivy League selection and won the 2006 outdoor ECAC steeplechase, ran 10:26 at the NCAA East Regional to finish seventh and placed fifth at the 2005 NCAA East Regional with a time of 10:28...She was a three-time NCAA East qualifier in the steeplechase and ranks sixth all-time in the event for Ivy League runners.

High School: Meyers is a 2003 graduate of Maranatha High in Pasadena, Calif...She was one of the most talented scholastic distance runners in California during her four years at Maranatha...She earned the Olympic League MVP and was selected all-league all four years...Won the 2002 Olympic League individual title with a meet-record time of 17:39 on Nov. 5 at Hartwell Park...She also was named All-CIF four straight years, finishing first in 1999 and 2000...Placed fourth in the 2000 state Division IV cross country meet and won it all in 2002...Was a four-time Maranatha team MVP selection, leading them to a second-place finish in 2000 and a third-place finish in 2002 at the California state championships...She is the Maranatha school record-holder in cross country, a two-time winner of the Mt. San Antonio Invitational, a meet record-holder at the Bosco Invitationl, winner of the Woodbridge Invitational, three-time winner of the Bell-Jeff Invitational and winner of the Meet of Champions Invitational with the second-fastest time in meet history...Also was named All-American in the 3000m steeplechase in 2001...Had high school best of 17:12 in cross country and 11:00 in the steeplechase...She holds the Maranatha school records in the 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m...Also played soccer for four years at Maranatha and was first-team All-CIF.

Personal: Graduated with a 3.489 GPA from Columbia in May of 2007 and is now pursuing a Master's in Public Health in the Keck School of Medicine at USC...She is in the Global Health Leadership Track with a potential goal of later getting an MD...Would like to become an international public health director or developer...Majored in Economics and Spanish at Columbia and received Dean's List honors in 2003 and 2004...Didn't really begin running competitively until high school...Says she does not watch television.