2026 Highlights
GreenvilleTrack Club-ELITE athletes competed in the following locations during 2026:
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JANUARY
- Greenville Track Club-ELITE athletes won both the women's and men's mile events at the Clemson Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Camille Egbula led from the start and covered the 1609-meter distance in 4:50.42. Soon after she crossed the finish line the men started their race. After trading the lead over the final 800 meters, Patrick Lyell caught teammate Ryan Drew in the final 15-meters and won with a time of 4:06.76. Drew was only .06 seconds back in 4:06.82.
- Noah Fisher bested teammate Jason Weitzel's GTC-ELITE club road 5K record of 14:12 by finishing only two seconds behind James Quattlebaum with an outstanding time of 14:09 at the Greenville Journal Run Downtown. Fisher was the first of four consecutive finishes for GTC-ELITE as teammates Ryan Drew, Weitzel and Olympian Eduardo Garcia followed in third, fourth and fifth places. Drew actually equalled the former event record with his time of 14:12. Weitzel ran a fine 14:20 in his first race since running 2:11:44 for 9th place in the USATF Marathon Championships at Sacramento, CA six weeks ago, on December 8th. Garcia was running his first race since the 2024 Paris Olympic Marathon, after recovering from two hip surgeries (right and left) following the Olympics. He was pleased with his time of 15:08 as has only been training for a short period. The race attracted the top four in the South Carolina Road Race Rankings as Quattlebaum is currently first with Drew, Weitzel and Fisher ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.
- Ryan Drew (4:04.62) and Patrick Lyell (4:04.65) placed 11th and 12th in a combined field of over 40 at Clemson's Bob Pollock Invitational. Both improved by just over two seconds from their races at Clemson three weeks ago.
- Patrick Lyell ran a personal best of 4:03.62 to place third in Clemson's Tiger Paw Invitational. He improved on his 4:03.93 previous best and was a full second faster than his performance here two weeks ago. This was also a new GTC-ELITE program record for the indoor mile.
- Ryan Drew returned to his alma mater at Liberty Univeristy in Lynchburg, VA in an attempt to defend his one mile title in the Darius Dixon Memorial meet. After being in second place and in contention through 1209 meters (just over six laps of the 200-meter oval, he faded over the final lap to place fourth with a time of 4:05.90. Former East Tennessee State Univeristy standout Jason Bowers won in 4:00.89.
- Noah Fisher placed 13th in the USATF Half Marathon Championships in the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon. In only his second attempt at the distance he dropped 40 seconds from his debut with a time of 1:03:41. His 5K splits on this hilly and challenging course were 14:43, 29:47 (10K), 45:00 (15K) and 1:00:35 (20K). That is the third best half marathon performance in GTC-ELITE program history. Teammates Jack Mastandrea and Jason Weitzel finished in 19th and 20th place, with times of 1:05:22 and 1:05:23, respectively.
- Ryan Drew ran 19:05 to win the Oskar Blues Four Miler on Saturday morning at the Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, NC. His teammates Patrick Lyell and Eduardo Garcia placed 2nd and 4th with times of 19:22 and 19:56, respectively.
- Ryan Drew and Patrick Lyell opened their outdoor track season by placing third and fourth in the men's 1500-meters in the 49er Classic at Charlotte University on Friday afternoon. Drew ran 3:49.7 and Lyell 3:50.29. They competed in the first of seven 1500m heats that included almost 100 athletes, with the temperature at 70 degrees and gusting winds up to 20 mph. Lyell led at the 300m with Drew right behind, before Drew took the led in the second lap. They were still first and second with 400 meters remaining, but were out-kicked on the homestretch. Drew's final 800m was 1:59.71 and Lyell clocked 2:00.08.
- Greenville Track Club-ELITE announced the future addition of James Sullivan to the 13-year-old post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. James will be completing his post-graduate degree at his alma mater Central Connecticut State University in New Britain in August and will then relocate to Greenville, SC. He was a 7 x New England Conference champion in the distance events during his collegiate career and will look to add to his running career focusing on the longer distances from 10K to eventually the marathon.
- Jack Mastandrea ran a personal best of 28:55 to place 11th overall in the 49th running of the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K in Charleston, SC. It was also a road 10K GTC-ELITE record and he also earned $500 for his finishing place. His teammates and training partners Noah Fisher and Eduardo Garcia finished in 13th and 18th positions in the event which had over 38,000 participants. Fisher also ran a personal best with his time of 29:10. Garcia, a 2024 Paris Olympian who has resumed racing following double hip surgeries in 2024 and 2025, ran 30:17.
- Ryan Drew returned to Columbia, SC and won the Governor's Cup Main Street Mile on Friday evening (April 10). On a warm, 75-degrees, evening in the state's capitol city Drew covered the out-and-back route in 4:15.18 (rounded up to 4:16 per road race policy). His time easily won the event as the runner-up's time was 4:27. Ryan had placed second, losing by only one second, last year with a time of 4:09. He earned $500 for his victory.
