GTC-ELITE's Mastandrea and Weitzel Rank 1st and 2nd in South Carolina Road Rankings

Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Jack Mastandrea is now ranked first in the most recent South Carolina Road Race Rankings published by USATF State Record Keeper Bill Marable. Mastandrea recently set a course record (14:13) in winning the Michelin Memorial 5K on August 17, finishing ahead of his teammate Jason Weitzel. Jack was previously third in the past few rankings and moved past Jason, who maintained his runner-up position.   

The two training partners have frequently exchanged places during 2024 with Weitzel winning the Downtown Greenville 5K in January and Mastandrea placing second. Then Jack placed ahead of Jason at the 2024 USATF Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando and was 12th (29:03) overall at Charleston's Cooper River Bridge Run, while Jason was 14th (29:24).  Jason ran 29:13 and Jack 29:31 for 10,000 meters on the track at the Portland Track Festival in June. Then Jack placed 7th and Jason 9th in the USATF 8K Road Championships at the Crazy 8s road race in Kingsport, TN on July 20.

Jack recently placed 13th in a deep field at the USATF 20K Championships in the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race on September 2. However, that race and some of the previous mentioned events were not within the confines of South Carolina and did not factor in the SC Road Race Rankings.

One of their other teammates, Eduardo Garcia, dropped out of the rankings this month due to not racing in South Carolina since April as he prepared for  the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon. And another teammate, Ryan Drew, earned his first top ten ranking in 7th with a win at the Red, White and Blue Shoes 5K on July 4th and a fourth place finish at the Michelin Memorial 5K in August. 

GTC-ELITE alums Ricky Flynn (Greenville) and Roland Hakes ( Columbia) are ranked 4th and 6th. ​​Greenville runners occupy six of the top ten ranking positions. 

South Carolina Road Race Rankings
as of September 2, 2024

Greenville Track Club-ELITE was established in 2012 and is in its second decade as a post-collegiate, Olympic-development program. The program developed and produced one participant for the 2024 Olympic Games marathon in Paris, 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, one qualifier and participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 3000m Steeplechase and three qualifiers for the 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Orlando, FL. 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 52-year-old Greenville Track Club, ASICS, Joy Real Estate (Adopt an Athlete partner), generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device), the MOBO board (balance & mobility) 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.​