Congrats to ASICS GTC-ELITE Alum Alison Parris on Her Marriage

Congratulations to ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Alison Parris on her beautiful wedding yesterday at Aurora Farms near Greenville, SC. She married Matt Leonard with family and friends in attendance. Among those were her former teammates; bridesmaids Kimberly (Ruck) Mahoney and Carolyn Watson. Her brother-in-law and GTC-ELITE alum Avery Morris was also in the wedding party. Joining in the festivities were other alum/teammates Chelsie (Woodruff) Townley and Chris Caldwell as well as GTC-ELITE director/coach Mike Caldwell and president Bill Keesling. Alison's college coach and family also attended. 

Alison was the second woman to join ASICS GTC-ELITE. She had worked for three years in her home state of Maryland following her 2011 graduation from James Madison University.  With the intention of pursuing post-collegiate running once completely healthy after some persistent injuries during her collegiate career, she was selected to attend the RRCA Run Pro Camp, where her interest spiked and she contacted ASICS GTC-ELITE.  After her successful interview visit, she relocated to Greenville, SC in May of 2014. During her time with the program Alison competed in almost 40 races and finished among the top five 30 times, including 14 victories and set five course records. She competed in three USATF Club Cross Country Nationals with two top 40 finishes (26th and 33rd). Parris and her teammates placed 8th at those championships in 2015 in San Francisco. She ran personal bests of 16:29 for 5,000 meters, 27:13 for 8K and 35:12 for 10K. She also placed 6th at the 2015 Peachtree Road Race. Alison was employed by ScanSource, Inc. as part of our Adopt An Athlete program. After experiencing a semi-chronic foot injury during the latter part of 2017, Alison retired from competitive running and decided to make a career change and accepted a full-time employment position in her adopted home of Greenville. ​She is currently completing her education in Cyber Security. 

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru, three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA and one qualifier and participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 3000m Steeplechase. The program's runners set four South Carolina State road race records in 2020 (5K, 15K and Half Marathon--twice) and three (15K, 10-Mile and 20K) in 2021. ASICS GTC-ELITE also produced the South Carolina Men's 2020 Long Distance Runner of the Year. 

​The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 50-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), The Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board (balance & mobility), On Pace Wellness (nutrition coaching) and LEVER Movement (treadmill body weight support). The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and USATF.​