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GTC-ELITE 2019 Highlights . . .

12/30/2019

As we near the end of 2019, we thought it would be good to recap some of the year's highlights for ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE.

2019 Greenville Track Club-ELITE Highlights
ASICS GTC-ELITE 2019 schedule had athletes compete in the following locations:

Clemson, SC
Greenville, SC
Houston, TX
Columbia, SC
Charleston, SC
Charlotte, NC

Knoxville, TN
Eugene, OR
Philadelphia, PA
Spokane, WA
Grand Rapids, MI
Nashville, TN

Portland, OR
Princeton, NJ
Atlanta, GA
Lima, Peru
New Haven, CT
Northport (LI), NY

Columbus, OH
Indianapolis, IN
Richmond, VA
Winston-Salem, NC
Sacramento, CA

JANUARY

Ryan Bugler placed third in the 3,000 meters event in the Orange & Purple Elite meet at the Clemson Indoor Track facility on Friday afternoon. The 2016 NCAA DIII champion in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase, while a student at St. John's University in Minnesota, cut almost six seconds from his previous personal best. After covering the first kilometer in fifth place at 2:47.70, Bugler ran very consistent laps on the 200-meter banked oval and passed two-kilometers at 5:33.5 before finishing with a time of 8:19.21.
Joe Niemiec ran 14:53 to win the 41st edition of the Greenville News Run Downtown 5K. It was Niemiec's first competition as a member of the post-collegiate, Olympic development program as he relocated to Greenville from Michigan to join the program in October. He took the lead after a first mile of 4:55 and ran alone for the remainder of the course though downtown Greenville.
Eddie Garcia ran 2:18:50 to best the 2:19:00 qualifying standard to be eligible for the 2020 Olympic Games athletes the Chevron Houston Marathon. Running almost perfectly even half-marathon splits of 1:09:26 and 1:09:24, he placed 22nd overall in a very elite field of international athletes. He was the seventh USA citizen to finish.
Ryan Bugler returned to the Clemson University Indoor Track Complex two weeks after setting a personal best in the 3,000 meters. Once again he ran to a third place finish and once again ran to a personal best. After running 8:19.21 on January 11, Bugler cut over four seconds from that time as he crossed the finish line with a time of 8:15.03.

FEBRUARY

Ryan Bugler placed third in the 3,000-meter event at the inaugural Carolina Challenge conducted on the University of South Carolina's new 200-meter Indoor track. Bugler ran 8:16.76, which was slightly slower than his personal best of 8:15.03 set the week before.
The program announced that Avery Martin would be joining the program. Martin is a 2016 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, where he majored in History. Following his graduation he married Caroline Parris and the couple moved to Winston-Salem, NC, where he has been training. While a student at VMI, He set the school record for the 1000-meter run and specialized in middle distance races. He was an 11 time IC4A championship qualifier in six events, and won the outdoor Southern Conference 800 meter championship in 2016. Avery also twice earned All SoCon second team honors in Cross Country. Martin's personal bests include 1:50.75 (800m), 2:25.45 (1,000m), 3:45.40 (1,500) 4:02.93 (Road Mile), 4:05.54 (Indoor Mile), and 24:21 (Road 8k).
Zach Mains ran a personal best of 1:08:24 to place sixth in the Prisma Health Half Marathon (from Travelers Rest to downtown Greenville, SC). His time was 21 seconds faster than his previous PB.

MARCH

The program announced that Cristina McKnight will be joining the program. McKnight was born in Madrid, Spain and holds dual citizenship for her birth country and the United States. She was raised in Michigan and graduated with a degree in Statistics from Michigan State University in 2018. Cristina recently ran 1:18:21 in the Houston Aramco Half Marathon in Texas and currently lists that distance as her favorite for competition. She will focus on distances from the 10K up to a future marathon.
Eddie Garcia returned to completion following his 2:18:50 performance at the Chevron Houston Marathon in January and placed second in the 5,000 meters at the 49er Classic in Charlotte, NC. On a cooling Friday evening, with slight winds, Garcia circled the Charlotte University (UNCC) track 12.5 times before crossing the finish in second place with a time of 14:31.98. Victor Pataky ran with the lead pack for much of the race before finishing 5th with a time of 14:49.68. It was Pataky's first race on the track since joining the program in August of 2018.

APRIL

Eddie Garcia ran 29:57 to place 10th overall in South Carolina's largest road race. On an overcast and humid morning the 2015 Southeastern Conference 10K champion covered the first half of the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K race in 15:18. He then ran the second half of the race, which includes the decline coming down the bridge, in 14:39. Garcia was the third American to finish as Colin Beenie (29:01) was 7th and Jordan Mann (29:54) ninth.The first six finishers were either Kenyan or Ethiopian. Eddie earned $250 for his overall finish and $1000 as third USA citizen for a total of $1250.
Victor Pataky ran to a second place finish in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at the Tennessee Relays in Knoxville, TN. On a warm late Friday afternoon, with steady winds buffeting the track down the backstretch, the Centre College graduate ran 9:15.81 in his first attempt at the steeplechase since joining the post-collegiate program last August. Although well off his personal best of 9:03.87, he was competitive for much of the race. Indiana University's Joseph Murphy won in a time of 9:06.08. Avery Martin, placed 20th in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:51.69. It was Martin's second competition since joining the program in late February and a big improvement over his initial 1500 last month.
Eddie Garcia placed third in the 42nd TD Bank Reedy River Run 10K in downtown Greenville, SC. After running with eventual winner James Quattlebaum for much of the race, he finished with a time of 30:33 to earn $500 and an additional $100 for second South Carolina resident. Three of Garcia's teammates also placed among the top nine in the very competitive field. Joe Niemiec, running in only his second race since joining the program, placed seventh with a time of 31:14. He was followed by Zach Mains (8th) with a time of 31:50 and Victor Pataky (9th) at 32:17.
Cristina McKnight placed fourth in the 2019 Eugene (Oregon) Half Marathon with a new personal best of 1:16:40. The time, which is a 5:52 per mile average, was 1 minute and 41 seconds faster than her time at January's Aramco Houston Half Marathon where she ran her previous PB of 1:18:21. Cristina ran very even spilts as she covered the first 5 miles in 29:24 (5:53 per mile) and ten miles in 58:40 (5:53 pace). McKnight now has the sixth fastest women's time in the history of the Eugene Half Marathon.

MAY

Ryan Bugler ran 15:03 to win the Hot Flash 5K road race in Cayce, SC. He took the lead before 3K on the winding course through the the historical and beautiful woodlands of Cayce’s new Timmerman Trail along Congaree Creek. The victory was worth $250. Bugler's ASICS GTC-ELITE teammate, Avery Martin, placed third with a time of 15:26 and earned $100.
Zach Mains returned to his home state of Pennsylvania for the 40th running of Philadelphia's Broad Street Run 10-mile and placed 18th overall in a field of over 35,000 runners. Zach covered the first three miles in 14:48 before passing the halfway point at five miles in 24:50. At that point he was in 14th place. His paced began to slow somewhat by 7 miles (35:20) and considerably more over the final three miles as he posted a finishing time of 51:52 (5:11 per mile).
Eddie Garcia placed 18th overall in the 12-Kilometer Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, WA. Garcia ran 37:06 for a 4:58-per-mile pace over the very challenging route, which includes the infamous .72-mile, 152-feet climb of "Doomsday" hill about 4.5 miles into the race. The event has been conducted in the eastern Washington city on the first Sunday in May each year since 1977 and attracts an international field of elite competitors and had over 35,000 finishers. The results indicate that Garcia was the 8th American finisher.
Joe Niemiec returned to his home state of Michigan and placed 14th in the USATF 25K Championships. The national championship competition is conducted within Grand Rapids' Amway River Bank Run, which is the largest 25K event in the country. He improved his personal best for the distance by over 70 seconds. Starting conservatively, per the race plan, he then settled into a pace just under 5:10 per mile after 5K. He passed the half-marathon (13.1-mile) split at 1:07:24 before finishing at 1:19:52 (5:08/mile).
Ryan Bugler placed second in the Lexington Medical Center Governor's Cup Main Street Mile on a warm, but pleasant Friday evening in South Carolina's Capital City. Bugler took an early lead on the out-and-back course and then remained in the lead pack after the 180-degree turn at halfway. He used a late race surge to pass former Penn State standout Robbie Creese and move into second over the final 150 meters and finished with a time of 4:16. The race was won by 2018 former Georgia Tech All American Nahom Solomon with a time of 4:11. Solomon garnered the winner's prize of $500, while Bugler earned $400 for his runner-up finish. Bugler's ASICS GTC-ELITE teammate, Avery Martin placed sixth in 4:21.
Avery Martin ran a personal best of 4:04.42 to place third in the Atlanta Track Club's Wingfoot Elite Mile on Tuesday evening. On a warm evening at the Emory University track complex, Martin ran in the pack behind the early pacesetters and settled into fourth position by 1,000 meters. He passed fellow Greenvillian James Quattlebaum over the final 100 meters to take third. Quattlebaum, who led after the pacers retired, ran 4:05.36. The Atlanta Track Club's Dylan Capwell won in 4:03.85 with his ATC teammate Edward Kemboi second at 4:04.40.
Eddie Garcia ran a yearly best of 14:12.05 for 5,000 meters on the Vanderbilt University track to place seventh in the Music City Distance Carnival. On a pleasant Friday evening in the Tennessee capital, Garcia continued his impressive season as he prepares for the marathon event in the 2019 Pan American Games to be held in Lima, Peru in July. After running with the lead pack for the first two kilometers, he hung with the second group for the remainder of the race and closed with a 63.8 final circuit.

JUNE

Victor Pataky and Avery Martin ran solid performances on the second day of the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville, TN. Pataky ran a personal best of 8:56.67 to place ninth in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase, knocking six seconds from his previous best. His teammate, Ryan Bugler, placed 12th with a time of 9:09.61. Martin just missed his personal best by .51 of a second as he placed 2nd in his heat and 13th overall with a time of 3:45.91.
Cristina McKnight ran 28:08 to win the 40th Sunrise 8K in Simpsonville, SC. She finished 16 seconds ahead of her training partner, OG Gardner (28:24), and 9th overall in the iconic race that starts exactly at sunrise (6:16 am) and runs through the streets of Simpsonville. McKnight's victory earned her the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) South Carolina State 8K Championship, which was conducted with this event.
Eddie Garcia ran a personal best of 29:18.37 to win "Section 2" of the men's 10,000-meters at the Portland Track Festival on Saturday night. Garcia ran in the lead pack for the entire 25 laps of the Lewis & Clark College track in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego on a beautiful and cool evening. He finished strong, moving into the lead in the final 100 meters to best New England Distance Project's Henry Sterling (29:19.57) by just over a second. The top six finishers in "Section 2" finished between 29:18.37 and 29:24.6. Eddie's performance earned him 13th place overall in the combined two-section field of over 60 athletes. The time was also a new national record for the US Virgin Islands, which Eddie represents internationally.
Avery Martin ran 3:48.33 to place 30th in the 1500-meter event as the Portland Track Festival. Although passing 1200 meters in 3:02, he was never able to free himself from the very competitive field while running his second best time of the season.
Victor Pataky took the lead with just after two kilometers in the 3000-meter Steeplechase at the Portland Track Festival. However, he experienced an unfortunate slip on the water jump barrier and took a nasty fall into the water pit. He quickly gathered himself and caught up to the back of the leading pack. He managed to finish third in "Section 2" with a time of 8:57.77, which was only one second off his personal best set last week in Nashville. Victor finished 14th overall in the combined results (both sections). Ryan Bugler had a good showing as he ran 8:58.77, which was also one second off his personal best and an 11-second improvement from the previous week. Ryan finished 15th overall in the combined results.
Ryan Bugler ran 8:59.15 and placed 10th in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at the Princeton Twilight Qualifier in Princeton, NJ.

JULY

Eddie Garcia ran to a 21st place finish to lead ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE in the 50th running of Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race on the USA's birthday. After passing the first 5K in 14:48, Garcia's finishing time was 30:34 over the challenging 10-kilometer route on the Georgia capital's famous Peachtree Street. He was the 11th American finisher. Victor Pataky, Joe Niemiec and Cristina McKnight all placed within the top 30 men and women finishers, respectively. Pataky placed 25th with a time of 31:25 after placing 26th in 2018. Although slowing considerably after the first 5K, Niemiec finished his first Peachtree in 30th position with a time of 32:41. McKnight, who did not compete in college, was running in only her first 10K and placed 29th with a time of 36:08. She passed 5K in 17:32 before slowing somewhat on the second half hills.
Avery Martin ran 15:23 to place sixth in the Rotary Club of Kernersville 4th of July 5K Run in Kernersville, NC.
The program announced the addition of Annie Rodenfels. The recent graduate from Centre College in Kentucky, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Gender Studies, was the 2019 NCAA Division III national champion in both the 3000-meter Steeplechase and the 5,000 meters. Rodenfels is a 7 x NCAA DIII All American in Track & Field and Cross Country and a 3 x national champion (steeple in 2018 and '19 and 5,000 in '19). She also placed 3rd in the 2018 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships. She has personal bests of 9:57.39 in the 3000m-steeplechase and 16:35.4 in the 5,000 meters.
Eddie Garcia ran 2:19:12 to place 12th in the 2019 Pan American Games Marathon in Lima, Peru. He was also selected to carry the flag of the US Virgin Islands in the opening ceremony.

AUGUST

Ryan Bugler and Annie Rodenfels both ran to victories in the Edouard Michelin Memorial 5K Run on a muggy Saturday morning. Bugler ran 14:57 over the route consisting of rolling hills in the South Carolina Upstate countryside to best teammate Joe Niemiec (14:59) by two seconds. Their teammates Victor Pataky placed third, for the second consecutive year, with a time of 15:07, and Avery Martin was fifth in 15:25. Rodenfels, who also represented her employer Joy Real Estate in the GTC Corporate Cup competition, ran 17:11 to win the women's race and teammate Cristina McKnight was second at 17:27. McKnight was also an integral member of the winning, GE, corporate team. It was the seventh consecutive year that an ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE athlete won the overall title: Adam Freudenthal & Chas Armstrong (15:01) in 2013, Freudenthal (14:43) in 2014, Mark Leininger (14:54) in 2015, Austin Steagall (14:42 course record in 2016, then 15:03 in '17 and 14:44 in '18). On the women's side it was the sixth win in the last seven years for the GTC-ELITE women: Kimberly Ruck (17:37) in 2013, Alison Parris (16:52) in 2014, (course record 16:40) 2015 and (18:18) in 2017, and Dylan Hassett (17:02) in 2016.

SEPTEMBER

Cristina McKnight ran a personal best of 35:37 to place ninth in a talented field at the 42nd edition of The Great Cow Harbor Run 10K in Northport, NY. It was just McKnight's second attempt at the 10K distance. She previously ran Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race 10K in July. She earned $300 for her placing on a beautiful Saturday morning on Long Island. Victor Pataky ran in the pack of frontrunners for much of the race over the undulating terrain, which included the infamous James Street Hill, before finishing in 30:52 to place 11th overall. It was 35-second improvement from 2018, when he placed 15th here. This was the deepest field in the race's long and storied history as six men ran under 30:00 and ten under 30:33.

OCTOBER

Annie Rodenfels won the BMW Performance Classic 2-Mile at BMW's Test Track in Greer, SC. On a cloudy and cooler Saturday afternoon she just missed the course record by a mere two seconds as she recorded a time of 10:30. It was Rodenfels', who also represented her employer Joy Real Estate in the Corporate Shield competition, second win in two races since moving to Greenville.
On a cool, sunny and windy (9-10 mph) Sunday morning, Joe Niemiec placed 106th in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. In his initial attempt at the 42.195 kilometer distance, Niemiec's goal was to run under 2:19:00 and qualify for the 2020 USATF Olympic Team Marathon Trials to be conducted in Atlanta, GA on February 29. He ran the first 25K (15.5 miles) at sub-2:20 pace, after passing 21.1K (half marathon) at 1:09:52. However, as is often the case in the marathon, he began to feel the effects of the effort between 25 and 30K. After slowing considerably over the final half of the race he finished with a time of 2:26:46.

NOVEMBER

Cristina McKnight ran a personal best of 1:16:04 to place 14th in the CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon in Indiana's capital city. She averaged 5:48 per mile over the 13.1-mile course on a cold Saturday morning. Her finishing time was 36 seconds faster than her previous best, which she ran in Eugene, OR in April. Cristina ran negative splits as she passed 10K at 36:28 (5:52 pace).
Annie Rodenfels ran 26:53 to place fifth among women at the VCU Health Richmond Marathon's Allianz Partners 8K in Virginia's capitol city. It was her debut attempt at the distance and she earned $100 for her placing and also broke a long-standing ASICS GTC-ELITE program record. The previous program best was 27:11 by Kimberly Ruck in 2014. Ryan Bugler ran a personal best of 23:56 to place seventh overall, which was a 24 second improvement over his previous best at this distance. Avery Martin placed 12th with a time of 24:29, which was only nine seconds off his personal best.
Joe Niemiec ran 24:35 to place second in the TreesUpstate Turkey Day 8K in downtown Greenville, SC. The event, which also conducted a 5K, had well over 4,000 finishers between the two races on a cold, sunny Thanksgiving morning. Greenville's James Quattlebaum, who recently qualified for the 2020 USATF Olympic Team Trials marathon (with a half-marathon qualifying time), was the overall winner with a time of 24:15. Those were the only two runners to break 25:00 minutes on the hilly route.
Avery Martin ran a personal best in the 3,000 meters at the Clemson Indoor Opener, in Clemson, SC. Martin, whose primary event has been the 1500 and mile, ran 8:33 to place second in his first track appearance since July.
Annie Rodenfels ran a personal best of 16:34.8 to place second in the 5,000 meters at the JDL Earlybird Invitational in Winston-Salem, NC on Sunday morning. The 2019 NCAA DIII national champion in the 5,000m bested her previous indoor best of 16:44.4 and also her outdoor best of 16:35.4. She passed 1600 meters in 5:12 and 3,000m in 9:47
Cristina McKnight became the second ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE athlete to post a qualifying time for the 2020 USATF Olympic Team Marathon Trials as she debuted over the 26.2 mile distance with a time of 2:40:42. Her time was well under the 2:45:00 qualifying standard as she placed 11th overall in the women's field and was the 8th American finisher. This year's California International Marathon once again lived up to its excellent reputation for presenting the opportunity for multiple qualifiers over the course from Folsom to the California State Capitol in downtown Sacramento.