ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Ryan Root ran a personal best of 1:07:03 to place second in the Greenville Health System Half Marathon on Saturday morning. The former North Central College (Illinois) runner stayed with the lead pack of four during the first 10K before he and eventual winner Ricky Flynn separated from the others. 

Flynn, a former member of ASICS GTC-ELITE and a two-time USA Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon, ran 1:06:57 to best Root by six seconds over the 13.1 mile route from Traveller's Rest to downtown Greenville, SC. Local standout and course record holder Brett Morely was third in 1:08:09. Both Flynn and Root smashed the course record of 1:07:52, set in 2016. Flynn earned $500 for the win and Root $400 for second. 

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the 45-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, and NormaTec Recovery Boots. ​​​​​​ ​​​

Former Clemson All American Kimberly Ruck returned home to her alma mater and ran to victory in the women's 3,000 meter run at the Tiger Tune Up on Friday afternoon. The ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE athlete led a 1-2-3 sweep for the post-collegiate group. Ruck followed teammate Alison Parris for the first six laps over the banked 200-meter Mondo surface as they passed 1 kilometer in 3:09. Ruck took the lead in the seventh lap and passed 1600 meters in 5:04 with Parris one second back. Kimberly continued to run a very even pace and finished with a time of 9:33.06. Parris was second in a seasonal best of 9:44.17 and their teammate Kate Dodds placed third at 9:56.93. 

In the meet's previous event, ASICS GTC-ELITE's Austin Steagall took a rare opportunity to race at the one-mile distance and produced a huge personal best of 4:05.94. He placed third behind Furman University's Ryan Adams and Troy Reeder, who also ran personal bests of 4:02.73 and 4:02.9 respectively. Steagall won the 5,000 last week on the same track and had set a facility record  over 3,000 meters here on January 28th.

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the 45-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, and NormaTec Recovery Boots. ​​​​​​ ​​

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE added another good performance at Clemson's Tiger Paw Invitational on Saturday afternoon as Alison Parris won the women's 3000 meters. Parris took the lead from the starting gun and never looked back as she passed 1,000 in 3:06 and motored on to victory with a final time of 9:46.12. 

​On Friday evening, members of the post-collegiate, Olympic development group placed first and second in the men's 5,000 and second in the women's 5,000 meters. For details see previous post.

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the 44-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, and NormaTec Recovery Boots. ​​​​​​ ​ 

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Austin Steagall returned to the Clemson University Indoor Track & Field facility for the second time in two weeks and moved up to the 5,000 meter distance with familiar results. After setting a new facility record of 8:04.45 in the 3,000 meters at the Bob Pollock Invitational on January 28, Steagall returned to win the 5,000 meters at the Tiger Paw Invitational in a time of 14:08.68. 

After following the designated pacer through 2,000 meters in 5:05, Steagall ran just behind Clemson's James Quatlebaum for a couple of laps before taking the lead and passing 3,000 in 8:28. He then ran solo for the final 2,000 which included lapping most of the field. The time just barely bested his outdoor 5,000 personal best of 14:08.7. 

ASICS GTC-ELITE's Mark Leininger ran with Steagall for most of the first half of the race and passed 3,000 in 8:31 before losing contact. Leininger finished with a time of 14:27.89.

Earlier in the evening their teammate, Kimberly Ruck placed second in the women's 5,000 with time time of 16:30.9  It was a homecoming of sort for the former Clemson All American, who set her personal best of 16:01 while wearing Tiger orange. She ran the race alone as eventual winner Anna Rohrer of Nortre Dame (16:15.9) took the pace out from the gun and passed the first 1600 in a brisk 5:01. Ruck ran more conservatively, passing 1600 in 5:09 and 3000 in 9:48. Both Rohrer and Ruck lapped the entire field, which they had to pass throughout the second half of the race.

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the 44-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, and NormaTec Recovery Boots. ​​​​​​ ​

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Ryan Root and Frank DeVar had good performances in Columbia, SC on a cold and windy early February morning. Root, a North Central College (Illinois) graduate, ran 47:32 to take second place in the featured 15-Kilometer (9.3-mile) event. He placed behind winner Michael Banks of Charleston (46:26) and just ahead of Spartanburg's Adam Freudenthal (3rd/47:42). He also bested two-time South Carolina Road Runner of the Year (2015 & '16) Brett Morely (4th/48:29) by almost a minute. Ryan earned $315 for his runner-up performance.

DeVar ran the accompanying 5K race and won with a time of 15:14. Columbia's Colby Coulter was second in 15:35 and Greenville's Matt Shock third in 15:38. Frank's 4:55 per mile pace earned him $75. 

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the 44-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, and NormaTec Recovery Boots. ​​​​​​