Just four weeks after her husband won the Men's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Shayne Culpepper of Lafayette had her chance to shine on the indoor track circuit. First, Shayne won the 3,000 meter race at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in Boston, posting a time of 9:00.59. Then, she traveled to Budapest, Hungary to compete in the IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Culpepper provided the surprise performance of the meet. The University of Colorado grad barely made the final, grabbing the last qualifying spot based on her time in the preliminary round of the 3,000 meters. She had been sorely disappointed with her performance and was surprised that she even made the final.

But, as the race got underway, it played to the strengths of the 2000 Olympian at 1,500 meters. She made the most of it, tactically capitalizing on a slow pace that saw the pack come through a 5:15 first mile. She moved from near the back of the pack to mid-pack with 500 meters to go, then made her big move, into third, with 300 meters to go.

Culpepper surged ahead of Marta Dominguez of Spain and Yelena Zadorozhnaya of Russia in the final lap. On the backstretch, Zadorozhnaya clipped Culpepper from behind. After stumbling, Culpepper regained her composure and sprinted to the finish in 9:12.15. The effort was good enough for the bronze medal. Shayne was only bested by Ethiopians Meseret Defar, the world junior 3,000 and 5,000 champion, and Berhane Adere, the reigning world outdoor 10,000 meter champion.

"I'm freaking out!" Culpepper said after the race, "I tactically did really well. I just covered everyone's moves and tried to stay on the inside. I felt horrible in the prelim. It was a goal of mine to do well here in Europe. I didn't want to leave my family (husband Alan and two-year-old son Cruz), come all the way here, and not do well. The support of the people on the team, especially Carrie Tollefson, Mary Jayne Harrelson and Jenelle Deatherage, they truly carried me through the last 24 hours. I started to get really down. I talked to Alan and Cruz yesterday, but my teammates and staff really supported me."

Culpepper's inspiring bronze medal closed out the competition for Team USA. The medal was one of only five medals earned by the team.

Shayne's training for the year is focusing on the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials. She hopes to make a second Olympic team. At the last Olympic Trials in 2000, she finished fourth in the 1500. Culpepper was only placed on the team roster after Regina Jacobs quit the team because of an illness. Culpepper's personal best of 4:07:99 beat the Olympics 'A' standard by just .01 seconds. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, she ran to a ninth place finish at the first round of the 1500 meter race, posting a time of 4:12.52.

For Shayne, the rise to elite status in running took awhile. She competed in gymnastics for 10 years. She ran cross country and track in high school, but never qualified for a state meet, only running about 15 miles a week. She went to college in Vermont on a partial athletic scholarship and became the school's best runner by her sophomore year. She transferred to the University of Colorado in Boulder, her parent's alma mater, after spending a summer working at a resort in Estes Park. She walked onto the CU cross country team and by the time she graduated, she was a Big 12 champion and an All-American in the 3,000 meters.

She married distance runner Alan Culpepper a year later and the two now live with their son Cruz in Lafayette.