2023 Highlights
GreenvilleTrack Club-ELITE athletes competed in the following locations during 2023:
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JANUARY
- Jason Weitzel and Eddie Garcia placed second and third in the 44th GTC Run Downtown on a cold and brisk Saturday morning. The race was won by Greenville's James Quattlebaum, who is currently ranked first in the USATF South Carolina Road Race Rankings. Quattlebaum's time of 14:14 equals the record for the 5K event, which was set by former GTC-ELITE Austin Steagall in 2017 on a different course. Weitzel, the 2022 Run Downtown champion, who is ranked second in the SC Road Race Rankings, improved his time from 14:37 last year to 14:29. That is now the third fastest performance in race history. Garcia ran 14:40, which now ranks equal fifth in race history, equaling former GTC-ELITE's Adam Freudenthal's time from 2013.
- Jason Weitzel and Eddie Garcia finished first and second in the MGC Long Run 15K on a cold (32 degrees), but sunny Saturday morning in South Carolina's Capitol city of Columbia. The training partners led from the start and ran together for over half the race on a challenging, rolling route, in downtown Columbia. Due to the rolling terrain their mile splits varied significantly with a fastest of 4:36 and a slowest of 5:15 on the long uphill segments. Jason ran 45:53 (4:55 per mile) and won $500 for his victory and Eddie earned $250 for second with his time of 46:21 (4:58 per mile). Eddie had previously won this event the last time it was conducted (in 2020, pre-COVID-19) with a time of 46:32 on a different course.
- Jason Weitzel and Eddie Garcia placed 14th and 16th, respectively, in the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL, which hosted the USATF 15K Championships once again. On a warm (72 degrees at start) and very humid (88 percent) Saturday morning, the conditions put a damper on fast times. Weitzel ran 47:30 and Garcia 47:49, which was well off their personal bests of 45:34 and 45:53. The race starts and finishes near TIAA Bank Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and includes two crossings of the St. John's River. The second crossing climbs (and descends) the Hart Bridge, also known to runners as the "Green Monster" for its elevation and placement during the final third of the race.
- Jason Weitzel placed second in the United Community Bank Reedy River Run for the third consecutive year. On a stormy Saturday morning, the 10K race started on time at 7:15 am after a quick moving thunder storm moved over Greenville between 5:00 and 6:30 am. Once the starter's horn sounded, Jason ran with three-time race champion James Quattlebaum as they passed the first mile in 4:39 and reached 5K at 14:30. Quattlebaum pulled away over the second half of the race through Cleveland, Cancer Survivor's and Falls Parks. Weitzel finished alone in second with a time of 30:15. Mackenzie Lowe, ran 37:22 to place fourth among women. She previously placed 3rd in 2021 and 2nd in 2022.
- Jason Weitzel placed 26th overall in the Tartam Ottawa International Marathon on Sunday morning in Canada's capitol city. Running in his debut marathon, Weitzel's goal was to run under 2:18:00 to achieve a qualifying time for next February's USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon. He ran with his pace group for much of the race and passed the first three 5K segments in 16:23, 32:28 (10K) and 47:52 (15K) before hitting the half-marathon in just over 1:08:00. He covered the first 30K in 1:37:25 (a 2:16:55 pace) before experiencing intermittent cramps in his calves. Struggling to maintain a fluid stride, he slowed considerably over the final 8K before finishing with a time of 2:24:28.
- Eddie Garcia ran a solo 24:07 to easily win the 44th edition of the Sunrise 8K in Simpsonville, SC on a very early Saturday morning. Garcia took the lead from the starter's horn at sunrise (6:18 am) and covered the 8K distance at 4:51 per mile pace which is a new course record.
- Announced the addition of Davonte Jett-Reynolds from Adams State University in Colorado.
- Announced the addition of Karl Thiessen from the University of Tennessee.
- Added form GTC-ELITE athlete Alison (Parris) Leonard to the Board of Directors.
- Eddie Garcia and Jason Weitzel took the lead from the start and covered the 5K route on Furman University's beautiful campus in quick times of 14:38 and 14:45, respectively, to place first and second in the field of just over 1000.
- Announced the addition of Ryan Drew from Liberty University in Virginia.
- Announced the addition of Jack Mastandrea from the Univeristy of Charleston (WV).
- Jason Weitzel and Eddie Garcia both broke the course record at the Michelin Memorial 5K. Weitzel defended his title from 2022 and cut a whopping 29 seconds from that winning time (14:44) with his 14:15 clocking over the hilly route through the countryside near the Michelin Conference Center. His time broke the course record of 14:42, set by GTC-ELITE's Austin Steagall back in 2016. After running together for much of the race, Garcia followed Weitzel across the finish line with a time of 14:20 (some 22 seconds under the previous course record). Their times were outstanding for this long-standing event. Garcia had won the 2018 race in 14:48.
- On a sunny and warm Labor Day morning, Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Eduardo (Eddie) Garcia ran to a 12th place finish in the USATF 20K Road Championships in New Haven, CT. With a temperature of 72 degrees and 90% humidity at the 8:30 am race start, the conditions continued to become warmer as the mercury rose to 80 degrees by the time the elite runners crossed the finish line. Eddie and teammate Jason Weitzel started out at the back of the lead group of elite men and passed the first mile in a quick 4:38. Defending champion Connor Mantz (4:35) forced the pace from the front, but that early pace was not sustainable under the weather conditions. Garcia averaged 3:07 per kilometer (5:01 per mile) while his training partner Weitzel experienced a difficult race and finished in 22nd place with a time of 1:03:55.
- Running in his first race as a professional, Karl Thiessen ran 29:42 to place 11th in the 2023 Great Cow Harbor Run which was the USATF 10K Road Championships for the second consecutive year. The University of Tennessee graduate finished only one second shy of the tenth place finisher and four seconds ahead of his Greenville Track Club-ELITE teammate Jason Weitzel. Weitzel repeated his 12th place finish from the 2022 10K Championships with a time of 29:46. He had run 29:40 last year in somewhat better weather conditions. Their teammate Eddie Garcia ran his best time on this hilly and challenging course, clocking 29:57 for 15th overall.
- Karl Thiessen ran 1:06:05 to place second in the Munich Half Marathon on Sunday afternoon in Germany. It was Karl's debut at the distance and just his second competition representing GTC-ELITE. "It was a great debut for Karl at the Half Marathon distance," stated Coach Mike Caldwell. "The weather conditions were not ideal for running that distance as temperatures were right around 70-degrees (F), but under cloudy skies. Our pre-race plan was to start conservatively due to the weather forecast and the 12:30 pm start, and hopefully average around 3:07-3:08 per kilometer." Karl was able to average that pace, although he started much too fast as he ran with the eventual winner and passed the first 5K in 14:42 (2:56 per K). He slowed over the 18th-20th kilometers, but covered the final K in 3:07.
- Jason Weitzel and Eduardo "Eddie" Garcia ran personal bests of 2:15:55 and 2:17:09, respectively to run under the USA Olympic Trials Marathon standard of 2:18:00 at The Bakline McKirdy Micro Marathon in Valley Cottage, NY. Weitzel and Garcia ran in a large pack of runners following a pacer with sub-2:18:00 as their primary target. They remained in that pack for seven of the nine loops of the course, before Jason increased his tempo to move ahead. He then covered the final loop at 4:58 per mile pace to knock a whopping 8:36 from his previous and only marathon performance. It also was a new program record for GTC-ELITE, supplanting the 2:17:18 by Joe Niemiec at the 2020 Chevron Houston Marathon. Garcia's time of 2:17:09 (gun time/2:17:06 chip time) was also under Niemiec's program record and was a new national record for the US Virgin Islands. Eddie has dual citizenship and already held the record at 2:17:45.
- Running in his first competition since joining Greenville Track Club-ELITE in August, Jack Mastandrea won the 35th edition of the CPI Security Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K on Thanksgiving morning in the Queen City of North Carolina. The former University of Charleston (West Virginia) standout covered the rolling route in 24:25, while besting the runner-up by 22 seconds.
- Jack Mastandrea ran 1:05:04 to win the Ameris Bank Jacksonville Half Marathon on Sunday morning as he led a sweep of the top four places by Greenville Track Club-ELITE. Jack, along with teammates Jason Weitzel, Eddie Garcia and Karl Thiessen took the lead from the 7:05 am start and passed 5K at 15:20. The GTC-ELITE teammates continued to run together before Mastandrea increased the pace during the eighth mile. His final time averaged 4:58 per mile or 3:05 per kilometer. Weitzel followed Mastandrea across the finish with a time of 1:05:36 and Garcia was third in 1:05:54. Thiessen was fourth in 1:06:33 in only his second Half Marathon.
