Leininger Runs Personal Best for 10,000 in Portland

Mark Leininger (#401) at Portland Track Festival.

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Mark Leininger ran a personal best for 10,000 meters at the Portland Track Festival on Saturday night. The American University graduate cut 12.3 seconds from his previous best with a time of 29:06.16. That placed him 19th in a very good field, led by three-time Olympian and silver (10,000 in 2012) and bronze (marathon '16) medalist Galen Rupp of Portland. Rupp won with a time of 28:18.29. 

Leininger covered the first 5,000 in 14:31 and the second half of the race in 14:35. After a crowded initial 400 meters in 72.8 in the field of over 40 athletes Mark averaged 70 seconds for the 25 laps on the Lewis & Clark track. He closed with a 66-second final 400. Eight runners finished between 29:03.9 and 29:09.3. 

GTC-ELITE produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles and 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, FinalSurge, The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots and Cocoa Elite recovery products.