Leininger Leads ASICS GTC-ELITE at The Great Cow Harbor 10K

Mark Leininger

Austin Steagall

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITEs Mark Leininger placed 6th in the 39th edition of The Great Cow Harbor 10K on a beautiful Saturday morning in Northport, NY. He ran among the leaders for the first part of the race, passing the first mile in 4:27, over the challenging course which featured the hilly terrain of Northport. His finishing time of 30:16 averaged 4:53 per mile, earned him $600 and duplicated his placing from 2015, when he ran 30:47. 

Austin Steagall ran his first prize money event since joining the post-collegiate, Olympic development program in July and placed ninth to earn $300 with his time of 31:16. The overall winner was Aaron Braun of Flagstaff, AZ who ran 29:24 after leading a two man breakaway during the third mile. Stephen Pifer of Superior, CO, who went with Braun on the breakaway, hung on for second in 29:38. Nicholas Filippazzo of Wantagh, NY closed well for third in 29:51, followed by Team USA Minnesota's Jonathan Peterson (30:10) and Fernando Cabada (30:13) of Clovis, CA. Northern Arizona Elite's Ben Bruce was seventh in 30:34, followed by Dominic Cabada (31:08) in 8th. Team USA Minnesota's Rob Molke rounded out the top ten at 31:27. 

ASICS GTC-ELITE teammates Dylan Hassett and Kimberly Ruck placed 8th and 10th, respectively, in a very deep women's field. Hassett ran 35:12 to earn $400, while Ruck finished at 35:37 to earn $200. It was Ruck's third appearance in this event and third time placing in the top ten. Former NCAA 10,000 meter champion Natosha Rogers (33:18) bested two-time defending champion Brianne Nelson of Golden, CO (33:33) to earn the $3500 first place prize.

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and is sponsored by ASICS, the Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery, FinalSurge, Joy Real Estate, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors. ​​​​​​ ​  

Dylan Hassett

Kimberly Ruck