Parris Leads ASICS GTC-ELITE at Georgia Tech Invitational

Kimberly Ruck, Nicole DiMercurio and Alison Parris.

Alison Parris took turns sharing the lead with teammate Kimberly Ruck for the first 3 kilometers of the women's 5,000 meters at the Georgia Tech Invitational before pulling away for the victory with an official time of 16:29.39 She was followed by ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE teammates Nicole DiMercurio and Ruck, who recorded official times of 16:32.79 and  16:35.30, respectively. The trio swept the first three places after breaking away from two Kenyan collegiate runners during the final kilometer. It was a very good showing for the group on a rainy and humid late Friday evening on the Georgia Tech track in downtown Atlanta. It was also DiMercurio's first track competition since joining the group last fall. 

On the men's side, ASICS GTC-ELITE's Ricky Flynn placed fifth, behind four African collegians, as he used the race as part of his training build-up for an upcoming marathon. After starting slowly, he gradually moved up in the huge pack of over 40 athletes on the wet track surface. He finished with a time of 14:45:47 (4:45 per mile), well off his PB of 13:59, but a solid training effort. 

GTC-ELITE is sponsored by ASICS, the 43-year old Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System's North Greenville Hospital, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The Proaxis Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors.

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