Kathy Fleming (''née'' Franey) (born December 25, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York) is a retired American middle-distance runner. In 1994 she was the

USA Track and Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

National Champion in the indoor

3000 meters The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

Early career

While running for

Massapequa High School Massapequa High School is a public high school located in Massapequa, New York, United States, for students in grades 10 through 12. As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,825 students and 142.4 classroom teachers (on an ...

in Massapequa, NY, she was a seven time New York State Champion. Her high school career includes big wins in the 1985

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

Girls

1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and the Girls High School mile at the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

. She continued to

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

where she ran leadoff for the still standing Outdoor

Distance Medley Relay The distance medley relay (DMR) is an athletic event in which four athletes compete as part of a relay. With its inclusion in the IAAF World Relays program, the IAAF announced on May 1, 2015 that the event would be an official world record event. U ...

World record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

team which she and her teammates set at the Penn Relays in 1988. She was a seven time

NCAA All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

in the 1500 meters and

. She was also captained the team when Villanova University won their first

NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship The NCAA Women's Division I Cross Country Championship is the cross country championship held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association each autumn for individual runners and cross country teams from universities in Division I. Teams and ...

in 1989.

Professional career

Her primary distance was the 1500 meters. She ranked in the top ten of the 1500 meters five times in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 1990 to 1998. She also ranked in the top ten of the 3000 meters four times. Her personal bests for the 1500 meters and the 3000 meters are 4:07.15 and 8:46.04 respectively. In 1996 she tied for 5th place in the 1500 meters at the United States Olympic Trials held in Atlanta, Georgia. She was eighth at the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

in the 3000m in 1993. She was the

Indoor National Champion in the same event a year later. In 1996 Franey Fleming won the prestigious Millrose Games Women's mile run 11 years after capturing the high school Millrose girls mile run making her the only athlete to do so. In 1997 she finished third place behind

Deena Kastor Deena Michelle Kastor (née Drossin; born February 14, 1973) is an American long-distance runner. She was a holder of American records in the marathon (2006-2022) and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at t ...

and

Lynn Jennings Lynn Alice Jennings (born July 1, 1960) is a retired American long-distance runner. She is one of the best female American runners of all time, with a range from 1500 meters to the marathon. She excelled at all three of the sport's major discip ...

at the USA 8k Cross Country Championships in Portland, Oregon. In 1998 she finished 26th at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

held in Marrakech, Morocco where she and her US teammates won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

Coaching career

In 1999 Franey Fleming began coaching as a full-time career at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

where she had been a part-time assistant coach since 1994. She and Head coach Randy Thomas were awarded the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Cross Country coaching staff of the year in 2000 after the team won the Big East Track and Field Championship and finished fourth at the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. She also coached Shannon Smith, Boston College's first female

NCAA champion The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

to her indoor NCAA 3000 meter title in 2001 along with many other notable NCAA All-Americans. Now Kathleen Franey Fleming has three kids, Sean, Patrick, and Caroline Fleming who reside in Natick, Massachusetts.

References

* http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champion/.../women/3000m.aspx * https://web.archive.org/web/20121024143645/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/women/1500usranking.pdf 1500 list * http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/women/3000usranking.pdf 3000 Rankings * http://www.legacy.usatf.org/news/results/wot96.asp * https://web.archive.org/web/20131029205854/http://www2.iaaf.org/wxc98/Results/data/W/XC/RF.html * http://www.grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nova/sports/w_track/auto_pdf/mg-history.pdf * http://www.neitor.com/photos/schools/nova/sport/c-otrack/auto_pdf/a-wtrackmg.pdf * http://www.tullyrunners.com/recnysgirlclass.html * http://www.bceagles.cstv.com/sports/w-xc/mtt/fleming_kathy00.html * http://www.cbssports.com/b/racing/millrose/results.htm * ^Donald Huff (April 29, 1988). "Villanova Women Run World Best". The Washington Post * https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/08/sports/plus-running-us-cross-country-hacker-and-drossin-are-top-finishers.html * https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/09/.../franey-trautman-win-2-events-each.htm * https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/11/sports/li-girl-betters-two-state-marks.html * http://www.news.pennrelaysonline.com/event-history/college-women-history/college-women-distance-medley-relay * http://www.trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=735&Gender=W

External links

Kathy Fleming

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Kathy 1967 births Living people American female middle-distance runners Villanova University alumni Sportspeople from New York (state) Massapequa High School alumni 21st-century American women