asics Greenville Track Club-ELITE - a post-collegiate, Olympic-development program
established 2012
established 2012
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Annie Rodenfels of ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE continues to lead the South Carolina Road Rankings that were published on January 7th. Rodenfels set a SC state record for the road 5K of 16:09 back in September. Her most recent performance was an outstanding 15:35 for 5,000 meters on the track at the Five & Dime Athletics Meet in Columbia, SC in mid-December.
Eddie Garcia dropped one spot, from first to second, although finishing as the first South Carolina finisher at the Mortgage Network Half Marathon in early December. He broke his own SC state record in that race with a time of 1:04:32. Fellow Greenville resident James Quattlebaum is now ranked first.
GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board and On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
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 The year 2020 has been like no other in most of our lifetimes. With a deadly global pandemic causing havoc and resulting in many restrictions, etc., athletics events were either cancelled, postponed or formatted differently. Road racing and Track & Field were no exceptions. Even with such uncertainty, ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE was able to perform admirably and sent two athletes to the USA Olympic Team Marathon Trials in Atlanta (just before COVID-19 shutdowns began) and also set three South Carolina road racing state records and multiple personal bests. Here are the highlights from 2020:  Joe Niemiec's 2:17:23 at Houston qualified him for the USA Olympic Team Marathon Trials. JANUARY
 Cristina McKnight and Eddie Garcia at MCG Long Run in Columbia, SC. FEBRUARY
 Rodenfels, paced by Garcia and Pataky, impressed in 3,000m Time Trial. MARCH - APRIL
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ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Victor Pataky will be departing the program and Greenville, SC as he has accepted a collegiate coaching position at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. Pataky joined the post-collegiate, Olympic-development in August 2018 with an expectation of training and competing for two years while pursing his running dreams. His career ambition was and is to coach at the collegiate level and this opportunity allows him to pursue that goal starting in January, 2021.
Victor graduated from Centre College in Kentucky in 2016 and then coached as an assistant at Webster University in St. Louis, MO, before relocating to Greenville in August 2018. He improved his personal best in the 3000m Steeplechase from 9:03.87 to 8:56.67 in 2019 before not being able to compete on the track in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also became the first coach for the Greenville Track Club's Youth Running Program -- the GTC Rabbits. In September of 2020, he placed 4th in the Low Country Elite 5K before running the 7.195K leg in the 2020 ASICS World Ekiden Relay in November, in which his team placed first among USA region teams and won the Retail Partners category while representing his employer, Fleet Feet Greenville. He finished his almost two-and-a-half year tenure in the program by running a huge 64 second personal best at the Mortgage Network Half Marathon, where he ran 1:07:05. He was ranked third in the December, 2020 South Carolina Road Race Rankings.  Pataky steeplechasing at Portland Track Festival. "We going to miss Victor," explained Coach Mike Caldwell. "He was a great teammate and especially a great training partner with Eddie Garcia. Those two have run countless kilometers together over the past two-and-a-half years. Victor was a pleasure to coach, followed our advice, and he'll become a very good coach at the college level." GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board and On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.   Wil Benitez of On Pace Wellness ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE, the post-collegiate, Olympic-development program based in Greenville, SC, has announced a partnership with On Pace Wellness. On Pace Wellness is owned and operated by Wilfredo Benitez and is based in Portland, OR. OPW provides nutritional coaching for athletes looking to improve and/or optimize their nutritional resources. "We are excited to enlist Will and On Pace Wellness in our ongoing efforts to optimize the nutritional choices of our athletes," stated Director/Coach Mike Caldwell. "We believe that nutrition is a vital component in the training and competitive process for every athlete and especially for our athletes at their elite level." Benitez has post-graduate degrees (MsCN and M.Ed) and has provided nutritional coaching to multiple and varied professional and amateur athletes. He is also a USATF Certified Level 1 Coach. For more information regarding On Pace Wellness please visit: https://www.onpacewellness.com. In additional to On Pace Wellness ASICS GTC-ELITE's resource circle includes:
GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board and On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
 Pacer Wilson, Hutchins and Rodenfels. ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Annie Rodenfels completed her 2020 competitive season with a huge personal best in the Five and Dime Athletics Meeting at Columbia International University near South Carolina's state capital city. Rodenfels had run 15:49.53 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville back in August. She knocked a whopping 14 seconds from that performance with her 15:35.18 as she placed a close second to Jenna Hutchins, who won in 15:34.37. Hutchins entered the event with her sights set on besting the US High School Outdoor record for 5,000 meters. The Atlanta Track Club's Allie Wilson was brought in to set the pace and led Hutchins and Rodenfels through a quick first 1600 in 4:57. After passing 2,000 meters in 6:12, Hutchins opened a small gap on Rodenfels. They passed 3K in 9:21.18 and 9:24.08, respectively. The junior from Johnson City, TN's Science Hill High School maintained her lead passing the bell-lap mark in 14:23.84 with Rodenfels still over three seconds back at 14:26.93. Annie ran a quick 1:08.25 final 400, closing on Hutchins' also quick 1:10.83, to finish only .71 seconds behind. Hutchins15:34.47 broke Katelyn Tuohy's US high school girls record of 15:37.12 and is one of the top high school performances in history. This was Annie's tenth competitive effort in 2020 and remarkably her tenth personal best and eleventh going back to December 2019. Rodenfels newest teammate, Emily Forner, ran her first race since joining the program in early November and ran 17:06.47. Forner passed 3,000 meters in 10:05 before slowing over the final 1600, due to just beginning formal workouts last month. Both Rodenfels and Forner were NCAA DIII champions. Much thanks to the valiant efforts of race director Dave Milner, of Nashville, TN, who organized and produced this event under extreme difficulty due to COVID-19. Each competitor produced negative COVID-19 test results during the week before the meet.  Coach Laura Caldwell, Emily Forner and Annie Rodenfels post race. GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board. The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
 Victor Pataky, Eddie Garcia, Annie Rodenfels and Coach Laura Caldwell ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Eddie Garcia and Annie Rodenfels lead the men's and women's South Carolina Road Race rankings, which were published on December 6, 2020. Their teammate Victor Pataky was ranked third among the men. Garcia's two most recent road races both took place in the state's Low Country, where he won the Low Country Elite 5K in September and then broke his own SC state resident's record in the Half Marathon last weekend with a time of 1:04:32. He placed 8th overall, but was the first SC finisher, in the Mortgage Network Half Marathon. Pataky also ran a personal best in the later event at 1:07:05 and had previously placed 4th in the Low Country Elite 5K. Rodenfels last road competition was the Low Country Elite 5K, where she set the SC state resident record of 16:09. The number of road competitions in South Carolina (and most other states) has been dramatically reduced during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both of those events in the Low Country (Hardeeville/Bluffton, SC) were "elite" events and conducted under COVID-19 protocols, including pre- & post-race face masks requirements. The most recent event also required proof of negative COVID-19 tests. South Carolina Road Race Rankings (as of 12.06.20)
The SC Road Race Rankings are published by Bill Marable. GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board. The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
Garcia Breaks His South Carolina State Record by 53 seconds at the Mortgage Network Half Marathon.12/6/2020   Garcia (striped singlet) photo: Franklin Keathley. ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Eddie Garcia and Victor Pataky both ran to huge personal bests in the initial Mortgage Network Half Marathon in Hardeeville, SC. On a crisp, perfect for running, Sunday morning Garcia covered the flat, three-loop course in a new South Carolina State resident record of 1:04:32. That was 53 seconds faster than the 1:05:25 he ran in Columbia back in February before COVID-19 basically shut down road racing in the state. His time earned him eighth in a deep field of elite men and $300. Pataky ran 1:07:05, which knocked 64 seconds his 1:08:09 as he placed 17th. ASICS GTC-ELITE alum Joe Niemiec also lowered his personal best from 1:06:49 to 1:05:48 in placing 13th. Niemiec moved from Greenville, SC to Florida for a new job back in June. The first time event was won by former Univeristy of Michigan standout and 2018 NCAA 10,000m champion Ben Flanagan (Canada) of Reebok Boston, who ran 1:03:17 and was followed by ON ZAP Endurance's Matt McClintock (1:03:38). Kenya's Athanos Kioko, who led for almost 10 miles, placed third in 1:03:47. Of the 40 male finishers, 26 ran sub 1:08 or better.
In the women's race, which started 10 minutes after the men's, ASICS GTC-ELITE's Mackenzie Lowe ran her first race in over 13 months. After taking time off from running due to a foot injury, she only joined the program and began training in late August. She placed 18th with a time of 1:20:49.  Garcia (middle) discussing the race and state record. GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board. The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
  ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE recently participated in the virtual ASICS World Ekiden Relay during the competitive period of November 11-22. The event consisted of six-person teams running the traditional marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles). ASICS GTC-ELITE represented Greenville, SC's Fleet Feet running specialty shop in the United States region Retail Partner Division. They competed in the "mixed" category, which required a minimum of two women runners among the six running segments. ASICS GTC-ELITE's total time of 2:12:20 not only placed first in the USA Retail Partner division, but also among all "mixed" teams in the USA region and third in the world among "mixed" teams (over 8,000 teams). ASICS GTC-ELITE had four runners run their respective legs of the relay on Friday, November 13 in their home Greenville, SC area. The other two runners completed their respective legs on Thursday, November 19. For this event, GPS data collected via ASICS Runkeeper app was used for official timing and distance measurements.  Victor Pataky, Eddie Garcia, Emily Forner & Mackenzie Lowe Results for ASICS GTC-ELITE: 5K legs - Matthew Blunden, 15:43; Emily Forner, 17:08; Mackenzie Lowe, 17:25 7.195K leg - Victor Pataky, 22:44 10K legs - Eddie Garcia, 29;22; Joe Niemiec, 30:00 Total Time: 2:12:20 GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board. The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
 The following is an article published on the website TrackYack.com, which covers many NCAA Division III institution's Cross Country/Track & Field endeavors. Thanks to author Julia O’Rourke for her work in publishing this content. At this time two years ago, Annie Rodenfels was likely hustling around the Centre College campus with schoolwork in hand, trying to squeeze in one of her many commitments before arriving at practice. And once at practice, she was no doubt visualizing herself racing in upcoming championship races, most notably at DIII Nationals. While she didn’t know it at the time, her hard work was about to pay off as she would go on to place third at Nationals. She would then continue to build off her 3,000 Steeplechase victory from the spring before with not one but two titles at the 2019 NCAA DIII Track & Field Championships (3K Steeple & 5K) and a runner-up finish in the Indoor 5K.
While the trajectory for Champion DIII athletes typically includes pursuing a traditional career, perhaps joining a track club, and maybe even taking a shot at an Olympic Trials marathon qualification, Rodenfels has carved her own path in the last year and a half: she decided to risk it all and become a professional runner. “It seems really sexy and fun,” Rodenfels says of her new career, “but most of the time my life looks pretty boring. I work part-time, double twice a week, lift three times a week, and always have to stay on top of [napping] and eating right. It’s just not flashy.” When she was considering “going pro” during her senior year at Centre College in Kentucky, Rodenfels sat down and wrote out all of the times she wanted to hit as a senior. If she could “run these lofty times within the year,” then it would be worth her time and resources to continue at the next level. These targets must have been lofty, indeed, given that Rodenfels had already made enormous improvements over the course of her first three collegiate years. She did not qualify for Cross Country Nationals her first year, and her fastest 6K was 24:22. The following year, she qualified and placed 168th. That spring, she leapt onto the national stage, finishing third in the Outdoor Steeplechase at NCAAs. As a junior, Rodenfels added to her All-American medal rack with a 12th place finish at XC Nationals and her first national title in the Steeplechase. Yet despite this impressive track record, her personal bests in every event (with the exception of the rarely run 2K and 2 mile events) were run in her senior year. She had met her goals, and had thus given herself permission to enter the professional running realm. The path to professional life was not straight-forward. “Groups usually don’t come to you, especially as a DIII runner,” says Rodenfels. “I had to seek out and apply or get in contact with everyone myself.” She dedicated a huge amount of time during her senior years researching online, determining whether or not particular groups still existed, what each one offered, and what their standards were. And that’s only the first step. “You have to be willing to sell yourself,” Rodenfels explains. In her experience, most of these groups don’t know the top DIII runners, so athletes may have to prove themselves to professional squads. Rodenfels urges athletes who are interested in pursuing the same path to advocate for themselves. “I think that DIII runners can actually be pretty successful as elite runners because oftentimes they still have more to give and the mentality to work hard without being given much.” Rodenfels is more than willing to help other DIII runners get in contact with groups because she found it to be a “really hard and tedious process.” Even without guidance, Rodenfels managed to find a great fit. She trains in Greenville, South Carolina with ASICS Greenville Track Club-Elite, a group she was drawn to because of the coaches, Mike and Laura Caldwell. The Caldwells’ knowledge and commitment to track and field impressed Rodenfels, who appreciates the fact that their coaching is rooted in the “most recent scientific knowledge about how to train effectively.” She believes so much in her team’s system that she is “on a mission to build it up to be as well-known as the other developmental running groups,” such as Hansons-Brooks, Zap Endurance, and the Atlanta Track Club. “I’m proud of my group and I want others to know about the incredible coaching and opportunities we have to offer post-collegiate and professional runners.” Under the Caldwells, Rodenfels has already made significant progress even though she had been training by herself for months before Emily Forner, another former DIII National Champion (Indoor 3K, 2019), joined the team. With the benefits of a training partner, she expects to see even greater gains than she already has. Rodenfels jumped straight into the professional sphere after graduating, running at Nashville’s Music City Distance Carnival just one week after her double at Nationals. She went on to run at the US Championship in July before joining her team in South Carolina. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodenfels was able to toe the line with some speedy women at this year’s Nashville MCDC (where global stars like Emma Coburn and Ce’Aira Brown also competed) and take advantage of this singular racing opportunity with an incredible personal record in the 5K (15:49). She finished right behind Saucony’s Sara Sutherland and Team Boss’s Maddie Alm and improved on her college best of 16:35 by almost a minute. Since March, Rodenfels has been utilizing a team gym area in her garage and backyard to focus on building strength and speed. “I focused on improving turnover without doing any real speed work and it definitely showed in practice. I was able to hit 200 meter times at the end of my workouts that I probably could not have touched in college while fresh. It was a really productive time for me.” While racing opportunities have been few and far between, Rodenfels has run a few unofficial PRs which have left her feeling encouraged and hungry for more. Looking ahead, Rodenfels has sat back down and created more lofty goals for herself. She is primarily focused on her upcoming 3K Steeple race at USAs, but also hopes to run a qualifying time for the Olympic Trials in the 5K. “Ultimately, I want to get myself to the starting line of the trials in the steeplechase and give myself the best opportunity possible to try and make a team. I have a lot of work to do to get there, and so this might be more of a several year goal, but you have to start somewhere.” Last year, she ran at USAs for experience, but this time hopes to make the finals and finish in the top ten. Outside of times, Rodenfels hopes to get a brand contract to set herself up for longevity in the sport, “which mostly hinges on making it more financially feasible to do this long-term.” However, she isn’t especially enticed by monetary incentives or even fame. “It’s nice to get recognition for how fast you run or for being a professional athlete, but from the beginning I was never anyone who the larger running community knew.” Accordingly, she is not deterred by her competition and does not need external approval to excel. “My motivation is intrinsic,” something that extends from her DIII roots. “I think that has already proven to be a huge advantage during COVID, but will also contribute to a (hopefully) long running career as well.” Although she owes much of her recent success to her new team, Rodenfels believes that Centre prepared her in ways she had not realized while in college. “As a professional runner, I often have the entire day at my disposal. Learning how to spend that time in the most effective ways is vital to being successful, and Centre definitely taught me the value [of] utilizing my time.” While it’s easy to spend her entire day fixated on running, Rodenfels is careful to find a deliberate, healthy balance, something she learned through her DIII experience. She finds this balance by coaching a high school women’s team, which has developed significantly under her coaching. “I’m more nervous about their workouts and races than my own,” she says. “It’s been incredibly fulfilling to watch them discover running and experience the joy of running their best time yet.” Rodenfels is also “extremely grateful” for her college coach, Lisa Owens, who pushed her without letting her burn out. “The training is similar enough… that I had no problem jumping in quickly, but I also didn’t feel like I had already peaked in college, as I think many do when coming from Division I.” Although the former Centre stand-out is primarily focused on signing a contract and making Team USA, she has some light-hearted goals in the back of her mind, like running faster than DIII legend Missy Buttry-Rock in the 5K (about ten seconds faster than Rodenfels’ current best). “I just think she’s so cool. A truly amazing trailblazer for DIII women wanting to be great,” she says of Buttry-Rock. “She’s still running fast times too, which is incredibly intimidating. I hope I can be more like her.” While Annie Rodenfels looks to those who came before her for inspiration, she will undoubtedly be one who current and future DIII runners look up to for years to come.You can follow Annie Rodenfels on Twitter (@Annie_Rodenfels) and Instagram (@andrearodenfels)  ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE is excited to announce that Emily Forner will be joining the post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. Forner is a native Pennsylvanian and graduated from Allegheny College in May of 2019 with a degree in Global Health Studies. Her athletic career at Allegheny was highlighted by wining the NCAA DIII national title at 3,000 meters during the 2019 Indoor Championships. She had previously earned All American honors with her 9th place finish at the 2018 NCAA DIII National Cross Country Championships. Emily has personal bests of 9:39.56 for 3,000m and 16:33.01 for 5,000m. "We are very excited to have Emily join our program," remarked Mike Caldwell, program director and coach. "She will be a good training partner with our other women as she works toward her individual goals and objectives. For event-specific training Coach Laura Caldwell will have her work with Annie Rodenfels, who was a three-time NCAA DIII national champion. It is promising to have two NCAA champions training together." Emily explained her reasons for joining the program. "As a Division III collegiate runner I developed from a fairly average high school athlete into a national champion. But I finished college feeling as though I only scratched the surface of my potential in this sport. After spending a year working and training on my own, I realized I was missing the challenge and camaraderie that comes with being on a team. I was drawn to ASICS-GTC-ELITE because the group creates the opportunity for post-collegiate athletes like myself to continue to develop at the regional and national levels. I get to train alongside teammates with similar backgrounds and aspirations, under the direction of coaches who see my potential and are committed to helping me reach my goals. Add in the beautiful setting of Greenville, and it’s the perfect environment for me to continue my running career." The program now has four women on the roster as Emily joins Annie, MacKenzie Lowe and Calista Ariel.
GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board. The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.
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