2022 Highlights
ASICS GTC-ELITE athletes competed in the following locations during 2022:
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JANUARY
- Jason Weitzel is ranked second in the South Carolina Road Race Rankings for the second consecutive month. The rankings were published this week by South Carolina's USATF record keeper Bill Marable. In December Weitzel was ranked for the first time since joining the post-collegiate, Olympic-development program.
- Jason Weitzel ran a solo 14:37 on a cold and windy Saturday morning over the streets of downtown Greenville, SC to win The Greenville News Run Downtown 5K. It was the second fastest time for the historic event, only behind former ASICS GTC-ELITE's Austin Steagall's course record of 14:14 set in 2017. It was the 11th time an ASICS GTC-ELITE athlete has placed first in this event. Jason joins Kimberly Ruck (3x), Austin Steagall (2x), Adam Freudenthal (2x), Joe Niemiec, Annie Rodenfels and Chelsi Woodruff as event winners. ASICS GTC-ELITE alum Frank DeVar finished second with a time of 15:37. It was the fourth time Frank has placed among the top four in this race.
- Jason Weitzel ran a personal best of 8:06.49 in placing second in the men's 3,000-meter event on Friday evening at the University of South Carolina Invitational in Columbia, SC. Entering the meet with a PB of 8:12.04, Jason ran in the pack of twelve in the first and fastest heat as he covered the first two laps (400m) in 1:03.29. He was sixth at 1,000m, passed in 2:39.67. After the pacer left the track around 1400m the pace slowed and the 2,000m intermediate time was 5:25.51 with Jason at 5:25.99 in 5th. He responded by increasing the pace with 4 laps (800m) remaining and briefly led. However, Furman University's Carson Williams retook the lead and won with a time of 8:04.43. Jason's last 1,000m was 2:40.98, including a 30.13 final 200m, when he advanced from fourth to second. Jason's performance now ranks second in ASICS GTC-ELITE program history, only behind Austin Steagall's 8:04.45 at Clemson's 2017 Bob Pollock Invitational.
- Jason Weitzel ran 8:13.12 to place third in the 3,000 meter event at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, SC on Saturday. Weitzel was looking to improve on his recent personal best of 8:06.49 from January 28th. He followed pacer Nick Wolk and eventual winner Jack Miller of the University of Pittsburg through the initial 800 meters, clocking 2:08.15, and then passed 1600 meters in 4:16.84. After the pacer retired, Miller led and passed 2,000 meters in 5:21.18 with Weitzel at 5:22.32. However, Jason was unable to match Miller's increased pace over the final kilometer as Miller finished with a personal best of 7:57.39. Auburn's Ryan Kinnane closed with a quick 29.05 final lap (200m) to pass Weitzel for second (8:10.2).
- Jason Weitzel ran 45:48 to place 25th at the 2022 USATF 15K Championships on Saturday. On a foggy and very humid north Florida morning Jason passed the first 5K in 14:49 and 10K in 30:03 before the infamous climb up the Hart Bridge--a.k.a. The Green Monster--in Jacksonville, FL. After climbing some 43 meters in elevation up the bridge, he ran the mostly downhill then flat final mile in 4:48.
- Jason Weitzel ran a personal best of 29:22 for 10K in the 45th edition of the Cooper River Bridge Run from Mt. Pleasant to Charleston, SC. That placed him 12th overall in a field mostly dominated by Kenyan-born athletes as seven finished ahead of him. Although finishing well behind second-placer and 2016 USA Olympian Leonard Korir (28:27), he bested two other USA Olympians (2021 marathon) in Abdi Abdirahman (13th/29:37) and Jake Riley (15th/29:58). Jason finished as the fifth USA citizen and second South Carolinian and his time was also a new 10K best for the ASICS GTC-ELITE program.
- Jason Weitzel ran a personal best of 14:05.29 on a windy Friday evening to place third in the 5,000 meters at Lee University's Flames Invitational in Cleveland, TN. His previous best was 14:12.0 while competing for Concord University in 2021. Jason recorded kilometer splits of 2:48.33, 2:51.23, 2:51.28, 2:53.25 and 2:41.2 as he covered the final 400m lap in 1:02.9. It was a quick turnaround after running 29:22 at the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K six days earlier.
- Jason Weitzel and Mackenzie Lowe placed second among men and women, respectively, in the United Community Bank 44th Reedy River Run 10K on Saturday morning. Weitzel placed second for the second time in this historic race as he covered the challenging course in a quick 29:47--some 35 seconds faster than in the 2021 race. He finished behind two-time defending champion James Quattlebaum, who not only won for the third time, but set what is believed to be an event record of 29:20. Quattlebaum and Weitzel have been ranked first and second all year in the South Carolina Road Race Rankings.
In the women's division, Lowe improved on her third place in 2021 by finishing second with a Personal Best of 36:16, dropping 1 minute and 39 seconds from her time here last year. She finished only four seconds behind Mauldin, SC's Victoria Hammersmith, who won in 36:12. Hammersmith was the 2021 SC Long Distance Runner of the Year. Weitzel earned $650 for his performance ($400 for 2nd overall, $50 for 2nd South Carolinian and $200 time bonus) and Lowe takes home $450 (2nd overall and South Carolinian)
- Mackenzie Lowe ran 59:34 for 10 miles to place 26th among women in Philadelphia's Broad Street Run on Sunday morning. After passing the five-mile checkpoint in 29:42, she maintained her pace through seven miles at 41:46 and then through the finish. Mackenzie had placed second last weekend in Greenville's United Community Bank Reedy River Run 10K with a time of 36:16.
- Jason Weitzel ran 14:07.1 to win the 5,000 meters at the Lee University Last Chance Meet in Cleveland, TN. Jason ran in the chase pack for most of the race as the pacer led a couple of runners at the intended pace of 13:50. However, once the pacer dropped out, the leader began to slow and Weitzel caught him with about 500 meters remaining. Jason closed well with a final 400 at 1:03.07. His winning margin grew to almost five seconds.
- Mackenzie Lowe returned to her home state of New York and placed fifth in the women's Rochester Mile on Saturday evening. She earned $250 for her performance as she clocked 5:07 for the distance, which was much shorter than the distances that she focuses on--10K through the marathon.
- Announced that Brent Leber will be joining the post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. Brent recently earned his Masters of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership degree from Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. During his extended career at Lipscomb, where he previously graduated with an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science, Brent posted times of 8:11.9 for 3,000 meters (Indoor), 14:01.1 for 5,000 meters and 29:26.57 for 10,000 meters. He set the conference record for the Indoor 5,000m in 2020 and was the first Lipscomb cross country athlete to qualify for the NCAAA XC Championships (2019).
- On a very rainy Friday evening in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, Jason Weitzel ran a personal best of 28:59.57 for 10,000 meters. That placed him ninth, fourth USA athlete, in a very good field in this prestigious meet. Jason was seeded 19th off of his road best 10K of 29:22 and cut 35 seconds from his previous track 10,000 best (29:34.62). The time was a new team record for ASICS GTC-ELITE, besting the 29:06.16 of Mark Leininger set exactly five years ago on this same track.
- Jason Weitzel led from the start and ran a solo-effort 14:44 to win the Eduard Michelin Memorial 5K. It was his first competitive effort following his macrocycle-break from training after Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race 10K on July 4th. "This race has been a tradition for our athletes to check on their fitness after coming off their breaks in training each summer," explained coach Mike Caldwell.
- Jason Weitzel ran 29:40 to place 12th in the 2022 USATF 10K Road Championships on Saturday morning at the 45th running of the Great Cow Harbor Run in Northport, NY. It was his first venture to this historic race on New York's Long Island, which features a hilly and challenging route through the picturesque village with the finish overlooking the quaint harbor.
Jason ran with a contingent of Hansons Brooks ODP runners as he passed 5K in 14:54 while in 14th place. He covered the final 5K in 14:45, finishing within a group of five between 29:29 and 29:43. He was only five seconds out of the top ten.Jason's time was the fastest for an ASICS GTC-ELITE athlete at the Great Cow Harbor 10K.
- Jason Weitzel ran a personal best of 48:34 at the USATF 10-Mile Championships in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN on Sunday morning. The time was 22 seconds better than the 48:56 he ran en route to the USATF Half Marathon Championships in December 2021 in Hardeeville, SC. Competing in a very deep field of the USA's top road racers, Jason passed 5-miles in 24:03 (4:49 per mile pace) before slightly slowing over the hills from 4 to 7 miles. He passed 8.6 miles at 42:04, which was a 4:58 pace for the segment from 5 to 8.6 miles. He then averaged 4:45 per mile for the final 1.4 miles. He placed 27th in the men's championship. His 48:34 broke the ASICS GTC-ELITE program record of 48:56 which was jointly held by Mark Leininger and himself. Leininger's performance was also run on the same course in the 2016 edition of this event.
- Eddie Garcia, who rejoined ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE this month, won the Zoom Through the Zoo 5K on a clear, but chilly, Saturday morning in Greenville, SC. Eddie recently returned to training following a bout with COVID-19 after competing in the World Championship marathon last summer. He used the race to test his current fitness level as he begins his preparation for the 2023 BAA Boston Marathon. He ran about 5:00 per mile pace until the final mile which wound through the Greenville Zoo.
- Mackenzie Lowe placed second among women in the Magic City Half Marathon on Sunday in Birmingham, AL. Running in her first race since recovering from COVID-19, she ran 1:21:24 and earned $400 in prize money. "I wrote Coach Laura's initials on my wrist as a reminder to look at during the race."
