ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE athletes Kimberly Ruck and Alison Parris ran their first 5,000s of the 2015 Outdoor track season on a cold and damp Friday night at North Carolina State's Paul Derr track in the Raleigh Relays. 

Parris got things started as she placed second in the second fastest of five sections, which had a combined total of over 120 women compete. She ran an impressive 16:29.99 and just missed her personal best of 16:27. That placed her 17th in the overall composite results (5 sections combined). Her teammate, Ruck, hung with the very competitive lead pack as they passed 3,000 meters in 9:35 and although slowing some over the final two kilometers, finished with a fine time of 16:19.49. She placed 11th in the fastest section and the same in the overall results. 

"I am disappointed in that I couldn't maintain the pace after 3K, as I believed I was prepared to break 16 minutes and better my personal best (16:01)," she commented following the race. "My workouts have been going well, so I'll just get ready to keep improving in my upcoming races."  

Ruck is scheduled to compete in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational next week in California, while Parris is targeting another 5,000 in the coming weeks. 

GTC-ELITE is sponsored by ASICS, the 43-year old Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System's North Greenville Hospital, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The Proaxis Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors.

It was a busy weekend for athletes representing the ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE as they collected three victories at multiple competition sites. Alison Parris took the lead after a slow first 200 meters and never looked back as she easily won the women's 3,000 meters at the 49er Classic at Charlotte University. Parris' time of 9:52.53 gave her a final victory margin of 15 seconds in her first track competition in over three years. 

Teammate Shawnee Carnett placed second in the women's 800 at Charlotte with a time of 2:12.88 as she opened her first outdoor season with ASICS GTC-ELITE. 

On the roads, Ricky Flynn won the Seneca (SC) Half-Marathon and $1000 as he covered the 13.1-mile route in a  course record 1:09:18. Nicole DiMercurio was the overall winner (men and women) in a 5K road race in Mauldin, SC as she returned to racing following a lower-back injury and prolonged recovery period.

GTC-ELITE is sponsored by ASICS, the 43-year old Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System's North Greenville Hospital, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The Proaxis Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors.

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Kimberly Ruck ran 34:22 to place third among women in the 38th edition of the TD Bank Reedy River Run 10K in Greenville, SC. It was Ruck's best performance in her hometown's most competitive road race as she improved by 27 seconds over her 3rd place time last year. This year, she finished 14 seconds behind ZAP Elite's Sarah Crouch, who won the race for the second time in the past four years, and only 8 seconds behind former University of Georgia star Bridget Lyons. Ruck earned $450 for her third place, another $200 as first female South Carolinian and a $100 time incentive for running under 34:30. 

Teammate Alison Paris placed 8th with a time of 37:57 in the first 10K of her career. As the second female South Carolina resident she added $100 to her $75 award for 8th place. 

GTC-ELITE is sponsored by ASICS, the 43-year old Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System's North Greenville Hospital, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The Proaxis Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors.