Portland Track Festival

Jason Weitzel finishing.

Jack Mastandrea

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Greenville Track Club ELITE's Jason Weitzel used a strong kick to win his heat of the men's 10,000-meter event in the Portland Track Festival on Saturday night.  Although his final time of 29:13.02 was well off his best of 28:59, run at this meet in 2021, he produced a game and gutsy effort. Just after the 10:20 pm PDT start (1:20 am EDT) the trio of GTC-ELITE athletes, Weitzel, Eduardo Garcia and Jack Mastandrea, went to the front on the first lap and followed the pacer through the first 1600 in 4:42.

With sub-29:00 as their goal, the pace was slightly slower than desired. The pace slightly quickened and they passed 3200m in 9:21. Garcia, currently preparing for the Paris Olympic marathon, led the trio through 3500m before dropping off the lead pack. Weitzel and Mastandrea continued to follow the pacer until he had completed his duties. They passed 5,000m in 14:37. Mastandrea took the lead briefly and he and Weitzel passed 7200m together. Jack fell off the pace shortly thereafter. Wetizel passed 8,000m at 23:26 as he ran with a small lead pack. He was able to compete with them until the final 200m and pulled away on the final stretch. 

Mastandrea keep a steady pace over the final two kilometers and finished in 29:31.10 and Garcia finished at 30:34.83. Weitzel  placed 16th and Mastandrea 19th in the combined results of the two heats. The overall winner was former NCAA Cross Country champion Sam Chelanga with a time of 28:09.77, who won the first heat by three seconds after covering the final 800m in 2:03. 

Day 1 of the Portland Track Festival was conducted at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, OR, due to construction conflicts at the usual venue at Lewis & Clark College. 

Jack Mastandrea, Eduardo Garcia and Jason Weitzel

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Day 2 (Sunday) was conducted at the Lincoln High School track in downtown Portland and attracted a host of track stars in events 800m, 1500m and 5,000m. GTC-ELITE had Ryan Drew running in Heat 2 of the Men's 5000 meters. His goal was to run sub-13:50 and he was right on pace through 3,000 meters in 8:18. However, Ryan began to slow after that and finished with a 14:06.94. 

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, 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.​