ASICS GTC-ELITE Welcomes NCAA DIII Champion Annie Rodenfels to the Program

Annie Rodenfels. photo credit: Centre College

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE is excited to announce the addition of Annie Rodenfels to the post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. Rodenfels recently graduated from Centre College in Kentucky, where she majored in Psychology, with a minor in Gender Studies. She was the 2019 NCAA Division III national champion in both the 3000-meter Steeplechase and the 5,000 meters. She was the defending champion in the former as she previously won the 2018 title in the steeple, with what was then the fifth fastest time in DIII history. 

Annie is a five-time All-American in track and field, earning the additional honors in the women's indoor 5,000 in 2019 with a runner-up finish, as well as another All-America recognition in the 3000m-steeplechase as a sophomore in 2017. She is the most decorated female student-athlete in Centre College history.

In addition to the national honors, Rodenfels is a two-time Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Women's Track Athlete of the Year and owns ten different program records between indoor and outdoor track, including the 800m,1500m, 3000m-steeplechase and 5,000. In the meets leading up to the 2019 NCAA Championships, Rodenfels set the Division III record in the 3000m-steeplechase with a time of 9:58, becoming the first female runner in Division III to complete the race in under ten minutes. 

In cross country, Rodenfels is a two-time NCAA and USTFCCCA All-American, earning the honors in 2017 and 2018. Her third place finish at the 2018 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships is the highest finish by any Centre runner in the NCAA Finals, male or female. 

A winner of the 2018 SAA Women's Runner of the Year award, Rodenfels helped lead the Centre women's cross country team to conference championships in 2017 and 2018, and in 2018, the team earned its first automatic bid to the NCAA Finals in program history.

"We are excited to have Annie move to beautiful Greenville and join our program," stated Director/Coach Mike Caldwell. "Laura (who will be Annie's primary coach) and I both believe that Annie has an excellent opportunity to continue to develop in the steeplechase as well as at other distances such as the 3,000 and 5,000. She will be a great addition to our program." 

Rodenfels commented, “I am incredibly honored and excited to be making this commitment to Greenville Track Club-ELITE in order to pursue a career in professional running! The opportunity to push my running as far and as fast as it can go is incredible, but I am that much more exited to be pursuing my goals with GTC-ELITE. I wholeheartedly believe that the opportunities here under the powerful force of Mike and Laura will help push me to be my best. I feel very lucky to be moving on from one great program onto another one, and am especially excited to help build a foundation alongside Cristina (McKnight) for another strong woman’s program in Greenville. Most of all, I’m eager to move down and begin my training and hopefully, achieve a lot more than I already have."

Annie will relocate to Greenville following the 2019 USATF National Championships next week in Des Moines, Iowa, where she will be competing among the nation's best in the 3000m-steeplechase. She enters the competition with a seed time among the top 15 entrants. 

​GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and one qualifier for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 47-year-old Greenville Track Club, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate,   generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, DorsiFlex and Synergy Performance (mental performance).  The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and  USATF.