Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Weitzel & Garcia Remain 2nd & 3rd in SC Road Race Rankings

Eddie Garcia & Jason Weitzel enjoying some post-race chicken in Columbia.

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Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Jason Weitzel and Eddie Garcia remain ranked second and third in the most recent South Carolina Road Race Rankings published by USATF State Record Keeper Bill Marable. Weitzel maintains the runner-up ranking for the 16th consecutive month, behind only 2022's South Carolina Long Distance Runner of the Year James Quattlebaum. Quattlebaum, who represents Run In, previously won the SCLDROY honors in 2019 and 2021. Garcia, was the 2020 SCLD Runner of the Year in 2020. 
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Weitzel recently won the MGC Long Run 15K in Columbia, SC in late February and previously placed second to Quattlebaum in the 44th edition of the GTC Run Downtown 5K in January. Garcia won Greenville's Run Through the Zoo 5K in November and then placed third (behind Quattlebaum and Weitzel) in the GTC Run Downtown 5K before finishing second to his teammate Weitzel in the MGC Long Run 15K. Weitzel and Garcia placed 14th and 16th in the USATF 15K Championships on March 4th in Jacksonville, FL's Gate River Run. However, those results do not affect the South Carolina rankings since the race was not in SC. 

GTC-ELITE alum Roland Hakes (now residing in Columbia) is ranked fifth. Hakes placed third, behind Weitzel and Garcia, in the MGC Long Run 15K. ​

South Carolina Road Race Rankings
​as of March 4, 2023

Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012 and is entering its second decade as a post-collegiate, Olympic development program. 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. GTC-ELITE also produced the South Carolina Men's 2020 Long Distance Runner of the Year. 

​The program is sponsored and supported by the 51-year-old Greenville Track Club, ASICS, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), 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, UCAN energy products, 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.​