ASICS GTC-ELITE Welcomes Roland Hakes

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE announced that two-time South Carolina AAAA State Cross Country champion Roland Hakes will be joining the post-collegiate, Olympic development program in 2018. Hakes, who hails from Irmo, SC, where he ran for Dutch Fork High School, graduated with a degree in History from Clemson University in May of 2016. 

He completed his Army ROTC studies and training while at Clemson and is a member of the US Army Reserve. He is employed by Centurion Labs, of Columbia, SC as a pharmaceutical sales representative. 

Hakes' performances as a Clemson Tiger included: 3:50.2 for 1500 meters; 8:23.5 for 3,000 meters indoor; 14:24.0 for 5,000 meters and 30:27.3 for 10,000 meters. He also has a personal best of 24:01 for 8K cross country. While running for Dutch Fork High School, Roland was twice named Gatorade Boys Runner of the Year in Cross Country for the state of South Carolina.

"Roland demonstrated excellent self-discipline and time management while a student-athlete at Clemson," explained program director/coach Mike Caldwell. "We usually do not encourage our athletes to work full time due our training and recovery schedules, which are fairly time consuming. However, Roland has a dream he desires to chase and we want to provide the guidance, environment and assistance for him to achieve that dream." 

According to Clemson Head Coach Marc Elliott. "He’s the type of guy you can count on; he never falters to meet his own expectations. It’s his ability to get the maximum out of each competition that sets him apart.”

The ASICS GTC-ELITE coaches are devising a developmental plan to accommodate Hakes' employment and military obligations while targeting their performance goals and objectives. "We'll plan a period of transition for Roland to get accustomed to our training philosophies and a new environment in Greenville," stated Caldwell. "We've always considered our program to be about development and growth and not just with running, but with career and personal aspects. Therefore, being flexible in our planning for Roland will be not only be a new challenge, but a learning experience and benefit to all of us."
 
GTC-ELITE was established in 2012 and produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program 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 products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots and Cocoa Elite recovery products. ​

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