College: University of Michigan
Event: 800 – 1:59.24
Coach: Mark Rowland
A back-to-back NCAA 800-meter Champion in 2008 and 2009, Michigan native Geena Gall joined OTC Elite in 2009, following a stellar college campaign at the University of Michigan and a trip to the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin.
Professional: Geena began the 2012 indoor season with two personal bests at the indoor mile and 800 meters, 4:34.79 and 2:03.12 respectively. Before competing at her event, Geena bumped up to race a pair of 1,500's. Her best time of the two races was 4:13.49 at the Payton Jordan Invitational, one second off her personal best a year prior. Gall's debut outdoor 800 meters for 2012 was at the Oregon Twilight where she ran a 2:05.31. She quickly followed up this performance with two faster 800's, a 2:00.44 at the Oxy High Performance meet and a personal best 1:59.28 at the Prefontaine Classic -- where she took second. A year prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials, Geena had the 7th fastest time in the 800 meters among Americans. At the Trials, Gall ran through the perlims and the semifinal, to make the final, each race faster than the last. In the final of the 800 meters, Geena ran a personal best of 1:59.24 for second and good for a spot to London. A few weeks before the Olympic Games, Gall raced her final tune-up at the London Diamond League at Crystal Palace. Geena qualified through her preliminary 800 for the semifinals at the Olympics, where she suffered an injury and wasn't able to qualify through to the final.
Gall’s 2011 indoor season began with a personal-record performance in the mile at the Washington Invitational (4:37.29). Returning to Seattle, she ran her first two 800 races, breaking 2:05 in both. Outdoor season saw Gall open up with 2:02.04 win at the Oregon Relays in April, followed by a 2:00.86 at the Oxy High Performance meet in May. She went on to run a World Championships ‘A’ Standard time of 1:59.76 at the Prefontaine Classic in June, and then took fifth at the USA Championships with the same exact mark. Gall went on to race in Europe, clocking a PB of 1:59.62 in Lignano, Italy.
In 2010, Gall opened up the outdoor season with a pair of season-best performances. The first came in the 1,000 meters at the Oregon Preview on March 20, where she turned in a time of 2:46.18. Then, Gall ran a 2:02.16 at the Oxy High Performance meet in Los Angeles in May. She went on to take second in the New York Diamond League meet and fifth in her semi-final heat at the USA Outdoor Championships. She also competed twice in Europe, taking seventh in the 800 (2:02.38) at Provence de Liege and fifth in the 800 (2:03.31) at Lignano.
Gall opened up her OTC Elite career with a second-place finish in the 800 (2:01.01) at the 2009 USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. Before heading to Berlin, Gall set her PR in Lignano, Italy – a 2:00.44. In Berlin, as a member of Team USA at the World
Championships, Gall qualified for the semifinals, and finished 14th overall with a mark of 2:01.30.
College: Gall won her second straight NCAA title in June of 2009, clocking a 2:00.80. In 2008, she won her first national title, and she was the NACAC 800-meter champion in Toluca, Mexico. Gall also finished seventh at the US Olympic Trials that year. Over her Michigan career, Gall was a nine-time All-American for the Wolverines, winning ten Big Ten championships and setting three conference records. … Gall was also a member of the Michigan 4x800 relay team, which was called the Fab Four, and set a Penn Relays Collegiate record in 2007.
High School: While at Grand Blanc High in Flint, Michigan, Gall won two national indoor titles at 800 meters and one national outdoor championship (2:05.05). She was also quite the basketball star for Grand Blanc, serving as the school’s starting point guard and leading the team to conference and district championships her junior year.
Personal: Geena Gall was born on January 18, 1987 to parents Jerry and June. She has three siblings: Sarah, Reggie and Katie and she earned her Communications Studies degree from Michigan in 2009.
PERSONAL BESTS- Outdoor
800 Meters – 1:59.24 – US Olympic Trials, Eugene, Ore. – June 25, 2012
1,500 Meters – 4:12.23 – Peyton Jordan Invitational, Palo Alto, Cal. – May 1, 2011
PERSONAL BESTS- Indoor
800 Meters - 2:03.12 - Husky Classic, Seattle, Wash. - February 11, 2012
Mile – 4:34.79 – UW Invitational, Seattle, Wash. – January 28, 2012